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Integration of photovoltaics (PV) into the urban environment will play a major role in the energy transition. However, installing PV systems on building roofs can be challenging, particularly for monumental buildings with strict architectural and social value restrictions. Assessing roof surface visibility is, therefore, key to finding as much permitted roof surface area as possible that may be used for PV installation. In this study, a GIS-based large-scale visibility assessment tool is developed that can assist in evaluating roof visibility, using LiDAR, road networks, and cadastral data as inputs. The tool delivers multi-level outputs, including maps of roof binary visibility, roof visual amplitude, roof PV system layout, roof PV system AC yield, and roof PV module visibility. After optimization, an average speed of 0.12 s/ m 2 is achieved. For each roof surface, an additional sensitivity analysis has been conducted. This step determines the optimal values for two visibility analysis parameters: assessment range and observer spacing, balancing the computational demand and result accuracy. Application of this workflow to the monumental buildings on the TU Delft campus revealed that approximately 2.68 GWh/year of electricity could be harvested from imperceptible PV modules, while an additional 0.42 GWh/year of energy is attributed to PV modules with medium visibility, and 0.37 GWh/year of energy is associated with PV modules with high visibility. This modeling workflow supports the multi-criteria decision-making process for urban roof PV planning. • A GIS-based large-scale visibility assessment tool has been developed. • It uses LiDAR, road networks, and cadastral data as inputs. • It delivers annual AC yield of roof PV systems with low, medium, and high visibility. • This tool has been implemented on the monumental buildings on the TUD campus. • It reports annual AC yield of 2.68, 0.42, and 0.37 GWh/year for each visibility group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Architectural integration of solar is an issue in existing urban environments. • To characterize architectural quality needs, a new "criticity"concept is introduced. • A new integration quality evaluation method based on objective criteria is proposed. • Function of criticity, quality requests are set by authorities for new installations. • A set of examples and a tool combining irradiation and criticity maps are given. Abstract Increased use of solar collectors in buildings is necessary but poses major challenges in existing built environments, especially where architectural quality is an issue. The large size of solar systems at the building scale requires careful planning, as they may easily end up compromising the aesthetics of buildings, threatening the identity of entire contexts. A new method named LESO-QSV(for Laboratoire d'Energie SOlaire – Qualité-Sensibilité-Visibilité) has been developed to help authorities promote solar energy use while preserving the quality of pre-existing urban areas. The vision underlining the approach is that solar integration is possible also in delicate contexts, if appropriate design efforts and adequate cost investments are made. The issue is then no longer to be in favour or against the use of solar systems in cities, but rather to define appropriate local levels of integration quality, and to identify the factors needed to initiate smart solar energy policies able to preserve the quality of pre-existing urban contexts while promoting solar energy use. The LESO-QSV method helps tackle these issues with clear and objective proposals: First it clarifies the notion of architectural integration quality and proposes a simple evaluation method, based on a set of criteria derived from pre-existing literature. Then it helps authorities set and implement local acceptability requirements, introducing the notion of architectural "criticity" of city surfaces (LESO-QSV acceptability). The concept of "criticity", at the basis of the whole approach, is defined by the Sensitivity of the urban context where the solar system is planned, combined with its Visibility (close and remote) from the public domain. The more sensitive the urban area and the more visible the system (high "criticity"), the higher the need for integration quality. In practice, authorities will be in charge to set the desired integration quality levels for each of the defined "criticity" situations, considering local specificities (energy context, available energy sources, political and social considerations, city identity and topography, among others). To help authorities set these quality expectations, the software LESO-QSV Grid has been developed. It illustrates the acceptance impact of pre-defined sets of quality requirements, using a large number of integration examples (150 emblematic cases). These detailed examples are provided to show authorities how to objectively evaluate integration quality, but they also constitute a large set of learning examples, good and bad, for architects, installers and building owners. Finally the method proposes a way to tailor solar energy policies to local urban specificities by mapping the architectural "criticity" of city buildings surfaces, and crossing this information with a city solar irradiation map (LESO-QSV crossmapping), hence completing the characterization of the building surfaces with the potentially required effort of integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We see many images every day, some of these images are stored in memory, and the majority are immersed in the unconscious world. Visual elements are seen by personal attention or by visual or biological attention factors. Specific and clear discovery of this visual attention has not yet been made. However, there is an interesting discussion of this visual attention in the fields of interior, design, visual perception, advertising, and psychology. Advertising photographers are expected to produce what their work will have on viewers and consumers. However, the adjustment of subject, exposure, color, or post-production, which could have a visual effect on the consumer, was determined only by the photographer's senses rather than the experimental verification. The advertisement photographs provide a specific image related to the object to be advertised and deliver a certain message. