Four plus one dimensions of transferability: defining a framework for the application of a landscape characterization in the USA

Abstract

This perspective article presents considerations based on an attempt for initiating a landscape characterization in the United States using the Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) method initially developed in Great Britain. Literature on LCA underlines the issue of its transferability and the necessity to address, both theoretically and practically, its adaptation when the method is transplanted to other territories. The authors focus on the development of a theoretical framework for the adaptation of the method to a different cultural, geographical, social, political, and institutional context from the one it was designed for. The region of application are West Virginia southern coalfields where mountaintop removal coal mining coexists with rural landscapes, forested mountains, and scarcely inhabited valleys. The significance of conducting a landscape characterization in such an area is acknowledged as well as the necessity to address five dimensions of the question of transferability: physical, cultural, disciplinary, political, and social. In the article the authors examine the British and USA character-based approaches to landscape highlighting the main differences. The environmental history of West Virginia southern coalfields is introduced, and the current landscape is described. Finally, the authors discuss how the five dimensions of transferability can be addressed in the USA context stimulating further theoretical developments and practical attempts of landscape characterization.