On-site landscape perception analysis with visitor generated contents in Bukhansan National Park

Abstract

Protected areas such as national parks need to be managed in consideration of positive or negative human impacts, including recreational and tourism activities, along with conservation of biodiversity. The landscape, which is a representative environmental resource of national parks, needs to be utilized more and more, but systematic survey and assessment system that meets it is still insufficient. In addition, the current research and evaluation methods are carried out by the expert-led approaches excluding the public such as visitors, local residents, and that it was done in such a way as to make one landscape better or worse rather than different from another. This problem is due to the lack of understanding of the pluralistic value of the landscape. The more fundamental reason is the lack of consideration of the relationship between humans and nature, which creates such pluralistic values. Landscape matters to humans and inseparable from each other. In particular, human experience of landscape is very important. On the other hand, there is a growing movement to reflect social values to manage sustainable environmental resources. Therefore, it is imperative to grasp public perception in order not only to reflect public opinions for democratic environmental management but also to lead active participation. However, existing landscape perception research has been conducted solely of other landscape-related studies, or it has been mainly focused on visual-oriented preference analysis by quantitative response to a part of the perception. It is necessary to discuss a new method to explore landscape perception based on holistic view that recognizes ecological, socio-cultural, economic value of landscape as equivalent value while overcoming limit of existing method. The purpose of this study is to propose a method to understand on-site landscape perception of national park visitors. Furthermore, based on the results, some application for national park management will be discussed. In this study, conceptual framework is presented to understand commonality and diversity of perception. First, the object of landscape are divided into spatial configurations and specific elements as well as ephemeral events. Then, the perception of landscape was divided into four levels of cognitive process (perceptual, expressive, interpretative, and symbolic). The perceptual and expressive level of the cognitive process emphasize the commonality of landscape perception based on evolutionary theory, and the interpretational and symbolic level can grasp the diversity of perception based on the cultural theory. These perceptions are finally divided into nine concepts (visual range, coherence, complexity, naturalness, disturbance, stewardship, historicity, imageability, ephemera) to assess landscape characters. The study area selected as a place where visitors can experience various scenic resources of Mt. Bukhansan because it has a high usage density among designated trails in Bukhansan National Park and can be visited for one-day trips to a mountain-top destination. In order to select the optimal trail for this condition, we first select some trails as a candidate group based on statistical data of usage of the trails, and then analyze the density of coordinates of social media photographs (Flikr). High-density trail was finally selected. The total length of the trail is 3.4 km, along which four visually distinguishable units (Unit A-D) were identified. The fieldwork and analysis method were divided into two stages in order to understand on-site visitors landscape perception. VEP method have the advantage of directly recognizing visitors' perceptions of the landscape, but it is highly unlikely that it will be easy to recruit participants. Therefore, the research process is divided into two stages to utilize the VEP method more efficiently. In the first stage, commonality of landscape perception is focused on, and in the second stage, diversity of the perception is identified. Accordingly, detailed method related of fieldwork and analysis are set up to achieve objectives of each stage. First of all, the survey process was divided into two steps. In order to focus on commonality of perception, random sampling was used in the first stage. This was done by recruiting participants in the field for actual visitors. Next, in order to concentrate on the stages objective and increase the participation rate of the survey, the types of the collected data were limited to the photographs containing the geographical information of the preferred landscape. In the second stage, the participants were recruited using purposive sampling in order to understand the diversity of perception according to the familiarity of the national park. The types of data collected include photographs containing geographical information on liked or disliked landscape and photo-logs describing the reasons why the photographs were taken. Additional short interviews were conducted with all participants. The purpose of conducting additional interviews is to prepare for the possibility of missing records. The interview method utilized the free-listing method. The method is similar to an open-ended question by allowing respondents to freely list what they are aware of on a topic. Through the theoretical review, the conceptual framework proposed landscape perception analysis was utilized and the analysis was conducted according to the characteristics of the collected data through each step of the survey process. Geotagged photographs collected in the first step can be used as information on spatial coordinates