The research investigates visitor and resident place perceptions of Mid Wales and evaluates the potential of such perceptions to shape economic development in the area. A review of literature indicated a need for an holistic approach to place. It was suggested that a starting point towards achieving this is to envisage place as three components - the real, the expected and the perceived. The real place is described using secondary statistical information and maps of the area. the expected place is described using topographical writing and guide books. The perceived place is examined through a combination of questionnaires and interviews with residents and visitors. These investigate perceptions of the landscape and economy of Mid Wales. The 'perceived places' of residents and visitors are described. A number of agencies based in Mid Wales were also interviewed to examine i) their perceptions of Mid Wales' ii) the way in which visitor and resident perceptions are incorporated into the policy development process, and, iii) their responses to some of the preliminary outcomes of the research. The research concluded that both residents and visitors have well defined, but different place perceptions of Mid Wales. Visitor perceptions are more affected by the expected place than the real, whilst resident perceptions are more affected by the real place than the expected. There are currently few mechanisms by which place perceptions are directly incorporated into the development process. However, the place perceptions of agencies were found to be close to those of the groups they represented; it is suggested that place perceptions are fundamental truths shared by groups, which are so strong as to actually subconsciously drive the policy development process. Policy implications are suggested, as are ideas for future research.

This is a theoretical dissertation built on the premise that different people appreciate landscape in different ways. It takes a multidisciplinary approach, and links findings made in several fields so as to attempt understanding of the phenomenon of rural landscape quality. A range of relatively modern explanations of the nature of landscape quality is examined and criticised primarily on the grounds of a tendency to confuse the abstract and uniform with the concrete and variable, that is, a failure to separate the general from the particular. A means of making this separation is then proposed and pursued for the remainder of the thesis. Discussion centres upon the activity of perceiving landscape. What does it involve? At the most abstract there are the structures of the senses and cognition inherited genetically and, with minor variations, common to all who perceive. At the most concrete there are the circumstances surrounding each individual engaged in the actual instant of perception. Between these two is the role played by the culture of the individual concerned. This thesis is slightly unusual in laying stress on the importance of the cultural inheritance as a factor contributing to differentiation and constant change in rural landscape quality. No firm conclusions are reached in what is essentially a work of experiment and speculation.

This practice-led research project takes the form of a written thesis, a body of new work and a public exhibition, which are designed to be reciprocally illuminating. Collectively they articulate a response to the central question; „How do contemporary jewellery makers transfer the sensory experience of place into a tangible object?‟ Fundamental to this enquiry is „The Topophilia Project‟ - a creative participatory research method where the resulting artefacts serve both as data and represent data. This project involved a group of 16 contemporary makers creating new work to brief for an exhibition entitled „A Sense of Place; New Jewellery from Northern Lands‟. The exhibition was held in the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh from May to September 2012 and formed the primary vehicle with which to both present and explore research into the contemporary jewellery of Northern Europe. The new artifacts and first person accounts produced as a result of this research method enabled an investigation into the maker‟s approach to material and process. These highly valuable resources allowed for a reading and deciphering of the methods used by the artists when gathering information from their surrounding environments. Multifaceted methods of practice are distilled within the project outcomes allowing for a broadened terminology to unfold in reference to these practices. This Northern study, rooted in phenomenological understanding and investigated through the creative process, contributes knowledge to the field from an alternative perspective to the dominant position of Central European jewellery output. As a geographically focused inquiry it also adds a necessary alternative outlook to studies focusing on multi-cultural migration. The resulting body of research outlines an arena of practice and theory in which the work of these makers can be debated, analysed, and criticised within the broader field, contributing to the cross-disciplinary discourse on contemporary theories of place of benefit to those interested in the significance of environmental influence on the creative process.

Landscape architects and designers have the ability to construct plantings in a landscape with native or non-native plants, or a combination of both plant types. The question at hand is, why choose one over the other? This study explores what might impact the plant choice decisions of practicing landscape architects in the southeast United States. A survey is utilized to understand how respondents make plant choice decisions and perceive native plants. Comparisons between previous studies are made focusing on their distribution methods, survey populations and major findings. The findings of this study are not conclusive due to a small response rate; however, they can be applied to the survey population. The results may indicate that the most common obstacles when using native plants are limited availability of natives and difficulty sourcing them, aesthetics and negative client perception, and the maintenance requirements and lack of maintenance knowledge of native plants.

