Visual preferences on digital native urban parks as a tool for investigating urban landscape perception in Europe

Abstract

The contribution identifies new digital sources for assessing and monitoring visual preferences of landscape, in order to strengthen the tools of specific active protection and planning regulations. The subject of the research is the European urban parks of the twenty-first century (that we called digital native) because of their belonging to the digital era and for the crucial role they play in nature and landscape policies. Urban parks represent a bridge between nature and culture, a place of encounter between human projects and the environment, especially since the nineteenth century, when they are conceived to regenerate cities, to improve urban landscapes and biodiversity. An effective photo-based method of investigation is proposed by this research. It deals with users’ visual preferences related to scenic values by focusing on three categories of features: context, structure and functional system. A combination of free and directed sorting procedures based on visual communication analysis was applied to pictures taken and freely published on the web by park users. Quantitative and categorical data derived from the multiple sorting methods resulted from the research. The data allow to actualize sustainable development policies based on shared values. Preference ratings, showing that uniqueness and identity values are the most shared ones, while the values related to nature are less perceived by users, underline the importance of strengthening the natural values perception in future environmental policies.