Modeling the Interconnection of Landscape-Aesthetic Qualities of Coastal Landscapes

This paper presents a methodology for assessing the visual quality of coastal landscapes. The initial material was the data of a survey of the opinions of vacationers in the coastal zone of the southwestern coast of Lake Baikal about the landscapes aesthetic properties of their places of rest (aesthetics, diversity, harmony, exoticism, uniqueness, beauty, disturbance, colorfulness), individual components of the landscape (sky, relief, vegetation, water bodies) and their emotional state. Analysis of public opinion makes it possible to obtain a spatially differentiated view (representation) of the landscape and aesthetic qualities of coastal landscapes. The most attractive and most disturbed parts of the coastal zone have been identified. To understand the factors contributing to the formation of the aesthetic impression of the surrounding landscapes among respondents, multiple regression analysis was carried out using the Data Analysis module of Ms Excel. The resulting multiple regression model is characterized by a high comparability of the results of empirical data with their predicted values: the absolute value of the correlation between the aesthetic quality of the observed landscapes and their particular aesthetic qualities (properties) is 0.93, the average approximation error is 6.5 %. The aesthetic qualities of a landscape are an indicator of its “health”. For this reason, the results of assessing the visual properties of landscapes should be taken into account in assessing the recreational load on landscapes, in developing policy documents for the territorial and socio-economic development of municipalities and the Region.