Environmental Aesthetics and Rewilding

Prior, Jonathan; Brady, Emily

doi:10.3197/096327117x14809634978519

Cited by 71 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Conversely, there are examples of landscapes judged to be of high ecological value that are aesthetically disvalued. For example, Parsons (1995) describes how densely vegetated patches of woodland that are important for biodiversity, are consistently attributed low aesthetic value as compared to more open grassy areas, while Prior and Brady (2017) outline how rewilding efforts will likely give rise to challenging aesthetic qualities, including ugly and unscenic landscapes. Additionally, Lintott asserts that animals that are ‘aesthetically unappealing or aesthetically unimpressive’ (2008, p. 381), such as bats and snakes, do not garner the same level of public interest or support as compared to more charismatic species, when it comes to conservation efforts on their behalf.…”

Section: Aesthetics Environmental Conservation and Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aesthetic qualities and characters that arise from ecological restoration practices are often inseparable from the environmental ethical values held by restorationists, insomuch as these qualities and characters are a sensorial representation of a particular environmental ethic. For example, the messy and unscenic aesthetic qualities that are likely to emerge from rewilding—a particular type of ecological restoration that emphasizes the role of natural processes so that restored ecosystems are self‐sustaining and self‐regulating—are a direct outcome of an environmental ethic that rejects continuous human management of landscapes and ecosystems (Prior & Brady, 2017). By contrast, restoration undertaken with the goal of producing a heritage park that seeks to hold in tension a dialectical relationship between nature and culture, can lead to neat, orderly, and legible aesthetic qualities and the emergence of a landscape character of functional beauty (Brady et al., 2018).…”

Section: Aesthetic Value and Ecological Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A problem occurs, however, when the aesthetic qualities that emerge from restoration practices conflict with public aesthetic preferences; this is certainly a concern for the public acceptance of rewilding strategies (Prior & Brady, 2017). Paul Gobster provides an example of a restoration project in DuPage County in west Chicago that was eventually terminated due to public resistance.…”

Section: Aesthetic Value and Ecological Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental aesthetics: A synthetic review

Brady

Prior

2020

People and Nature

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Environmental aesthetics has emerged in the last 50 years from the philosophical fields of aesthetics and environmental philosophy. The questions and issues which shape this subfield have been drawn principally from the Western philosophical tradition. Other disciplinary perspectives have also shaped environmental aesthetics, including landscape architecture, human geography, restoration ecology and empirical studies on landscape preferences in developmental and environmental psychology. This review and synthesis mainly addresses the theoretical approaches and concepts that provide a framework to the key debates in the field, but also considers, to some extent, how empirical approaches have shaped recent developments, and how conceptual issues arise with respect to empirical cases. We note that our expertize and, thus, the expertize of this review, is primarily confined to UK, European and North American scholarship. Abstract 1. The main aim of the article is to provide up-to-date knowledge of environmental aesthetics for an interdisciplinary audience, and to signal the importance of research in this area for studying people-nature relationships. 2. Environmental aesthetics has emerged in the last 50 years from the philosophical fields of aesthetics and environmental philosophy. Other disciplinary perspectives have also shaped environmental aesthetics, including landscape architecture, human geography, restoration ecology and empirical studies on landscape preferences in developmental and environmental psychology.3. This review and synthesis mainly addresses the theoretical approaches and concepts that provide a framework to the key debates in the field, but also considers how empirical approaches have shaped recent developments, and how conceptual issues arise with respect to empirical cases. 4. We outline the background and context of environmental aesthetics, its key concepts, and provide a critical review of contemporary theories in the field. We then consider how aesthetics features in issues pertaining to the conservation, preservation, and restoration of nature.5. Finally, we identify some new directions for environmental aesthetics scholarship that can productively contribute to ongoing debates regarding various relationships between people and nature.

