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Urban landscapes - everyday environmental encounters, their meaning and importance for the individual

This is a fully peer reviewed paper published in the international journal – Urban Ecosystems - investigating the everyday experience of urban landscapes, exploring the individual/personal meanings associated with landscape encounters. It presents original research concerning perception of the landscape, linked with the development of theoretical constructs regarding the multi-dimensional facets of well-being (illustrative of the approaches developed by Coles). The co-authors were PhD students (both completed) supervised by Coles. Millman’s work was funded by the AHRC in the form of a CDA, in collaboration with British Waterways; ideas developed in the paper were instrumental in the successful development of a CDA application to AHRC concerning landscape perception in the Wye Valley (started October 2013).

Key aspects of the paper concern - the role/functioning of everyday environmental elements within the urban scene, the concept and formation of ‘loops’, i.e. the reflexive cycles of sensory input and construction of meaning associated with engagement in the landscape, how they are specific to individual experience and the subsequent positive, meaningful associations. The collection of qualitative data involving - residents’ perceptions of street trees in a residential environment in SW England, and - user experience of the central canal-scape of Birmingham, UK. Methodologies, include survey questionnaires, interviews, walking-and-talking methods, as well as self-narrated walking. Findings suggest that a shift change is required in the ways that we evaluate users’ experiences of the environment to consider impact in the specific context of individual identities, to embrace methodologies which are capable of revealing their deep meaning and importance of these elements to the individual.