- Email: [email protected]
Foundations for visual project analysis
522
ious screen plantings round off this part of the book. In an Appendix. the different site factors are described, resulting in a list of 23 different locations. with suitable plant material given for each one. Altogether, this is a very useful and useable book.
VISUAL PROJECT
ANALYSIS
Forrndutiom ,fbr I~‘i.slral Project Anu1~~si.s. R.C. Smardon, J.F. Palmer and J.P. Fellernan (Editors). John Wiley and Sons. New York, 1986. 374 pp.. illustrated, hardback, g47.95. ISBN 0-47 l-88 184-8. “Foundations for Visual Prqject Analysis” summarizes and places into context a collection of state-of-the-art methods which, the editors argue, form the basis of an approach to visual impact assessment. It also provides some theoretical justification for this approach by introducing bits of borrowed psychological, optical and measurement theory. The book’s major contribution is that it provides a detailed and justified conceptual framework for visual impact assessment. The text is intended to facilitate application of visual impact assessment. but it does more than that. “Foundations for Visual Project Analysis” will serve well as a teaching aid and as a valuable reference for theory and technique, summarizing material otherwise unavailable in a convenient and coherent package. It is appropriate for practitioners. researchers. teachers and students. “Foundations for Visual Project Analysis” is an edited collection of 17 papers written by 22 authors. The editors contributed several of the papers and made a moderately successful attempt to maintain continuity in the text by
commissioning many of the other papers and providing introductions to each of five major sections. In addition to the major theme of visual impact assessment. related issues emphasized throughout the text include viewability analysis, simulation techniques. public participation and project implementation. The book begins with a discussion of landscape values and a historical account of fluctuations in people’s attitudes towards landscape. A decisionmaking model for visual resource managcment and project review is presented which includes an introduction to the legal aspects of scenic analysis. An introduction to visual physiological processes is provided, the rationale for this discussion being that assessing visual impacts ultimately depends upon understanding the processes of human perccption. The basic concepts of viewability analysis are introduced, including environmental and human perception factors as well as basic issues in manual and automated sightline simulation. Environmental perception as a subset of environmental psychology is introduced, with special emphasis placed on Gibson’s (1979) “Ecological Approach to Visual Perception” as part of the theoretical foundation for visual impact assessment. Almost one-third of the book is devoted to the topics mentioned above in a worthwhile attempt to provide a theoretical and rationalized foundation for visual impact assessment. Partially successful attempts were made at linking this theoretical material with the more applied visual impact assessment topics. Rationale and methods of landscape description/analysis are discussed separately for wild. rural and urban land. Introduced through this discussion are the issues of visual resource inventory, public participation. and identification of things that concern users of the landscape. The next section. the largest, is devoted to landscape assessment and evaluation methods which form the core of visual impact assessment. First is a review of mcthodolog!, for visual project analysis by government agen-
523
ties. Two chapters on methods follow, one on public participation and one on simulating landscapes and visual impacts. Detailed procedures for implementing visual impact assessments are presented separately for urban and rural/wild environments. The majority of references, examples and applications are derived from experiences in the U.S. and Canada. The last chapters illustrate international concern for appropriate visual impact assessment. Three state-of-the-art applications are discussed. The final section of the book is an annotated and illustrated glossary of many technical and ambiguous words used occasionally in the text and often in the wider literature dealing with visual impact assessment. This will provide a useful reference for concerned readers and writers. Although “Foundations for Visual Project Analysis” deserves high praise, several criticisms can be levelled at it. Several of these shortcomings are a consequence of weaknesses in the field of visual impact assessment and reflect poorly on the text only in that the reader is left wanting better, more thorough treatment of long-neglected topics. For example, the notions of what exactly should be assessed and what exactly is being impacted are unclear. Terms like visual amenity, beauty and aesthetics are too vauge and do not necessarily relate to the human condition. Meanings. emotions and other human responses to visual environments deserve more attention. In addition, some guidance is needed to help determine when an impact is “appropriate”, “good” or “bad”. What are the cut-off points of concern? The framework provided by this book should make the application of impact assessments proceed in a more logical fashion. However, many suggestions in the “how to” section of the book are based upon rules-of-thumb rather than results of empirical research. Thus actual on-the-ground implementation of a visual impact assessment will still be based upon gut reaction, intuition and rules-of-thumb. There simply is not enough theory about visual im-