and visual images of photographs. This can be used to analyze the types of the object of landscape and responses of the perceptual level of the cognitive process. Spatial configurations can be divided into two types Prospect and Surrounding according to depth of view corresponding to perceptual level. In addition, specific elements (natural and anthropic elements) can be called as a type Single objects. The type of experiencing landscape can be classified into three types and further subdivided into each type by their primary objects of photographs. Finally, we select consensus photographs (CP) and perceptually exciting nodes (PEN) that show commonality of perception of the types of experiencing landscape. The analysis method in the second stage attempted to grasp the diversity of landscape perception by analyzing the visual image of the photographs of the first stage and the text of photo-logs obtained through the additional interview. It can be understood the responses of the whole cognitive process (perception, expressive, interpretative, and symbolic). We analyzed the diversity of perceptions among the inexperienced (novice) group and the experienced (veteran) group by grasping the responses of cognitive processes to the three objects of landscape - spatial configurations, specific elements (natural and anthropic elements) and ephemeral events. This diversity of perception can be used to deduce the reason for photography collected in the first stage. As a result of the analysis of the first stage process, the experiencing landscape was classified into 18 types: 4 of Prospect, 4 of Surrounding and 10 of Single Objects. 11 CPs and PENs in which representing the commonality of landscape perception among them were selected. 8 of them belong to the category Prospect and 3 belong to the category Single Objects. The peaks such Mangyeongdae, Insubong, and Baegundae, showing the geological and topographical characteristics of the granite are the most preferred. These results can be interpreted as the interest of visitors through the energy gradients. The commonality of landscape perception is mainly seen in perceptual responses during cognitive processes with no correlation familiarity of visitors. The expressive responses were similar in both groups. The differences in the perceptions of two groups were remarkable in the interpretative level during the cognitive process. The cognitive response of the interpretative level is about the positive or negative impacts of human beings on anthropic factors. In the case of disturbances caused by artifacts, the novice group perceives the visual aspect as negative, whereas the veteran group perceives the cues of care as a measure of stewardship, critically and specifically. They responded sensitively to the fact that it was left unattended and underutilized rather than achieving the original installation purpose, rather than the external features such as the size, shape, and color of the facilities. Perceptions related to naturalness is more favored by colorful vegetation such as wildflowers as wow factors than contents related to professional ecological knowledge such as the proportion of natural vegetation, level of succession, and fragmentation. In the case of naturalness, it can be said that there is a difference in perception due to professional knowledge or information rather than familiarity of visitors. The commonality and diversity of landscape perception can be used for sustainable management of landscapes on the application aspect. First, major nodes of experiencing landscape were selected to provide various landscape experiences. A expressively relieved node (ERN) that can feel tranquility in a landscape room bordered by trees or terrains as well as PENs similar to existing viewpoints. This is to provide more opportunities for landscape experiences through various sensory organs including vision. Applying this method to other trails also allows to identify the characteristics of experiencing landscape for each trail. It is necessary to actively utilize the concept of stewardship for the management of the trail-related facilities. There is a limit to the standardized management methods such as minimizing the artificial facilities in national parks and replacing them with facilities using natural elements. Rather, there should be a trail of management with a halo effect that allows you to have some kind of responsibility that requires careful management, so that visitors can voluntarily participate in ecosystem conservation. This research method proposed to grasp the landscape perception can be applied to the analysis process of big data such as landscape photographs of social media or to verify the analysis results. Regular panel surveys can also track the changes in visitors perception of landscape. It is necessary to carry out the survey from the people who are familiar with the national park, such as local residents, regular visitors, and civic groups. This study suggests an effective method to identify the commonality and diversity of on-site landscape perception. Especially, the familiarity of visitors is a major factor influencing the diversity of landscape perception. Furthermore, some examples of sustainable landscape management using the results derived from the method are also presented. Reflecting public perception in landscape characters assessment is a sufficient condition, not a necessary condition. Based on the results of this study, indicators related to landscape perception should be considered in landscape character assessment. Assessment techniques that can be used in actual practice, including the development of indicators for landscape character assessment, should be devised.