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the effect of the image in a certain visual way. According to previous studies, there are two major factors that affect the visual impression of the viewer. One is the factor depending on the type and content of the subject and the other is the factor about the density and color of the subject. The purpose of this study is to investigate the meaningful changes in the visual perception depending on the shape, content, color and tone of the subject, which can be called the main subject, And to analyze the effects of I will study some implications of visual elements through various analyzes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape is the world around us, including everything we see or feel wherever we are. It is continuously in space and time: in space as a series of physical and social events, and over time as a continuity of these events that constantly change the space. Through this paper we wanted to make a quality assessment of the urban landscape of Petroşani town to highlight certain characteristics specific to the mono-industrial towns, which identity was lost along with the territorial, urban and socio-economic evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The offshore wind energy sector will flourish in the next few decades to meet global climate change commitments and energy demand. All EU Member States are required to develop marine spatial planning in order to facilitate the transition to a green economy. Even though these proposed offshore wind farms are essential for the energy transition, the visual impact of their implementation could serve as an obstacle to their deployment. A methodological framework is proposed to assess the visual impact of offshore wind farms. The current paper quantifies their visual impact, compares the results with nearby citizens' opinions, and proposes a realistic approach. Personal interviews took place in August to meet as many people as possible since these villages are primarily touristic. In both examined scenarios, according to the results of the methodology (Greek legislation) the first limitation is met, so there is no or minimal visual impact. Furthermore, the respondents replied that they would not experience any optical disturbance from an offshore wind farm in their region. Additionally, according to the respondents, 64% are positive or very positive about renewable energy exploitation, and only 11% are against it regardless of their age. • A methodology is tested concerning the visual impact of offshore wind farms. • In parallel, a survey was conducted with the residents from nearby areas. • In both cases, the results showed that there is no or minimal visual impact. • People generally support renewable energy technologies. • Sparsely located wind turbines will result in a more pleasant landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual impact of cultural and historical monuments determined by surrounding plants is the focus of discussion in the paper. Their influence on passengers and onlookers sidelong roadways and trails is described in detail. A great number of practical examples have been examined with the purpose of drawing some general conclusions from this problem to the advantage of landscape design practice. The result of the analysis shows a considerable role of vegetation in visual impact of monuments over the observers. Using color photographs and observations from a number of different positions for a lot of monuments and memorials the survey concludes that from the standpoint of aesthetic value or attractiveness the vegetation often plays a leading role. It is not a detailed study of compositional principles for the formation of spaces around the monuments, but demonstrates the complexity of the problem and gave some results in addition to the theoretical foundations in this respect. Although the scenic beauty metrics are quite debatable and controversial case it is hoped that the conclusions of this paper will facilitate needed discussion on vegetation appropriateness and usefulness in monument's landscape design.

Tall buildings have become an integral part of cities despite all their pros and cons. Some current tall buildings have several problems because of their unsuitable location; the problems include increasing density, imposing traffic on urban thoroughfares, blocking view corridors, etc. Some of these buildings have destroyed desirable views of the city. In this research, different criteria have been chosen, such as environment, access, social-economic, land-use, and physical context. These criteria and sub-criteria are prioritized and weighted by the analytic network process (ANP) based on experts’ opinions, using Super Decisions V2.8 software. On the other hand, layers corresponding to sub-criteria were made in ArcGIS 10.3 simultaneously, then via a weighted overlay (map algebra), a locating plan was created. In the next step seven hypothetical tall buildings (20 stories), in the best part of the locating plan, were considered to evaluate how much of theses hypothetical buildings would be visible (fuzzy visibility) from the street and open spaces throughout the city. These processes have been modeled by MATLAB software, and the final fuzzy visibility plan was created by ArcGIS. Fuzzy visibility results can help city managers and planners to choose which location is suitable for a tall building and how much visibility may be appropriate. The proposed model can locate tall buildings based on technical and visual criteria in the future development of the city and it can be widely used in any city as long as the criteria and weights are localized.

