ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how visualisations of designed landscapes can be criticised. While some theorists argue that criticism should only apply to built works, critique of unbuilt landscapes provides the possibility of intervening in the design, or even preventing it. The ways in which designs are represented graphically can be critiqued for various biases in terms of aspects like weather, as well as the kinds of people shown in the image, and how those people are engaging in the site. Even the angle of perspective can dramatically change the way in which a visualisation represents a designed landscape. A critique from an ethical perspective might question how truthful visualisations are. Is it satisfactory for a landscape rendering to show a distorted view of a proposal? Is the manipulation of photographs to enhance the appearance of a design acceptable? Decoding visualisations includes unpacking the connotative as well as normative dimensions, looking at what is implied by an image.