abstract: As a significant level of the reformation and transformation of our society has been provoked by environmental deterioration, ecological approaches in environmental design have drawn much attention from professionals as an alternative world view and also as a practical design approach. Particularly in landscape architecture, ecological understanding has been at the very core of the profession since its emergence and plays an important role in the decision making processes. While ecology supports the profession with an objective rationale, aesthetics plays another major role in providing various understandings about the aesthetic experience of people, which is rather subjective. However, the ways to seek the balance between them are still controversial. Furthermore, the conventional aesthetic value system of landscape appears to have limitations for guiding us to an appropriate appreciation, especially in dealing with newly emerging urban landscape patterns such as regeneration of post-industrial landscapes. Understanding these issues, there have been continuous attempts to describe the relation between ecology and aesthetics, suggesting that a new approach known as "ecological aesthetics," can bring us a new set of viewpoints seeking a reunion of nature and culture, and science and art. It asserts that "there is a type of beauty" in the landscape associated with its ecological health which people could aesthetically appreciate; and therefore, revealing the "hidden" beauty of nature in more visible ways should be the primary concern of today's ecological designers. This research mainly consists of extensive literature research and a case study on two landscape restructuring projects of post-industrial landscapes in Seoul, Korea. The literature research redefines the tasks of landscape architecture based on the idea of ecological aesthetics, and the case study seeks the potentials and limitations of current design projects. This research proposes a framework for landscape perception and reflects on the lessons that would be useful for better practice and research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Environmental Design and Planning 2011

Estudos geomorfológicos são essenciais para a verificação da fragilidade ambiental de um determinado lugar e, em ambientes antropizados; além de estudos geomorfológicos, o pesquisador deve entender as relações da população com o ambiente, incluindo a percepção das fragilidades ambientais e dos riscos geomorfológicos associados. Nessa perspectiva, o principal objetivo dessa pesquisa foi buscar o entendimento da articulação entre o crescimento da cidade, os graus de fragilidades ambientais, as características socioeconômicas e a percepção da população que habita locais definidos como de fragilidade ambiental emergente muito forte na cidade de Santa Maria/RS/Brasil. Considerando o caráter geográfico da pesquisa, a metodologia adotada fundamentou-se nas concepções metodológicas referentes aos paradigmas da Geografia Socioambiental, dentro de uma abordagem sistêmica. A fim de atingir os objetivos propostos foram realizados estudos sobre o processo histórico do crescimento urbano de Santa Maria, mapeamento dos graus de fragilidade ambiental potencial e emergente, caracterização física ambiental, levantamento socioeconômico e verificação da percepção dos residentes nos locais definidos como de fragilidade ambiental emergente muito forte. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que, na cidade de Santa Maria/RS, existem diversos graus de fragilidades ambientais potenciais, desde o muito fraco até o muito forte, devido às características dos elementos físicos que compõem a paisagem e essas fragilidades tornam-se emergentes, em diferentes graus, desde o muito fraco até o muito forte, dependendo do nível de alteração da paisagem. Comprovou-se, também, que os locais com as maiores fragilidades ambientais são habitados pelas pessoas que apresentam as maiores fragilidades sociais, no que diz respeito ao baixo padrão construtivo das moradias, o baixo grau de escolaridade, os empregos informais e o baixo padrão salarial. Essa condição socioeconômica reflete diretamente na percepção dos moradores sobre os processos geomorfológicos do local vivido e na forma como estes são interpretados. Apesar de haver um reconhecimento de que o local apresenta riscos geomorfológicos, estes se acostumam com a situação do risco e passam a não percebê-lo. A convivência com essas situações é incorporada no inconsciente humano individual e social e os problemas ambientais não são mais vislumbrados pelos habitantes do local. Estes, na maioria dos casos, são atribuídos a terceiros como Deus, governo, própria natureza, vizinhos. E, na maioria das vezes, são priorizadas medidas individuais e estruturais para prevenção dos riscos. As ações de caráter coletivo, geralmente, não são colocadas em prática, pois é considerado que morar no local não contribui para aumentar a fragilidade ambiental. / Geomorphological studies are essential to verify the environmental fragility in a particular place, and in anthropogenic environments; besides geomorphological studies, the researcher must understand the population relations with the environment, including the perception of environmental fragilities and associated geomorphological risks. In this perspective, the main objective of this research was to seek the understanding of the relationship between the city growth, the degrees of environmental fragilities, socio-economical characteristics and the perception of the people who lives in places defined as having very strong emerging environmental fragility in the city of Santa Maria, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Considering