With the increasing awareness of energy efficiency, many old buildings have to undergo a massive facade energy retrofit. How to predict the visual impact which solar installations on the aesthetic cultural value of these buildings has been a heated debate in Switzerland (and throughout the world). The usual evaluation method to describe the visual impact of BIPV is based on semantic and qualitative descriptors, and strongly dependent on personal preferences. The evaluation scale is therefore relative, flexible and imprecise. This paper proposes a new method to accurately measure the visual impact which BIPV installations have on a historical building by using the saliency map method. By imitating working principles of the human eye, it is measured how much the BIPV design proposals differ from the original building facade in the aspect of attracting human visual attention. The result is directly presented in a quantitative manner, and can be used to compare the fitness of different BIPV design proposals. The measuring process is numeric, objective and more precise.

Growing international demand for renewable energy has led to rapid growth in the wind power sector and wind farms are becoming an increasingly common feature of landscapes and seascapes in many countries. However, as the most appropriate locations within established markets are taken up, and as wind power penetrates new markets, there is an increasing likelihood that proposed projects will encroach on sensitive landscapes and residential areas. This will present challenges for the industry, particularly due to the impact that public opinion can have upon the outcomes of planning decisions about specific projects. This article introduces the four key dimensions of the WindNet programme, which are helping to elucidate some of the socio-technical debates that will likely shape the future of the wind power sector. The article outlines studies investigating (1) public responses to cumulative landscape and visual impacts, (2) the auditory impact of wind power projects on human health, (3) the science of wind farm design and its implications for planning, and (4) the relevance of the democratic deficit explanation of the so-called "social gap" in wind farm siting. The outcomes of the research being conducted by WindNet stand to help reduce uncertainty within the planning process and assist in providing a more comprehensive and fairer assessment of the possible impacts associated with wind power project development.

Over the last few years, topics of displaying, presentation, lighting, energy saving and issues related to the environment while selling the fresh food (fruits, vegetable, bakery products, meat) are becoming an important matter among traders. However, just bigger companies with transnational capital have devoted their attention to this issue yet. Generally, the energy costs make up 70% of operating costs in retail stores where the cooling system and lighting are the most energy consuming. Accent lighting in modern retails is largely involved in the overall design and atmosphere in shops and plays a crucial role in presenting the goods as well. Using of accent lighting can draw the customer's attention to a specific part of the sales area and achieve the overall harmonization in the store. With the rational using of combination of energy saving and effective accent lighting retailers can achieve not only attractive presentation of displayed products but also appreciable savings in the operation of their stores. It is the only factor that can be exactly measured and controlled. Using a Colour and Lux Meters we found out the intensity and color temperature of accent lighting used in domestic and foreign retail chains for the different kinds of fresh food products. Based on the obtained values we have compiled graphs, which are showing visual comfort. We also identified different types of accent lighting, which we assigned to their impact on emotional involvement of consumers. The starting points were the tests we conducted in simulated laboratory conditions. While searching of a compromise between effective and energy efficient accent lighting we take into consideration consumers' emotional response as well as the annual electricity consumption of different types of light sources. At the end we recommend options for energy-efficient, effective and spectacular lighting while using the optimal number of light sources and their logical organization, automatic control as well as using energy-saving LED lights or practical skylights. Improvements in energy efficiency of technical equipments could reduce the operating costs for retailers as well as enhance the attractiveness of displayed goods and customer satisfaction and thereby increase their sales.

