Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009
This essay has sought to draw together some of the reasons behind the recent upsurge in interest in the systematic evaluation of scenic beauty. It has covered a wide range of disciplines, because of the multi-faceted nature of feelings about landscape. These feelings have been synthesized into four themes representing landscape as a non-renewable resource, as a recreational resource, as a spiritual resource, and finally as a historical resource. Undoubtedly many other equally valid reasons exist as to why the visual resource of the landscape should be recognized as an important consideration in land-use planning decisions.