How can landscape visual assessment inform landscape planning and management? - Alto Douro Wine region case study, Portugal

Upon significant land-use changes, understanding how to measure the visual quality is crucial for landscape monitoring, and policymaking. This study aims to apply an expert protocol to the Alto Douro Wine Region (ADWR), an evolving and living cultural landscape classified by UNESCO. Six visual basins representative of the heterogeneity of ADWR were evaluated: three subjected to monitoring since 2001, with less land use change and three unmonitored with higher change. The visual quality was assessed through an expert protocol divided into three attributes: physical, aesthetic, and psychophysical. Results show that monitored landscapes obtained higher LVQ scores correlated with imageability, color diversity and land use mosaic. Regarding land-use change, landscapes with higher alteration coincide with lower visual quality. Respondents' preferences and socio sociodemographic correlations are further discussed. According to the findings, field enlargement and consequent destruction of traditional vineyards with terraces and olive grove hedges negatively affect the aesthetic value of the Douro landscape. As a result, the management efforts for maintaining terraces and olive grove hedges should have priority. LVQ protocols are powerful tools that should enter more into the landscape quality assessment routine as they are useful to identify priority measures and monitor landscape evolution through time.