Highlights • Solar refurbishment strategies of existing building envelopes are tailored. • Sunlit roof area is matched with visibility from public space and urban sensitivity. • Different urban planning scales are considered, from the metropolis to the district. • Average visibility per roof typology is also explored. • There is a high solar energy potential on roofs affected by low public perception. Abstract Urban areas are facing a growing deployment of solar photovoltaic and thermal technologies on building envelopes, both on roofs and on façades. An effective solar energy planning process considers social acceptance, in relation to the landscape alteration induced by the solar modules. "Visual impact" is often considered as a major component of social acceptance but comprehensive visibility assessment models are lacking at the scale of the city. This paper presents a scale-dependent methodology to assess the visibility of building envelope surfaces exposed to solar radiation, which could host solar modules, in urban areas. A match between annual solar radiation, visibility and socio-cultural sensitivity of the built environment are proposed in a multi-criteria decision framework. Results are illustrated for the city of Geneva (Switzerland), as a case study: a partial overlap between highly sensitive urban areas and high visual interest is identified at the broad, strategic planning scale. In a second more detailed phase, a frequency breakdown of buildings is provided, according to the (non-) visible share of useful roof area for solar energy production. Less visible roofs are more likely to be situated in courtyards, far from the streets, in deep urban canyons or on low-pitched roofs. The outcomes indicate that stakeholders can reasonably expect to harvest a serious amount of solar energy by means of building integrated solar systems without crucially affecting public perception. In Geneva, more than 50 m2/building of non-visible roof surface receiving sufficient solar radiation for an economically viable solar refurbishment is available over half of the buildings. This method is valuable for large districts or cities (i) to spot more/less visible building sets and to estimate adapted precinct refurbishment strategies; (ii) to compare visibility on a common conventional basis and to detect zones deserving further investigations at the finer scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review describes the infrastructural elements of the socio-technical system of power supply based on renewables and the role of landscape concerns in decision-making about emerging ‘intelligent grids’. The considerable land areas required for energy infrastructure call for sizable ‘distributed generation’ close to energy consumption. Securing community acceptance of renewables’ infrastructure, perceived impacts on the community, and ‘landscape justice’ requires two types of co-production: in power supply and in making space available. With co-production, landscape issues are prominent, for some options dominant. However, ‘objectification’ of landscape, such as the use of ‘visibility’ as proxy for ‘visual impact’, is part of lingering centralised and hierarchical approaches to the deployment of renewables. Institutional tendencies of centralisation and hierarchy, in power supply management as well as in siting, should be replaced by co-production, as follows from common pool resources theory. Co-production is the key to respecting landscape values, furthering justice, and achieving community acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It seems that Orientalism is enjoying a resurgence, offering yet more distorted images of the Muslim world, and more specifically Muslim women. In this essay, I take Jan Goodwin’s Price of Honor as a case in point, a book which projects images that seem to galvanize around an inferior Muslim world where men are bloodthirsty, polygamous and helplessly oppressive of female members of their families. The book reiterates Edward Said’s views on the West’s creation of an “imagined” Orient, yet adds to it new charted cartographies of a reductionist Islamic world that allegedly possesses identical traits. First, the paratextual elements of Goodwin’s book are quite revealing: the cover picture of veiled Afghani women, the sensational title, chapter titles, epigraphs and maps are extremely telling of the preconceived ideas on which the book rests and which the text only supports. The language chosen and the “facts” listed in Goodwin’s account reflect an obvious Orientalist perspective and lead to erroneous overgeneralization that would in turn offer readers distorted images of Islamic cultures and peoples. Goodwin’s work unfortunately seems to offer a superficial understanding of Islam and is an example of the Islamophobia currently pervading the world. Thus, Goodwin fails in her mission to “lift the veil of silence” of Arab women and instead helps in propagating negative images of Muslim women through revisited Orientalist lenses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of ZARCH: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture & Urbanism is the property of Universidad de Zaragoza and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the utility of 3D immersive media for enhancing public attitudes toward rare, open-canopied habitat restoration where the proposed treatments and outcomes may appear risky, unsightly, and at odds with people's sense of place in a forested landscape. We used 360° videos and video game software to build the first desktop-based, virtual tour of fire-dependent Pine Barrens restoration practices in Wisconsin's Northwoods in order to intervene where stakeholders have disapproved of pine barrens through conventional messaging. The study measured changes in attitudes toward clear-cutting, prescribed fire, and pine barrens