Visual land use compatibility as a significant contributor to visual resource quality

Abstract

In this paper an alternative to landscape complexity as a measure of visual landscape quality is presented. This alternative is called visual land use compatibility and is defined as the relationship between adjacent land uses. The research described is part of an interdisciplinary project at the University of Massachusetts called the Metropolitan Landscape Planning Model (METLAND). The Paper discusses man's concern for the relationships between land uses, tracing that concern through history to the present. A procedure that was designed to measure perceptions of the visual aspects of these land use relationships is described. The paper concludes that it appears to be valid to extend the concept of “misfits” into a more general model of both desirable and undesirable aspects of land use relationships and calls for further research to develop that model.