Landscape assessment of engineered and man-made slopes

Abstract

There is a broad consensus in society that landscape is an important asset that needs to be protected. In recent decades, although substantial efforts have been invested in better understanding and describing landscape, the inclusion of landscape values in daily decision making in the mining and civil engineering fields is a relatively new notion. In this paper, broadening of the scope of traditional slope design is proposed (i.e. to create stable and economic slopes or retaining walls) to take account of environmental and aesthetic values. For this purpose an indirect landscape assessment method is developed, based on quantitatively rating aspects such as morphology, colour distribution and vegetation, so as to produce a score for landscape quality. The results are compared with those resulting from an online survey based on direct assessment of 30 photographed landscapes, resulting in a reasonably good correlation. This indirect assessment method is also applied to a practical case study of drystone as opposed to concrete retaining walls. Use of this method is recommended as an approach to including environmental and aesthetic values in practices like mining and civil engineering that have traditionally altered landscapes.