between participant groups in a 2D- and 3D-media informational intervention including 73 subjects from Wisconsin and Minnesota. Results showed that both media interventions significantly enhanced attitudes across all three target categories, despite increased spatial presence, or immersion, in the 3D format. Against the 2D treatment, the 3D tour significantly enhanced both people's aesthetic sense of pine barrens and their attitudes toward this landscape for those whose initial attitudes were neutral or negative. • 2D and 3D media equally enhance public attitudes on prairie-like habitat restoration. • 2D and 3D media equally enhance public attitudes on intensive treatments like fire. • Interactive 3D media is apt to improve aesthetic judgments of lesser valued habitats. • 3D media better convinces neutral or oppositional publics to approve of pine barrens. • Public attitudes to mechanical thinning are more rigid than views on prescribed fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIM:To investigate the visual impact of sub-Tenon anesthesia during combined phacoemulsification and vitrectomy surgery.METHODS:In this prospective case series, consecutive patients who underwent combined phacoemulsification and pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) under sub-Tenon anesthesia between October 2008 and September 2009 were enrolled. The patients were asked whether they could see the light of the operating microscope or not between various surgical steps with their contralateral eye being covered.RESULTS:A total of 163 eyes of 163 patients were enrolled in this study. After their contralateral eyes were covered, 152 (93.3%) patients said that they could not see any light at least during one of the surgical steps. All eyes recovered to at least light perception on the first postoperative day. The incidence of no light perception during the surgery was not related to demographic factors, including age, gender, or type of ocular diseases.CONCLUSION:The incidence of no light perception during combined phacoemulsification and vitrectomy under sub-Tenon anesthesia was high in our study. Patients should be duly informed about this temporary but potential intraoperative event.

The objective of this paper is to introduce a method that quantifies the degree of visibility of an offshore wind farm from an observer located along the coast. Due to the relative vicinity with living areas, the installation of an offshore wind farm leads in many cases to public opposition. Therefore, there is still a need to provide planners and decision makers appropriate methods and objective criteria to actually evaluate the visual impact of offshore wind farms. The aim is to provide an intelligible method for visual assessment that can be applied and used within a full decision-aid system oriented towards offshore wind turbines. A visual operator that takes into account the visual distance of an observer located on the ground to the farms layout is introduced. Such operator is based on the aggregation of three different indexes. The horizon occupation is the main index, it evaluates the horizon surface impact. This parameter is modulated by a second index that computes the number of distinguishable turbines and a third index considered as an aesthetic one based on turbine alignments. The whole method is implemented on top of a Geographical Information System (GIS). Overall, the approach provides an estimation of the visual impact without further need for local surveys, it is conceived as a decision-aided mechanism oriented to decision-makers and that can be used at the preliminary steps of the study of an offshore wind farm. The whole approach is experimented in the context of a wind farm in North West France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of new high voltage overhead power lines (HVOPLs) has become a controversial issue for electricity companies due to social opposition. Citizens are concerned about how these power lines may have an impact on their lives, basically caused by their effects on health and safety. Visual impact is one of the most easily perceived. Although there are several published works that deal with the assessment of the visual impact produced by HVOPLs, no methodology has been proposed to assess this impact from an objective perspective. This work presents an original methodology which helps to identify the optimal routes for a new HVOPL under an objective observability criterion, enabling the selection of those with the lowest visibility in a zone. The application of the proposed methodology achieves a set of routes that links new HVOPL origin and destination points creating a corridor which includes all possible routes with an observability of its towers under a threshold limit. This methodology is illustrated by a real-life use corresponding to the selection of the route with least observability for a new power line in La Rioja (Spain). The results obtained may help to achieve a consensus between key stakeholders since it is focused on the specific issues of the planned HVOPL and its observability from an objective perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much is currently being studied on the negative visual impact associated to the installation of large wind turbines or photovoltaic farms. However, methodologies for quantitatively assessing landscape impact are scarce. In this work we used electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings to investigate the brain activity of 14 human volunteers when looking at the same landscapes with and without wind turbines, solar panels and nuclear power plants. Our results showed no significant differences for landscapes with solar power systems or without them, and the same happened for wind turbines, what was in agreement with their subjective scores. However, there were clear and significant