Some factors affecting coastal landscape aesthetic quality assessment

Seventy beaches in Wales, UK, were investigated with regard to quality of beach scenery using video panoramas. Scenic beauty was judged by three groups: coastal managers/academics; students in environmental sciences; and technical staff with no environmental training. Cloud cover at time of filming had a significant effect on scoring so a correction was applied for further data analysis. A strong preference was observed for undeveloped beaches over those where anthropogenic structures were prominent (p = 0.00), and for beaches with high relative relief. Beach commercialization level had an independent effect only on scores from the student group (p = 0.02). Results suggested that coastal managers/academics may assess beach landscape quality according to different criteria to those applied by people with no environmental training. Extreme scores did not seem to be well predicted by analysis of quantifiable landscape components and scores from the untrained judging group were also less predictable. The findings could contribute to coastal aesthetic resource management by demonstrating the feasibility of quantitatively assessing beach scenic quality for a large number of beaches. Identification, albeit tentative, of landscape parameters important in scenic quality assessment by various stakeholder groups could also contribute to the coastal management/planning process.