| This study empirically evaluates the central theoretical proposition of eco-revelatory landscape design---namely, that the physical revelation of ecological processes in the landscape encourages human users of that landscape to value those ecological processes differently than they otherwise would---by examining the environmental values of suburban homeowners in Montgomery County, Maryland who live in subdivisions with eco-revelatory landscape features (in this case, stormwater ponds).;Adapting the conceptions of environmental value used in environmental philosophy and environmental economics, the main portion of the study operationalizes the "environmental values" of a person in two ways: as a prioritization among the several kinds of value that the non-human environment provides for humans (including ecosystem service value, economic resource value, symbolic ideal value, bequest value, intrinsic value, and experiential value), and as a basic philosophical orientation about the commensurability of different values (i.e. the degree to which they can be exchanged with one another in a common unit of measure). A survey designed to elicit value responses along these two dimensions, as well as gather data on other relevant independent variables, from residents who both do and do not live near stormwater ponds forms the evaluative basis upon which the eco-revelatory hypothesis is judged. A second portion of the study examines the extent to which homebuyers in these same subdivisions have valued the stormwater ponds in their purchasing decisions by conducting a hedonic analysis of the adjusted sale prices of the homes.;The findings of these two portions, viewed as a whole, primarily suggest that designers of the residential landscape should think less in terms of how to use landscape design to change people's environmental values (as eco-revelation would have it), and more in terms of attempting to leverage pre-existing values about ecological systems, even if superficial, into good ecological outcomes. Indeed, the findings ultimately suggest that leveraging some of the commensurable values of nature (such as our willingness to pay for positive experiential amenities) into the protection of the incommensurable values of nature (such as an ecosystem's intrinsic right to existence) can be one of landscape architecture's highest public purposes. |