differences when looking at landscapes with and without nuclear power plants. These differences were more pronounced around a time window of 376–407 msec and showed a clear right lateralization for the pictures containing nuclear power plants. Although more studies are still needed, these results suggest that EEG recordings can be a useful procedure for measuring visual impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In historical and consolidated contexts, the influence of visual factors and landscape perception may limit the possible integration of renewable energy systems (RES) and retrofitting actions. However, in several cases, these restrictions do not take into account the real visibility of a landmark or landscape excellence, causing constraints and limitations in zones where the visual effect is non-existent or limited. The paper will introduce, using 3-D GIS mutual-visibility analyses and social network geo-referred information, an indicator of visibility to define the expected impact of an RES. This methodology may help designers and administrations when re-defining the effect of such technologies on the preservation of the local visual impact of landmarks and points of interest without exceeding in restriction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human actions in the natural environment create a visual impact. The main objective of this study was to examine the acceptance of vegetation screens for integrating buildings into the landscape using new techniques of visualization in three dimensions (3D), videos and public participation. The status quo of two study areas representative of the Mediterranean climate in Spain (one inland and one coastal) was modelled, placing vegetation screens around a building typical of the area and varying the density, species, and layout of plants. After establishing a series of scenarios, videos showing a simulation of outdoor tourism activities performed at varying speeds were created to analyse how movement affects the perception of the combination of a building and vegetation screen in the versions created. The 3D models generated were subjected to a survey for public participation and to allow respondents to rate their preferences of the videos created. The results show that adding vegetation always improves the integration of buildings into the landscape. The most highly rated vegetation screen placed around the buildings in the two scenarios was high density vegetation, irrespective of the layout or species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaics) integration in urban spaces requires, not only careful technical, but also aesthetic considerations as its visual impact is seen as a kind of environmental effect. To manage this effect, different methods were developed to measure it; however, most existing evaluation methods are either based on subjective speculations and have no continuous criteria standards, or they do not show much relevance to neuropsychological findings. This paper presents an alternative and complementary method for evaluating the BIPV visual impact using the saliency method with an objective, quantitative and neuropsychological-based approach. The application of the method was tested and is discussed in the context of an example case study in Switzerland. Several different BIPV designs were developed for the case study, purposely in ways that made it difficult to rank their visual impacts with one’s subjective instinct. Using the proposed saliency method; however, the differences in BIPV visual impact across all designs could be identified, demonstrated and calculated sensitively. Potential applications of this proposed method include being a helping tool in deciding which BIPV design causes the least or most visual impact among others. Additionally, when combined with solar cadaster, the method enables a comprehensive estimation of BIPV potential in urban areas from both technical and societal aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to present a method that qualifies the degree of visibility of an offshore wind farm from an observer located along the coast. In many cases, the deployment of an offshore wind farm leads to public opposition. This entails the need for the development of appropriate methods that might present in the most intelligible way the impacts of an offshore wind farm. Amongst many factors to take into account, the visual impact of such farms is surely a factor to take into account. We introduce a visual operator that integrates several parameters that mainly depend on the distance of the wind farm to the coast. We apply a measure that evaluates the horizon surface impact modulated by the number of distinguishable turbines and an aesthetic index based on turbine alignments. The whole method is implemented on top of Geographical Information System (GIS) and provides a decision-aid mechanism oriented to decision-makers. The whole approach is experimented in the context of a wind farm in North West France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Certain buildings are required in urban green spaces by Chinese regulations, and their area depends on the type and area of the green space. The sizes of individual buildings and the extent of dispersion among buildings in a group dramatically influences the local ecological environment and landscape. However, there is a lack of effective methods for evaluating the distribution of buildings, and it is difficult to plan and manage the arrangement of buildings in green spaces. Based on geostatistical methods for describing the distribution of geographic objects, this study presents the Index of Distribution (IOD) to describe the distribution pattern of buildings in green spaces. Yuhuatai Park and Qingliangshan Park of Nanjing are chosen as cases to verify the effectiveness of the IOD. This paper also