Landscape and Urban Planning 122 (2014) 108–121 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Landscape and Urban Planning jou rn al hom epage : www.elsevier.com/locate/landurbplan Research Paper Uncovering landscape values and micro-geographies of meanings with the go-along method Julie Bergeron a,1 , Sylvain Paquette b,∗ , Philippe Poullaouec-Gonidec b a University of Montreal, Faculté de l’aménagement, C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada b Chair in Landscape and Environmental Design, University of Montreal, Faculté de l’aménagement, C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada h i g h l i g h t s • Diverse opinions toward the built environment, natural areas valued by all. • Loop and cul-de-sac movements as gradual progressions leading to climaxes. • Interrupted movement revealed physical and psychological limits between places. • Access to implicit and sensitive aspects of landscape experience with go-along. • Go-along as an effective tool to elicit a wide array of perceptions about places. a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 27 August 2012 Received in revised form 8 November 2013 Accepted 12 November 2013 Available online 14 December 2013 Keywords: Landscape values Place Neighborhoods Mobile methodologies Go-along Urban planning a b s t r a c t Benefiting from recent developments in landscape anthropology, the objective of this research is to explore the landscape experiences and values of residents of a small city in the Greater Montreal area (Quebec, Canada). Given the lack of local knowledge, there is an urgent need for developing innovative and productive methods for revealing the implicit meanings attached to places and for facilitating community input and participation. Drawn from the mobile methodologies paradigm, the so-called go-along method, which consists of conducting on-site and mobile interviews, was chosen for its potential to generate place-bound narratives and reveal landscape values. While showing room for improvement, the go-along method proved to be original and productive for reaching the objectives of our research as it allows for revealing micro-geographies of meanings. In the analysis stage, we combined all the data produced into one single comprehensive interface so as to create a nexus of narrative, geographic and visual data. The results show that the residents’ knowledge is undeniably rich and relevant for understanding the diverse values which people have of landscapes. The exercise of bringing locals to express their perceptions and preoccupations in regards to their living environment thus constitutes a valuable complement to the traditional expert perspective. As such, the go-along method merits becoming an integral part of land management practices and offers great potential for further studies in landscape and urban planning. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Recently, a renewed interest in the theory of landscape and place has brought attention to everyday experiences and local knowledge (Arefi & Triantafillou, 2005; Council of Europe, 2000; Gustafson, 2001; Manzo & Perkins, 2006; Smaldone, Harris, & Sanyal, 2005). However, the majority of landscape research still focuses on ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 514 343 6111x3899. E-mail addresses: julie.bergeron.12@umontreal.ca (J. Bergeron), sylvain.paquette@umontreal.ca (S. Paquette), philippe.poullaouec-gonidec@umontreal.ca (P. Poullaouec-Gonidec). 1 Tel.: +1 514 343 6111x0232. the types of landscapes that most people have no immediate contact with, such as those studied in resource and environmental management. There thus remains a need for research specifically on ordinary landscapes, such as urban or suburban landscapes (Conrad, Christie, & Fazey, 2011a) and how these figure in peoples’ everyday lives (Lupi & Musterd, 2006). Currently, small cities of metropolitan areas are under great pressure by real estate deve- lopment due to an increasing demand for housing. This generates a competitive climate in which cities engage in promotion activities to emphasize their attractiveness and quality of life. Yet, despite these cities’ efforts to stand out as unique, new developments are planned according to standardized practices, resulting in repetitive landscapes from one city to the next. Perkins (1989) has attributed this phenomenon to an overarching narrative that, shared by real 0169-2046/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.11.009