THE VISUAL BEAUTY OF LINEAR GREEN-STRUCTURES IN THE RURAL LANDSCAPE, PRINCIPLES OF AESTHETIC EVALUATION AND ITS APPLICATION IN LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT

The visual beauty is one of the characteristics of the landscape that is very difficult to objectively evaluate. Two different approaches are generally used to assess the aesthetic quality of the landscape. One is the expert approach evaluating the inherent physical characteristics of the landscape and the other one is the perception-based approach regarding aesthetic quality of the landscape as a product of the mind of the viewer. Up to this day, the subjectivist view of aesthetics has been widely adopted. The linear green-structures like hedgerows or alleys within the rural landscape, if properly vegetated and managed provide a series of important effects (decreased erosion, water treatment, species communication, wood for burning, food and shelter for animals, sinks for atmospheric CO2, etc.) and thus contribute to the overall ecological stability of the landscape and also to its beauty. In the Czech Republic, several methods are used for assessing the non-production functions of woody vegetation. However, none of them widely incorporates its effect on aesthetic quality of the landscape. This paper shows the principles in recent aesthetic evaluation of the landscape and tries to draw conclusions for landscape management practice regarding the creation and management of linear green-structures within rural landscape.