presents a genetic algorithm-based model that can generate the plan of buildings corresponding to a specific IOD. The model provides considerable flexibility in buildings locations. The results of the model can be used as a valuable reference in the planning of buildings in green spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Three groups of stakeholders are mainly involved in the planning, assessment, and approval processes for wind parks: the planners, the public, and the responsible public authorities. These groups have varying aims, and there are various ways of looking at proposals to set up a wind park. In particular, the viewpoints of planners and government officers are likely to differ. Planners are likely to focus on technical aspects of a wind farm project, while the public authorities are likely to be oriented toward environmental considerations. Methods: The effect of respondents' characteristics on landscape perception was analysed using generalized linear mixed models (GLMM). Set of various landscape images with and without wind turbines (WTs) was evaluated on a 15-points scale. The evaluation was accomplished with additional questions about general attitude toward wind energy, willingness to live close to WTs and presence of WTs near respondents´ homes. Results: Using a questionnaire presented to university students in technical study programmes and to students in environmental study programmes, it has been determined that educational orientation substantially influences people's perception of wind turbines (WTs). Respondents pursuing technical studies evaluated landscapes with WTs more positively than did students in environmentally oriented study programmes. In addition, the responses of students in environmental study programmes were influenced by their general attitude toward wind energy, unlike the responses of the technically oriented students. We also examined the influence of respondents' other characteristics on their perceptions of WTs in the landscape, including their general attitude toward wind energy and their willingness to live near WTs, toward the presence of WTs in the vicinity of their place of residence, and interactions among these factors. Conclusions: Our study indicates the importance of education in planning wind parks. Sanctioning bodies should be able to evaluate each proposed project adequately and impartially, and to assess the potential level of impact of the proposal on the landscape and on landscape values, including aesthetic values, and on the population, and also other impacts caused by the construction and the functioning of WTs. This kind of professional knowledge is also very important for planners. One way to raise students' awareness and their professional knowledge could be through interdisciplinary coursework on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ra'e Ga is the property of Ra'e Ga - O Espaco Geografico em Analise and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Offshore wind power comprises a relatively new challenge for the international wind industry with a demonstration history of around twenty years and a ten-year commercial history for large, utility-scale projects. By comparison to other forms of electric power generation, offshore wind energy is generally considered to have relatively benign effects on the marine environment. However, offshore projects include platforms, turbines, cables, substations, grids, interconnection and shipping, dredging and associated construction activity. The Operation & Maintenance (O&M) activities include the transport of employees by vessel or helicopter and occasional hardware retrofits. Therefore, various impacts are incurred in the construction, operation and decommissioning phases; mainly the underwater noise and the impacts on the fauna. Based on the fact that in many of the aforementioned issues there are still serious environmental uncertainties, contradictive views and emerging research, the present work intents to provide a thorough literature review on the environmental and social impacts of offshore wind energy projects in comparison with the onshore counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual impact is one of the major environmental impacts of motorways and requires adequate assessment. This study investigated the effect of traffic noise on the perceived visual impact of motorway traffic by comparing impact with sound to impact without sound. Computer visualisation and edited audio recordings were used to simulate different traffic and landscape scenarios, varying in four traffic conditions, two types of landscape, and three viewing distances. Subjective visual judgments on the simulated scenes with and without sound were obtained in a laboratory experiment. The results show that motorway traffic induced significant visual impact. In both sound conditions, increases in traffic volume led to higher visual impact and changes in traffic composition changed the impact significantly when traffic flow was low. Visual impact was significantly higher in the natural landscape and the increment was largely constant and independent from the effect of traffic condition in both sound conditions. The effect of viewing distance was also significant and there was a rapid-to-gentle decrease of visual impact by distance both with and without sound, but the decrease with sound was less rapid and the decrease pattern less clear. Overall, introduction of traffic noise increased the visual impact by a largely constant level which did not show clear dependence with noise level, traffic condition, landscape type, or viewing distance, although there was a possible effect of viewing distance on the increase. It suggests that the additional impact caused by traffic noise should be considered in visual impact assessment of motorway projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the