Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 205–212 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment jo ur n al homepage: www.elsevier.com/lo cate/agee A simplified model to assess landscape quality from rural roads in Spain Álvaro Ramírez ∗ , Esperanza Ayuga-Téllez, Eutiquio Gallego, José María Fuentes, Ana Isabel García BIPREE Research Group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 30 November 2010 Received in revised form 4 May 2011 Accepted 4 May 2011 Available online 8 June 2011 Keywords: Landscape Assessment methods Rural roads Significant factors Spain a b s t r a c t The present work proposes a simplified model for assessing the quality of landscapes from rural roads in Spain. The proposed model is based on the full Ca˜ nas method but takes into account only four of the 16 factors, the latter contemplates: vegetation, land use, form (elements differing from the background) and texture (reflection of light from surfaces). The procedure was tested by assessing the landscapes captured in 109 photographs taken from sections of rural roads around Spain and comparing the results with (a) those obtained using the full Ca˜ nas model, and (b) the landscape preferences of the evaluators determined using the Likert scale. The correlation between the Ca˜ nas method and the proposed model was strong (R 2 = 98.5%), indicating that the simplified model is sufficient for landscape quality assessment in the present setting. A strong correlation (R 2 = 96.24%) was also found between the landscape quality values obtained using the simplified model and the landscape preferences of the evaluators recorded via the Likert scale. The proposed model differentiates between the landscapes seen from the rural roads better than the Ca˜ nas method and could be used in the planning of rural roads and other transport infrastructures (greenways, railways, highways, etc.) around Spain and even in other parts of the Mediterranean after further validation. It might also be employed in the decision-making process surrounding the investments to be made in existing but deteriorated rural roads with agricultural and/or leisure uses. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The assessment of landscape quality is a multidisciplinary activ- ity that can be approached in different ways depending on the aims of such assessment and the training of the people involved (Palmer and Hoffman, 2001). Experts in landscape architecture, engineering, psychology and planning, all approach assessment from different angles (Carlson, 1977; Ribe, 1982; Dearden, 1987; Ayuga, 2001; Tassinari and Torreggiani, 2006). However, the litera- ture shows there to be two clearly differentiated main approaches that can be followed (Briggs and France, 1980; Lothian, 1999; Arriaza et al., 2004). The first assumes that landscapes have an objective or intrinsic beauty that can be quantified via the pres- ence of physical or aesthetic components or factors (Daniel and Boster, 1976; Smardon, 1983; Schauman, 1986; Coeterier, 1996). The main criticism of this is that it does not take into account the subjective, psychological components particular to each observer (i.e., the observer’s emotions, motivations, memories and prefer- ences) (Dunn, 1976). The second is based on arriving at an average for the evaluations made by a number of persons (general public or experts), each of which must perforce bring his or her own sub- jective components into the assessment procedure (Arthur et al., ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 91 336 5620; fax: +34 91 336 5625. E-mail address: alvaro.ramirez@upm.es (Á. Ramírez). 1977; Briggs and France, 1980; Bernáldez et al., 1989; Pérez, 2002). In an attempt to unify these approaches, some authors have advo- cated the joint use of physical, aesthetic and psychological factors in their evaluations (Russell and Pratt, 1980; Zube et al., 1982; Kaplan, 1988; Hernández et al., 2004a; Ca˜ nas et al., 2009), investing each with more or less importance depending on the purpose of the assessment. In the 1970s and 1980s a number of US agencies (USDA Forest Service, 1974; USDA Soil Conservation Service, 1978; USDI Bureau of Land Management, 1980; USDOT, 1981) proposed practical methods for assessing the visual quality of landscapes taking into account physical (land form of the terrain, vegetation, water and man-made structures) and aesthetic (colour, form, line, texture, scale and spatial dominance) factors. The possible modification of these factors and the introduction of others has been a matter of dis- cussion (Coeterier, 1996; Ayuga, 2001; Sevenant and Antrop, 2009). Although these methods base their assessment on expert opinion, Smardon et al. (1988) argues that the subjectivity of the public’s preferences should be incorporated via the surveying of different local people. The most exhaustive form of assessment involves evaluators making direct observations in the field. The use of photographs, however, allows assessment work to be performed in the office, reducing costs (Dunn, 1976; Shafer and Brush, 1977; Shuttleworth, 1980; Stewart et al., 1984; Hull and Stewart, 1992; Wherrett, 2000; Pérez, 2002). Notwithstanding, Palmer and Hoffman (2001), who 0167-8809/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2011.05.007