pact assessment to suggest we know how to assess visual impacts. Admittedly research lags far behind visual impact assessment application, and rules-of-thumb which are clear, rationalized and open to public critique are superior to ignorance and subjectivity. However, the impacts of line, form, color, contrast and so on are unsubstantiated and their application often subjective. There are a few typographical errors in the text which are mildly frustrating. The writing is generally clear, but some topics are summarized to the point of being cryptic. The ample number of figures and tables are useful but occasionally not well interpreted or integrated into the text. These criticisms notwithstanding, “Foundations for Visual Project Analysis” is an excellent attempt at pulling together the eclectic bits and pieces of visual impact assessment. While it is by no means the final word in the expanding and dynamic field of visual impact assessment, it will serve as a useful rallying point for practitioners, researchers and teachers. R. BRUCE HULL
Department qfLandscape‘4rchitecrllre College yf‘.,lrchitecture and Envlronrnental Design Texas A and ‘2-II’niversit! College Station, TX, C:.S.A.
LANDSCAPE
HANDBOOK
Span ‘s Landscape
Handbook Derek Lovejoy and Partners (Editors), 3rd-Edn. E. & F.N. Spon Ltd., 11 Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, England, 1986, vii + 470 pp., price 227.50, ISBN 0 419 13380 1.
Since the publication of the first edition of this work in 1972, “Spon’s Landscape Handbook” has been a reliable reference to landscape consultants and contractors, primarily those involved in hard and soft landscape construction. Where the second edition (1974) was broadened to incorporate a wide range of information related to “the making of the exter-
ious screen plantings round off this part of the book. In an Appendix. the different site factors are described, resulting in a list of 23 different locations. with suitable plant material given for each one. Altogether, this is a very useful and useable book.
VISUAL PROJECT
ANALYSIS
Forrndutiom ,fbr I~‘i.slral Project Anu1~~si.s. R.C. Smardon, J.F. Palmer and J.P. Fellernan (Editors). John Wiley and Sons. New York, 1986. 374 pp.. illustrated, hardback, g47.95. ISBN 0-47 l-88 184-8. “Foundations for Visual Prqject Analysis” summarizes and places into context a collection of state-of-the-art methods which, the editors argue, form the basis of an approach to visual impact assessment. It also provides some theoretical justification for this approach by introducing bits of borrowed psychological, optical and measurement theory. The book’s major contribution is that it provides a detailed and justified conceptual framework for visual impact assessment. The text is intended to facilitate application of visual impact assessment. but it does more than that. “Foundations for Visual Project Analysis” will serve well as a teaching aid and as a valuable reference for theory and technique, summarizing material otherwise unavailable in a convenient and coherent package. It is appropriate for practitioners. researchers. teachers and students. “Foundations for Visual Project Analysis” is an edited collection of 17 papers written by 22 authors. The editors contributed several of the papers and made a moderately successful attempt to maintain continuity in the text by
commissioning many of the other papers and providing introductions to each of five major sections. In addition to the major theme of visual impact assessment. related issues emphasized throughout the text include viewability analysis, simulation techniques. public participation and project implementation. The book begins with a discussion of landscape values and a historical account of fluctuations in people’s attitudes towards landscape. A decisionmaking model for visual resource managcment and project review is presented which includes an introduction to the legal aspects of scenic analysis. An introduction to visual physiological processes is provided, the rationale for this discussion being that assessing visual impacts ultimately depends upon understanding the processes of human perccption. The basic concepts of viewability analysis are introduced, including