Aesthetic Experience of Landscape: The Willamette Valley Oak Prairie.

Brady, Sarah M

This thesis explores the human perception of landscape as aesthetic experience. The aesthetic experience of landscape imparts a sense of continuity with nature and its processes, providing a connection between human and environment. Drawing on philosophical, psychological and neurophysiological sources, the author explores the origins and influences of aesthetics on the individual. The more recent change in cultural values towards wilderness, from the adversarial relationship between pioneers and the land, to the modern fascination with wilderness as ideal is also explored.

The study focused on the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Prior to European civilization, the Willamette Valley consisted of an oak savanna. The lower, flatter valley was covered with perennial grasses and dotted with clusters of Oregon White Oak, maintained by the Kalapuyah Indians through a burning regimen. Following white settlement and decimation of the native peoples by disease, the valley underwent a radical change, implemented by the settlers perceptions, values and attitudes towards their environment.