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Aesthetics and Environmental Management Funders British Council Finnish Institute
Summary: This research project adopts a philosophical approach to address the role of aesthetics in environmental planning and decision-making. In this context, non-aesthetic values such as ecological or economic values are usually considered most important, and aesthetic value is often excluded on the grounds that it is too difficult to measure or too subjective to count within a scientific framework. The research project challenges these assumptions, and explores the various ways in which aesthetic experience is significant to the value we place on the natural and built environments.
Project Description
This research project adopts a philosophical approach to address the role of aesthetics in environmental planning and decision-making. In this context, non-aesthetic values such as ecological or economic values are usually considered most important, and aesthetic value is often excluded on the grounds that it is too difficult to measure or too subjective to count within a scientific framework. The research project challenges these assumptions, and explores the various ways in which aesthetic experience is significant to the value we place on the natural and built environments.
The project has been co-ordinated by Dr. Pauline von Bonsdorff, Department of Aesthetics, Helsinki University, Finland; and Dr. Emily Brady, Philosophy Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster, England, and involved philosophers and geographers from Lancaster in England and the Universities of Helsinki and Tampere in Finland. Three seminars were held between 1997 and 1999: 'Aesthetic Value and the Environment' (Helsinki, September 1997); 'Aesthetic Knowledge and a Sense of Place' (Lancaster, May 1998); and 'The Aesthetics of Cultural Landscapes'(Helsinki, May 1999). Papers from the second seminar are published in Lancaster Philosophy Department's own Thingmount Series of Working Papers in the Philosophy of Conservation. The project has now been brought to a close, and we plan to collect together a selection of papers from the whole project for publication.
The project has two spin-offs. We now have a successful student exchange programme running through Erasmus. Research collaboration continues, and joint applications for further research funding are now being prepared to include an additional partner, Telemark College in Norway.
We thank the British Council, the Finnish Institute, Helsinki University and Lancaster University for their support of the project.