environmental and human perception factors as well as basic issues in manual and automated sightline simulation. Environmental perception as a subset of environmental psychology is introduced, with special emphasis placed on Gibson’s (1979) “Ecological Approach to Visual Perception” as part of the theoretical foundation for visual impact assessment. Almost one-third of the book is devoted to the topics mentioned above in a worthwhile attempt to provide a theoretical and rationalized foundation for visual impact assessment. Partially successful attempts were made at linking this theoretical material with the more applied visual impact assessment topics. Rationale and methods of landscape description/analysis are discussed separately for wild. rural and urban land. Introduced through this discussion are the issues of visual resource inventory, public participation. and identification of things that concern users of the landscape. The next section. the largest, is devoted to landscape assessment and evaluation methods which form the core of visual impact assessment. First is a review of mcthodolog!, for visual project analysis by government agen-
523
ties. Two chapters on methods follow, one on public participation and one on simulating landscapes and visual impacts. Detailed procedures for implementing visual impact assessments are presented separately for urban and rural/wild environments. The majority of references, examples and applications are derived from experiences in the U.S. and Canada. The last chapters illustrate international concern for appropriate visual impact assessment. Three state-of-the-art applications are discussed. The final section of the book is an annotated and illustrated glossary of many technical and ambiguous words used occasionally in the text and often in the wider literature dealing with visual impact assessment. This will provide a useful reference for concerned readers and writers. Although “Foundations for Visual Project Analysis” deserves high praise, several criticisms can be levelled at it. Several of these shortcomings are a consequence of weaknesses in the field of visual impact assessment and reflect poorly on the text only in that the reader is left wanting better, more thorough treatment of long-neglected topics. For example, the notions of what exactly should be assessed and what exactly is being impacted are unclear. Terms like visual amenity, beauty and aesthetics are too vauge and do not necessarily relate to the human condition. Meanings. emotions and other human responses to visual environments deserve more attention. In addition, some guidance is needed to help determine when an impact is “appropriate”, “good” or “bad”. What are the cut-off points of concern? The framework provided by this book should make the application of impact assessments proceed in a more logical fashion. However, many suggestions in the “how to” section of the book are based upon rules-of-thumb rather than results of empirical research. Thus actual on-the-ground implementation of a visual impact assessment will still be based upon gut reaction, intuition and rules-of-thumb. There simply is not enough theory about visual im-
pact assessment to suggest we know how to assess visual impacts. Admittedly research lags far behind visual impact assessment application, and rules-of-thumb which are clear, rationalized and open to public critique are superior to ignorance and subjectivity. However, the impacts of line, form, color, contrast and so on are unsubstantiated and their application often subjective. There are a few typographical errors in the text which are mildly frustrating. The writing is generally clear, but some topics are summarized to the point of being cryptic. The ample number of figures and tables are useful but occasionally not well interpreted or integrated into the text. These criticisms notwithstanding, “Foundations for Visual Project Analysis” is an excellent attempt at pulling together the eclectic bits and pieces of visual impact assessment. While it is by no means the final word in the expanding and dynamic field of visual impact assessment, it will serve as a useful rallying point for practitioners, researchers and teachers. R. BRUCE HULL
Department qfLandscape‘4rchitecrllre College yf‘.,lrchitecture and Envlronrnental Design Texas A and ‘2-II’niversit! College Station, TX, C:.S.A.
LANDSCAPE
HANDBOOK
Span ‘s Landscape
Handbook Derek Lovejoy and Partners (Editors), 3rd-Edn. E. & F.N. Spon Ltd., 11 Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, England, 1986, vii + 470 pp., price 227.50, ISBN 0 419 13380 1.
Since the publication of the first edition of this work in 1972, “Spon’s Landscape Handbook” has been a reliable reference to landscape consultants and contractors, primarily those involved in hard and soft landscape construction. Where the second edition (1974) was broadened to incorporate a wide range of information related to “the making of the exter-