Visual assessment of rural landscape with different characters

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and urban structuring made in resonse to intense and stressful living conditions has been putting undue pressure on city residents. In addition, the harmful effects of urban and industrial pollutants increases with every passing day. For these reasons, the existence and nature of rural areas become even more important as the aesthetic and functional roles of rural sites grow. The visual value of the landscape is the initial data that reflects the identity of the area and the beginning of landscape planning. Visual quality has a particularly decisive value for the goals of minimizing intervention and making the right planning decisions for rural areas. This study aimed to conduct visual evaluation on rural areas that feature different characters. Visual Landscape Quality Analysis was performed on designated rural settlements (10 villages situated in Bayburt). Results showed that the highest rated landscape unit was Vegetation Landscape (M = 0.78), with Path Landscape ranking second (M = 0.71), and followed by Agricultural Landscape in third rank (M = 0.70). The Cultural Landscape ranked the least (M = −0.43).