IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v34y2007i1p50-67.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Predicting the Scenic Beauty Value of Mapped Landscape Changes in a Mountainous Region through the Use of GIS

Author

Listed:
  • Adrienne Grêt-Regamey

    (ETH Zürich, Institute for Spatial and Landscape Planning, HIL H32.1, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 15, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland)

  • Ian D Bishop

    (Department of Geomatics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia)

  • Peter Bebi

    (WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, Research Unit Ecosystem Boundaries, Fluelastrasse 11, 7260 Davos, Switzerland)

Abstract

Planning frequently fails to include the valuation of public goods, such as scenic beauty. This can lead to negative economic impacts for a region over the longer term. Especially in mountainous regions such as the Alps in central Europe, which depend on tourist income, the change of landscape views through the development of facilities for recreation and tourism may negatively affect the tourism experience, and hence the economy. In this study we present a prototypical technique to predict preferences for views using geographic information system (GIS)-based variables. A three-dimensional GIS including the effects of slope, aspect, and distance, as well as the height of landscape features, is developed to calculate the proportion of land-cover areas that make up the view. A Web-based survey is used to gather data on scenic preferences for landscape changes in the region around Davos (Switzerland). Willingness-to-pay (WTP) responses are used to identify preferred landscapes. A forced-choice questionnaire asks participants to compare pairs of landscape photographs. Two original pictures were digitally altered to visually represent landscape change scenarios developed for the study area. The visual magnitudes of the different land-cover areas are found to be correlated with the WTP values expressed by the respondents. The relationship is used to predict changes in scenic values for another view in the region. The approach presented in this paper could be useful in regional planning to estimate the influence of view components on people's preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrienne Grêt-Regamey & Ian D Bishop & Peter Bebi, 2007. "Predicting the Scenic Beauty Value of Mapped Landscape Changes in a Mountainous Region through the Use of GIS," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 34(1), pages 50-67, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:34:y:2007:i:1:p:50-67
    DOI: 10.1068/b32051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b32051
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/b32051?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guy Garrod & Kenneth G. Willis, 1999. "Economic Valuation of the Environment," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1368.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olschewski, Roland & Bebi, Peter & Teich, Michaela & Wissen Hayek, Ulrike & Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne, 2012. "Avalanche protection by forests — A choice experiment in the Swiss Alps," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 19-24.
    2. Rewitzer, Susanne & Huber, Robert & Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne & Barkmann, Jan, 2017. "Economic valuation of cultural ecosystem service changes to a landscape in the Swiss Alps," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(PA), pages 197-208.
    3. Jacinto Garrido-Velarde & María Jesús Montero-Parejo & Julio Hernández-Blanco & Lorenzo García-Moruno, 2018. "Visual Analysis of the Height Ratio between Building and Background Vegetation. Two Rural Cases of Study: Spain and Sweden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Ryffel, Andrea Nathalie & Rid, Wolfgang & Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne, 2014. "Land use trade-offs for flood protection: A choice experiment with visualizations," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 10(C), pages 111-123.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Verbic, Miroslav & Slabe-Erker, Renata, 2009. "An econometric analysis of willingness-to-pay for sustainable development: A case study of the Volcji Potok landscape area," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 1316-1328, March.
    2. Naz Abdulkareem Arif, 2020. "Estimate Household’s Willingness to Pay for Improved Tap Water Quality in Duhok Province," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 4(11), pages 152-159.
    3. Lienhoop, Nele & Ansmann, Till, 2011. "Valuing water level changes in reservoirs using two stated preference approaches: An exploration of validity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1250-1258, May.
    4. GEVAERT, Anouk & KUPERS, Stefan Jonathan & HEIJMAN, Wim, 2014. "Participatory Landscape Planning: The Case Of The “Westvaardersplassen” In The Netherlands," Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics (RAAE), Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, vol. 17(2), pages 1-11, November.
    5. Stella Tsani & Phoebe Koundouri & Ebun Akinsete, 2020. "Resource management and sustainable development: A review of the European water policies in accordance with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals," DEOS Working Papers 2036, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    6. Gurluk, Serkan, 2006. "The estimation of ecosystem services' value in the region of Misi Rural Development Project: Results from a contingent valuation survey," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 209-218, December.
    7. Bart Neuts & Peter Nijkamp & Eveline Van Leeuwen, 2012. "Crowding Externalities from Tourist Use of Urban Space," Tourism Economics, , vol. 18(3), pages 649-670, June.
    8. Dominic Moran & Esmond Tresidder & Alistair McVittie, 2006. "Estimating the Recreational Value of Mountain Biking Sites in Scotland Using Count Data Models," Tourism Economics, , vol. 12(1), pages 123-135, March.
    9. Tanya O’Garra & Susana Mourato, 2007. "Public Preferences for Hydrogen Buses: Comparing Interval Data, OLS and Quantile Regression Approaches," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 36(4), pages 389-411, April.
    10. Lee, Kyung-Sook & Kim, Ju-Hee & Yoo, Seung-Hoon, 2021. "Would people pay a price premium for electricity from domestic wind power facilities? The case of South Korea," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    11. Sk Samim Ferdows, 2012. "Whether WTP Is Affected By Some Other Factors? A Case Study On Durgapur," Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology, ScientificPapers.org, vol. 2(3), pages 1-4, June.
    12. Prosun Kumar Ghosh & M. Shahjahan Mondal, 2013. "Economic valuation of the non-use attributes of a south-western coastal wetland in Bangladesh," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(9), pages 1403-1418, November.
    13. Bénédicte Rulleau & Jeoffrey Dehez & Patrick Point & Dominique Ami & Olivier Chanel, 2009. "Approche multidimensionnelle de la valeur économique des loisirs de nature, suivi d'un commentaire de Dominique Ami et Olivier Chanel," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 421(1), pages 29-51.
    14. Halkos, George E. & Jones, Nikoleta, 2012. "Modeling the effect of social factors on improving biodiversity protection," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 90-99.
    15. Tilahun, Mesfin & Damnyag, Lawrence & Anglaaere, Luke C.N., 2016. "The Ankasa Forest Conservation Area of Ghana: Ecosystem service values and on-site REDD+ opportunity cost," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 168-176.
    16. Silvia Banfi & Massimo Filippini & Andrea Horehájová, 2007. "Hedonic Price Functions for Zurich and Lugano with Special Focus on Electrosmog," CEPE Working paper series 07-57, CEPE Center for Energy Policy and Economics, ETH Zurich.
    17. Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2002. "Cultural heritage as multi-dimensional, multi-value and multi-attribute economic good: toward a new framework for economic analysis and valuation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 529-558.
    18. Bostedt, Göran & Mattsson, Leif, 2006. "A note on benefits and costs of adjusting forestry to meet recreational demands," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 75-81, March.
    19. Mushtaq Memon & Shunji Matsuoka, 2002. "Validity of contingent valuation estimates from developing countries: scope sensitivity analysis," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 5(1), pages 39-61, March.
    20. Powe, N.A. & Garrod, G.D. & McMahon, P.L., 2005. "Mixing methods within stated preference environmental valuation: choice experiments and post-questionnaire qualitative analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 513-526, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:34:y:2007:i:1:p:50-67. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.