ABSTRACT
The importance of landscape quality has been increasingly recognized in recent years, due to expanded leisure and travel and the greater avaiability of environmental information. Outstanding areas such as the Alps and the Spanish coast owe their prosperity almost entirely to their scenic and recreational attractions. Even within relatively uniform landscapes, significant economic differences can be due to scenic factors. Residence along the Hudson Valley near New York, and in the North Downs and Chilterns near London, command higher prices than less favoured neighbouring areas. Spas such as Saratoga, Montreux, and Tunbridge Wells and of resorts such as Atlantic City, Brighton, and Marbella show the locational attractions of hilly and coastal sites respectively. On the other hand, bad landscape has both economic and social costs. Monotonous lowland sites and older mining and industrial areas (with the exception of some such as Ironbridge with special historical interest) attract few tourists, and their inhabitants often retire elsewhere. They also feil to attract mobile professional and self-employed workers, whose absence further compounds their economic and social disadvantages.
