What can hedonic analysis tell us about the value of landscapes?

One of the main tasks of Dutch spatial planning is the preservation of valuable landscapes. Landscapes, in our definition, are considered to be valuable in the sense that significant changes in these landscapes are experienced by many as a loss. For instance the typically Dutch polder landscape has, according to many, a high aesthetic value that justifies costly measures to protect it like the construction of a tunnel for the high-speed railway that crosses the so-called Green Heart of the Randstad which is dominated by this landscape type. There are other important examples of landscapes that are regarded as valuable in other parts of the country, for instance as the typical “bocage” landscape around Ootmarsum in the Twente region (eastern part of the Netherlands), and the heath field in parts of Drenthe (northern part of the Netherlands). These landscapes are closely connected to particular types of land-use (such as cattle farming in the case of the polders). As long as this specific land-use type is the most profitable one, in the conventional economic sense that no other use of the land gives the owner a higher profit, there is no need for special protection measures. However, if other land-use types become more profitable the landscape would disappear or its quality would decline. And hence land-use planning might become necessary.