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Section: Aesthetics Environmental Conservation and Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Aesthetic Value and Ecological Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Aesthetic Value and Ecological Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental aesthetics: A synthetic review

Brady

Prior

2020

People and Nature

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“…Aspirations for wildness are often markedly different both ecologically and aesthetically (Prior and Brady 2017). Overall, rewilders tend to advocate an open-ended, dynamic physical and cultural transformation of the landscape, characterised by uncertainty and change rather than stasis and control (Lorimer and Driessen 2014;Sandom et al 2013;Prior and Ward 2016).…”

Section: Visions and Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abandoning or Reimagining a Cultural Heartland? Understanding and Responding to Rewilding Conflicts in Wales – the Case of the Cambrian Wildwood

Wynne‐Jones¹,

Strouts

Holmes

2018

Environmental Values

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This paper is about rewilding and the tensions it involves. Rewilding is a relatively novel approach to nature conservation, which seeks to be proactive and ambitious in the face of continuing environmental decline. Whilst definitions of rewilding place a strong emphasis on non-human agency, it is an inescapably human aspiration resulting in a range of social conflicts. The paper focuses on the case study of the Cambrian Wildwood project in MidWales (UK), evaluating the ways in which debate and strategic action to advance rewilding is proceeding, assessing the extent to which compromise and learning has occurred amongst advocates. As such, we provide an important addition to the field, by detailing how conflicts play out over time and how actors' positioning and approach shifts, and why. In this case, tempers have flared around the threat that rewilding is seen to pose to resident farming communities. Tensions discussed include the differing social constructions of landscape and nature involved; the distribution of impacts on different stakeholders; and the relative power of different actors to make decisions and gain representation. Responding to these, the paper outlines how rewilding advocates have sought to advance a more peopled and culturally responsive vision, which seeks to champion sustainable livelihood strategies. The changes in 2 approach detailed demonstrate a reflexive stance from rewilders, which suggests that learning and adaptation can occur. Nonetheless, caution is expressed regarding the extent to which rewilding can truly advance inclusive opportunities for rural change, given a continued return amongst stakeholders to exclusionary narratives of belonging and authenticity, suggesting substantive difficulty in moving beyond longstanding concerns over identity and the reimagination of place. Rewilding, it would seem, is about who we think we are and how we coconstitute our sense of self. We, therefore, close by arguing that tactics and politicking can only have so much bearing, tensions over rewilding are unavoidably emotional.

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“…The process Quality, intensity and timing of reintroduction processes (Prior & Brady, 2017) Is it not contradictory to use necessarily human-mediated species reintroduction to reinforce 'wild(er)ness'?…”

Section: Mapping the Potential Conflict Around Beaver Reintroductiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflicts over wildlife conservation: Learning from the reintroduction of beavers in Scotland

Coz

Young

2020

People and Nature

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1. Species reintroductions have become a common conservation tool, but they can be controversial and may generate social conflicts.2. We examine the social dimension of beaver reintroduction in Scotland to understand the issue, the potential for, and impact of, conflict between groups or individuals with differing views on beavers and reintroductions.3. Using a literature review and semi-structured interviews, we studied planned and unplanned beaver reintroductions to three contrasting landscapes in Scotland: in Knapdale, the reintroduction was planned and science-led, whereas in Tayside and the Highlands, the reintroductions were accidental and/or illegal. Our results highlight the context dependency and complexity of reintroductions.Nationally, the reintroduction of beavers has not become a conflict. At the local scale, we found the Tayside situation to be a conflict with major consequences on the debate at the national scale. While there were no conflicts in the Highlands and Knapdale, the reintroduction remains controversial.5. The level of conflict depended on the reintroduction process, relationships between stakeholders and their perspectives on their role in nature, their perceptions of landscapes, and the potential issue of lack of control and uncertainty around reintroductions.6. Based on these findings, the study outlines lessons learned in terms of management, guidelines and implications for future species reintroductions. We argue that to prevent future conflicts over reintroductions, processes must go beyond addressing the effects of reintroduced species on the environment and people's perceptions and acceptance of these species. Reintroduction processes require engagement in effective discussions which involve all actual and potential stakeholders to agree on broad and long-term conservation plans at the landscape scale. K E Y W O R D S beavers, Castor fiber, conservation conflicts, perceptions, rewilding, Scotland, species reintroductions | 407 People and Nature COZ and YOUnG S U PP O RTI N G I N FO R M ATI O N Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section.

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Environmental Aesthetics and Rewilding

Cited by 71 publications

References 86 publications

Environmental aesthetics: A synthetic review

Environmental aesthetics: A synthetic review

Abandoning or Reimagining a Cultural Heartland? Understanding and Responding to Rewilding Conflicts in Wales – the Case of the Cambrian Wildwood

Conflicts over wildlife conservation: Learning from the reintroduction of beavers in Scotland

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