the geographical character of the research, the methodology adopted was based on methodological conceptions referring to the paradigms of Socio-Environmental Geography, within a systemic approach. In order to achieve the proposed goals, studies about the historical process of the urban growth of Santa Maria’s city were carried out, the mapping of environmental fragility degree, potential and emerging one, physical environmental characterization, socio-economic survey, and the verification of residents’ perception in the places defined as having very strong emerging environmental fragility. The results of the research have showed that, in Santa Maria's city, there are several degrees of environmental potential fragilities, from very weak to very strong, owing to the characteristics of the physical elements that make up the landscape, and these fragilities become emerging in different degrees, depending on the degree of landscape alteration. It has also been proved that the places with the biggest social fragilities are inhabited by people who have the greatest social fragilities, with regard to low construction standard of housing, low level of schooling, informal jobs and low wage standard. This socio-economic condition directly reflects in the inhabitants' perception about geomorphological processes of the inhabited place and in the way how these are interpreted. Although there is a recognition that the place presents geomorphological risks, people get used to the situation of risk and start not to perceive it. Living with these situations is incorporated into the individual and social human unconscious, and the environmental problems are not envisioned by the inhabitants of the place. These, in most cases, are assigned to others such as God, government, neighbors, nature. And, most often, individual and structural measures for risk prevention are prioritized. The actions of collective character are not generally put into practice, because it is considered that living on the place does not contribute to increase environmental fragility.

Estudos geomorfológicos são essenciais para a verificação da fragilidade ambiental de um determinado lugar e, em ambientes antropizados; além de estudos geomorfológicos, o pesquisador deve entender as relações da população com o ambiente, incluindo a percepção das fragilidades ambientais e dos riscos geomorfológicos associados. Nessa perspectiva, o principal objetivo dessa pesquisa foi buscar o entendimento da articulação entre o crescimento da cidade, os graus de fragilidades ambientais, as características socioeconômicas e a percepção da população que habita locais definidos como de fragilidade ambiental emergente muito forte na cidade de Santa Maria/RS/Brasil. Considerando o caráter geográfico da pesquisa, a metodologia adotada fundamentou-se nas concepções metodológicas referentes aos paradigmas da Geografia Socioambiental, dentro de uma abordagem sistêmica. A fim de atingir os objetivos propostos foram realizados estudos sobre o processo histórico do crescimento urbano de Santa Maria, mapeamento dos graus de fragilidade ambiental potencial e emergente, caracterização física ambiental, levantamento socioeconômico e verificação da percepção dos residentes nos locais definidos como de fragilidade ambiental emergente muito forte. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que, na cidade de Santa Maria/RS, existem diversos graus de fragilidades ambientais potenciais, desde o muito fraco até o muito forte, devido às características dos elementos físicos que compõem a paisagem e essas fragilidades tornam-se emergentes, em diferentes graus, desde o muito fraco até o muito forte, dependendo do nível de alteração da paisagem. Comprovou-se, também, que os locais com as maiores fragilidades ambientais são habitados pelas pessoas que apresentam as maiores fragilidades sociais, no que diz respeito ao baixo padrão construtivo das moradias, o baixo grau de escolaridade, os empregos informais e o baixo padrão salarial. Essa condição socioeconômica reflete diretamente na percepção dos moradores sobre os processos geomorfológicos do local vivido e na forma como estes são interpretados. Apesar de haver um reconhecimento de que o local apresenta riscos geomorfológicos, estes se acostumam com a situação do risco e passam a não percebê-lo. A convivência com essas situações é incorporada no inconsciente humano individual e social e os problemas ambientais não são mais vislumbrados pelos habitantes do local. Estes, na maioria dos casos, são atribuídos a terceiros como Deus, governo, própria natureza, vizinhos. E, na maioria das vezes, são priorizadas medidas individuais e estruturais para prevenção dos riscos. As ações de caráter coletivo, geralmente, não são colocadas em prática, pois é considerado que morar no local não contribui para aumentar a fragilidade ambiental. / Geomorphological studies are essential to verify the environmental fragility in a particular place, and in anthropogenic environments; besides geomorphological studies, the researcher must understand the population relations with the environment, including the perception of environmental fragilities and associated geomorphological risks. In this perspective, the main objective of this research was to seek the understanding of the relationship between the city growth, the degrees of environmental fragilities, socio-economical characteristics and the perception of the people who lives in places defined as having very strong emerging environmental fragility in the city of Santa Maria, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Considering the geographical character of the research, the methodology adopted was based on methodological