overall performance of noise barriers in mitigating environmental impact of motorways, taking into consideration their effects on reducing noise and visual intrusions of moving traffic, but also potentially inducing visual impact themselves. A laboratory experiment was carried out, using computer-visualised video scenes and motorway traffic noise recordings to present experimental scenarios covering two traffic levels, two distances of receiver to road, two types of background landscape, and five barrier conditions including motorway only, motorway with tree belt, motorways with 3 m timber barrier, 5 m timber barrier, and 5 m transparent barrier. Responses from 30 participants of university students were gathered and perceived barrier performance analysed. The results show that noise barriers were always beneficial in mitigating environmental impact of motorways, or made no significant changes in environmental quality when the impact of motorways was low. Overall, barriers only offered similar mitigation effect as compared to tree belt, but showed some potential to be more advantageous when traffic level went high. 5 m timber barrier tended to perform better than the 3 m one at the distance of 300 m but not at 100 m possibly due to its negative visual effect when getting closer. The transparent barrier did not perform much differently from the timber barriers but tended to be the least effective in most scenarios. Some low positive correlations were found between aesthetic preference for barriers and environmental impact reduction by the barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large scale transportation projects can adversely affect the visual perception of environmental quality and require adequate visual impact assessment. In this study, we investigated the effects of the characteristics of the road project and the character of the existing landscape on the perceived visual impact of motorways, and developed a GIS-based prediction model based on the findings. An online survey using computer-visualised scenes of different motorway and landscape scenarios was carried out to obtain perception-based judgements on the visual impact. Motorway scenarios simulated included the baseline scenario without road, original motorway, motorways with timber noise barriers, transparent noise barriers and tree screen; different landscape scenarios were created by changing land cover of buildings and trees in three distance zones. The landscape content of each scene was measured in GIS. The result shows that presence of a motorway especially with the timber barrier significantly decreases the visual quality of the view. The resulted visual impact tends to be lower where it is less visually pleasant with more buildings in the view, and can be slightly reduced by the visual absorption effect of the scattered trees between the motorway and the viewpoint. Based on the survey result, eleven predictors were identified for the visual impact prediction model which was applied in GIS to generate maps of visual impact of motorways in different scenarios. The proposed prediction model can be used to achieve efficient and reliable assessment of visual impact of motorways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research suggests a common mismatch between visual expectations and development outcomes. Is this merely a problem of poor translation of expert knowledge? Or does it also relate more broadly to the use of visualizations within practice? This paper explores the potential for virtual reality (VR) to alleviate such concerns within the formal process of landscape and visual impact assessment (LVIA). Drawing from literature on science/policy interactions, VR can be regarded as an object potentially facilitating ‘boundary work' between various actors and hopefully helping to better match visual expectations to development outcomes. Viewed through this lens, VR may enhance the translation of expert knowledge into policy arenas and have agency to encourage improved communication and negotiation between the various actors involved. The views of landscape practitioners suggest that VR has potential to facilitate such improved ‘boundary work', but only if there is a focus on credibility and legitimacy. Such a focus may limit the salience of VR to LVIA. Despite the challenges of implementation, it is argued that enhancing ‘boundary work' should be a key focus within future visualization research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The construction of new high voltage overhead power lines (HVOPLs) has become a controversial issue for electricity companies due to social opposition. Citizens are concerned about how these power lines may have an impact on their lives, basically caused by their effects on health and safety. Visual impact is one of the most easily perceived. Although there are several published works that deal with the assessment of the visual impact produced by HVOPLs, no methodology has been proposed to assess this impact from an objective perspective. This work presents an original methodology which helps to identify the optimal routes for a new HVOPL under an objective observability criterion, enabling the selection of those with the lowest visibility in a zone. The application of the proposed methodology achieves a set of routes that links new HVOPL origin and destination points creating a corridor which includes all possible routes with an observability of its towers under a threshold limit. This methodology is illustrated by a real-life use corresponding to the selection of the route with least observability for a new power line in La Rioja (Spain). The results obtained may help to achieve a consensus between key stakeholders since it is focused on the specific issues of the planned HVOPL and its observability from an objective perspective.