The recreational potential for wastelands as well as users’ preferences for wasteland aesthetics. Case study of Warsaw, Poland

Abstract

Urban wastelands may often be perceived as dysfunctional and unattractive, however they always seem to have environmental and sociological values, which encourage people to act spontaneously in their use. Undeveloped areas are important places in the structure of inhabiting landscape as a substitute for “natural” landscape. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to describe residents’ aesthetical preferences for urban wasteland according to the image (type of scenery) and function of this kind of urban greenery. The survey was carried out on 13 selected case studies of brownfields, neglected greenery and undeveloped areas in Warsaw. The users' aesthetical preferences as well as the behaviour of residents, which have been treated as a neighbourhood greenery, were examined and compared. A basis of the comparison was differences in the image of the visiting landscape, perceived as different types of scenery. The methods used included Visitor Employed Photography and territorial markers and a physical traces inventory. The results show the various recreational uses, thus the great potential of wasteland green areas. It also confirms the growing acceptability of free vegetation aesthetics, while also presenting differences in the choice of a particular scenery by different groups of users.