conceptions referring to the paradigms of Socio-Environmental Geography, within a systemic approach. In order to achieve the proposed goals, studies about the historical process of the urban growth of Santa Maria’s city were carried out, the mapping of environmental fragility degree, potential and emerging one, physical environmental characterization, socio-economic survey, and the verification of residents’ perception in the places defined as having very strong emerging environmental fragility. The results of the research have showed that, in Santa Maria's city, there are several degrees of environmental potential fragilities, from very weak to very strong, owing to the characteristics of the physical elements that make up the landscape, and these fragilities become emerging in different degrees, depending on the degree of landscape alteration. It has also been proved that the places with the biggest social fragilities are inhabited by people who have the greatest social fragilities, with regard to low construction standard of housing, low level of schooling, informal jobs and low wage standard. This socio-economic condition directly reflects in the inhabitants' perception about geomorphological processes of the inhabited place and in the way how these are interpreted. Although there is a recognition that the place presents geomorphological risks, people get used to the situation of risk and start not to perceive it. Living with these situations is incorporated into the individual and social human unconscious, and the environmental problems are not envisioned by the inhabitants of the place. These, in most cases, are assigned to others such as God, government, neighbors, nature. And, most often, individual and structural measures for risk prevention are prioritized. The actions of collective character are not generally put into practice, because it is considered that living on the place does not contribute to increase environmental fragility.

Estudos geomorfológicos são essenciais para a verificação da fragilidade ambiental de um determinado lugar e, em ambientes antropizados; além de estudos geomorfológicos, o pesquisador deve entender as relações da população com o ambiente, incluindo a percepção das fragilidades ambientais e dos riscos geomorfológicos associados. Nessa perspectiva, o principal objetivo dessa pesquisa foi buscar o entendimento da articulação entre o crescimento da cidade, os graus de fragilidades ambientais, as características socioeconômicas e a percepção da população que habita locais definidos como de fragilidade ambiental emergente muito forte na cidade de Santa Maria/RS/Brasil. Considerando o caráter geográfico da pesquisa, a metodologia adotada fundamentou-se nas concepções metodológicas referentes aos paradigmas da Geografia Socioambiental, dentro de uma abordagem sistêmica. A fim de atingir os objetivos propostos foram realizados estudos sobre o processo histórico do crescimento urbano de Santa Maria, mapeamento dos graus de fragilidade ambiental potencial e emergente, caracterização física ambiental, levantamento socioeconômico e verificação da percepção dos residentes nos locais definidos como de fragilidade ambiental emergente muito forte. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que, na cidade de Santa Maria/RS, existem diversos graus de fragilidades ambientais potenciais, desde o muito fraco até o muito forte, devido às características dos elementos físicos que compõem a paisagem e essas fragilidades tornam-se emergentes, em diferentes graus, desde o muito fraco até o muito forte, dependendo do nível de alteração da paisagem. Comprovou-se, também, que os locais com as maiores fragilidades ambientais são habitados pelas pessoas que apresentam as maiores fragilidades sociais, no que diz respeito ao baixo padrão construtivo das moradias, o baixo grau de escolaridade, os empregos informais e o baixo padrão salarial. Essa condição socioeconômica reflete diretamente na percepção dos moradores sobre os processos geomorfológicos do local vivido e na forma como estes são interpretados. Apesar de haver um reconhecimento de que o local apresenta riscos geomorfológicos, estes se acostumam com a situação do risco e passam a não percebê-lo. A convivência com essas situações é incorporada no inconsciente humano individual e social e os problemas ambientais não são mais vislumbrados pelos habitantes do local. Estes, na maioria dos casos, são atribuídos a terceiros como Deus, governo, própria natureza, vizinhos. E, na maioria das vezes, são priorizadas medidas individuais e estruturais para prevenção dos riscos. As ações de caráter coletivo, geralmente, não são colocadas em prática, pois é considerado que morar no local não contribui para aumentar a fragilidade ambiental. / Geomorphological studies are essential to verify the environmental fragility in a particular place, and in anthropogenic environments; besides geomorphological studies, the researcher must understand the population relations with the environment, including the perception of environmental fragilities and associated geomorphological risks. In this perspective, the main objective of this research was to seek the understanding of the relationship between the city growth, the degrees of environmental fragilities, socio-economical characteristics and the perception of the people who lives in places defined as having very strong emerging environmental fragility in the city of Santa Maria, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Considering the geographical character of the research, the methodology adopted was based on methodological conceptions referring to the paradigms of Socio-Environmental Geography, within a systemic approach. In