A perceptive web based landscape evaluation of the Delta del Po natural Park: testing the difference between experts and lay people priorities.

The European Landscape Convention stresses that to judge the quality of the landscape (and therefore the effect of any changes) must be those who live in a given territory and that this judgement cannot be formulated only by experts. Studies in the past have evidenced that often the judgement of experts on the aesthetic quality of the landscape diverges from that of the users (residents and tourists). This paper presents the results of a perceptive study conducted on the area of the Delta del Po natural park in Italy. The main aim of the study has been to test whether landscape experts preferences differ from lay people’s ones. From a methodological viewpoint this research wants to test whether new web based survey (WBS) methodologies are applicable to landscape perceptive studies. The main landscapes of the study area were identified and a psychophysical approach has been used to assess their aesthetic value. We have selected 63 images, with a balanced representation of the key landscape elements impacting the area of study. The selected landscapes have then been categorized according to the presence of absence of the landscape elements object of study. Looking at results, the analysis of the mean scores of the base pictures compared to their modified counterparts confirmed that their rating is statistically different, and therefore that the presence absence of the key landscape attributes is significant. The results among experts and end-users are not homogeneous, and in particular experts tend express a less critical judgment to the presence of buildings and wildlife. At the same time this study confirmed how the introduction of anthropogenic artefacts has a negative impact on landscape quality: on average natural landscapes are preferred to man made ones. From our experience, the WPS instrument has probed to be useful in landscape evaluation perceptive studies. The framework we have developed for the web survey can be a valid instrument in support of the accomplishment of the content of the European Landscape Convention.