The Power of the Market: Landscape and Economics

Abstract

It is indisputable that one of the biggest drivers of landscape change today is economics as a mediator of supply and demand. In order to satisfy demand for houses, goods and services, which are susceptible to economic cycles, social imbalances and the vagaries of fashion, land is needed, resources are needed and people are also needed, often in different places from where they live. Thus the market has great power. This is perhaps more balanced and regulated in advanced and mature capitalist economies and less so in developing post-socialist or post-planned economic conditions. It is also perhaps axiomatic that landscape architects consider any attempt to value such intangible things as aesthetics or beauty in monetary terms as undesirable. However, the market and economics has always played a role in Western countries, perhaps it is just not fully recognized; landscapes may have values but these are not always monetarized. When the assumption is that economics expressed through the market means land use change from natural to developed conditions, for example, and thus always a negative direction, this misses the point that good landscape and good landscape design can affect and be affected by the market.

Keywords

Market Economy / Landscape Dynamics / Non-market Benefits / Property Values

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press