order to achieve the proposed goals, studies about the historical process of the urban growth of Santa Maria’s city were carried out, the mapping of environmental fragility degree, potential and emerging one, physical environmental characterization, socio-economic survey, and the verification of residents’ perception in the places defined as having very strong emerging environmental fragility. The results of the research have showed that, in Santa Maria's city, there are several degrees of environmental potential fragilities, from very weak to very strong, owing to the characteristics of the physical elements that make up the landscape, and these fragilities become emerging in different degrees, depending on the degree of landscape alteration. It has also been proved that the places with the biggest social fragilities are inhabited by people who have the greatest social fragilities, with regard to low construction standard of housing, low level of schooling, informal jobs and low wage standard. This socio-economic condition directly reflects in the inhabitants' perception about geomorphological processes of the inhabited place and in the way how these are interpreted. Although there is a recognition that the place presents geomorphological risks, people get used to the situation of risk and start not to perceive it. Living with these situations is incorporated into the individual and social human unconscious, and the environmental problems are not envisioned by the inhabitants of the place. These, in most cases, are assigned to others such as God, government, neighbors, nature. And, most often, individual and structural measures for risk prevention are prioritized. The actions of collective character are not generally put into practice, because it is considered that living on the place does not contribute to increase environmental fragility.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Kevin Blake / With their windswept ridges and wind-rent skies, prairies and plains have often been denigrated as nothing but nothing—empty, meaningless, valueless space. Mountains and forests, oceans and deserts have been praised and protected while vast expanses of undulating grasslands have been plowed under, grazed over, used, abused, maligned. Once the largest ecosystem on the North American continent, wild prairies now persist mainly in overlooked or unwanted fragments. In part, it’s a matter of psychology; some people see plains as visually unpleasing (too big, too boring) or physically alienating (too dry, too exposed). It’s also part economics; prairies seem more productive, more valuable as anything but tangles of grass and sage. But at heart, it’s a matter of sociocultural and individual biases; people seeking bucolic or sublime landscapes find “empty,” treeless skyscapes flat and dull, forgettable. Scientific, social, and especially aesthetic appreciation for plains requires a different perspective—a pause in place—an exploration of the horizon as well as an examination of the minutiae, few people have strived to understand and appreciate undifferentiated, untrammeled space. This research seeks to change that by example, using conscientious, systematic reflection on first-hand experience to explore questions fundamental to phenomenology and geography—how do people experience the world? How do we shape places and how do places shape us?—in the context of plains landscapes. Written and illustrated from the perspective of a newcomer, a scholar, a National Park Service ranger, a walker, a watcher, a person wholly and unabashedly in love with wild places, the creative non-fiction narratives, photoessays, and hand-drawn maps address themes of landscape aesthetics, sense of place, and place-identity by tracing the natural, cultural, and managerial histories of and personal relationships with Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, South Dakota’s Badlands National Park, Kansas’s Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research Station, and Wyoming’s Fossil Butte National Monument. Prosaic and photographic meditations on wildness and wilderness, travel and tourism, preservation and conservation, days and seasons, expectations and acceptance, even dreams and reality intertwine to evoke and illuminate the inspiring aesthetic of spacious places—Zen of the plains.

ABSTRACT The law regulating what non-industrial private forest owners (NIPF's) can and cannot do within their forest holdings is an outline law. Thus the NIPF's have great opportunity to shape the landscape inside their holdings by their own will. Their perceptions of their holdings can thus be of great interest. This because information about their perceptions can predict change, and also bring about more understanding of the group as a whole. The aim of this essay is therefore to explore the NIPF's relationship to their forest holdings by describing their mindscapes. The data necessary to fulfil the aim was acquired from semi-structured interviews, done with five NIPF's in Västerbotten. The data was then analysed using thematic analysis, with the term mindscape as a frame. All of the NIPF's were living in the same municipality as their forest holdings. Seven themes in the mindscapes of the NIPF's were found: Everyday knowledge, human presence, the balance between human- and natural processes, change, feelings, the forest holding inside the rural landscape and to be more than one. Previous research was used to triangulate, and to better understand the mindscape of the respondents. The respondents could be divided into two of Ingemarsons (2004) typologies; Traditionalists and multiobjective owners. Where the mindscape of the multiobjective owners contained the most change.