Aesthetic issue of the impairment one's ability to enjoy a vista or view
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Pollution
Electrical and communication cables hang above an intersection in MacArthur Highway in Marilao, Bulacan, Philippines. A complex mix of commercial signs make up the view's background.
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Visual pollution refers to the visible deterioration and negative aesthetic quality of the natural and human-made landscapes around people[1] and to the study of secondary impacts of manmade interventions.[2] It also refers to the impacts pollution has in impairing the quality of the landscape, formed from compounding sources of pollution to create the impairment. Visual pollution disturbs the functionality and enjoyment of a given area, limiting the ability for the wider ecological system, from humans to animals, to prosper and thrive within it due to the disruptions to their natural and human-made habitats. Although visual pollution can be caused by natural sources (e.g. wildfires), the predominant cause comes from human sources.
As such, visual pollution is not considered a primary source of pollution but a secondary symptom of intersecting pollution sources. Its secondary nature and subjective aspect sometimes makes it difficult to measure and engage with[3][4] (e.g. within quantitative figures for policymakers). However, the history of the word pollution, and pollution's effect over time, reveals the fact that every form of pollution can be categorised and studied in its three main characteristics, namely contextual, subjective and complex.[2] Frameworks for measurement have been established and include public opinion polling and surveys, visual comparison, spatial metrics, and ethnographic work.[5][6][7][8][9]
Visual pollution can manifest across levels of analysis, from micro instances that effect the individual to macro issues that impact society as a whole. Instances of visual pollution can take the form of plastic bags stuck in trees, advertisements with contrasting colors and content, which create an oversaturation of anthropogenic visual information within a landscape,[10][11] to community-wide impacts of overcrowding, overhead power lines, or congestion. Poor urban planning and irregular built-up environments contrast with natural spaces, creating alienating landscapes.[8][12] Using Pakistan as a case study, a detailed analysis of all visual pollution objects was published in 2022.[2]
The effects of visual pollution have primary symptoms, such as distraction, eye fatigue, decreases in opinion diversity, and loss of identity.[8] It has also been shown to increase biological stress responses and impair balance.[13] As a secondary source of pollution, these also compound with the impact of its primary source such as light or noise pollution that can create multi-layered public health concerns and crisis.
^ abcNawaz, Raheel; Wakil, Khydija (13 October 2022). Visual Pollution: Concepts, Practices and Management Framework. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited. doi:10.1108/978-1-80382-041-520221006. ISBN 978-1-80382-042-2.
^Portella, Adriana (2016). Visual pollution: advertising, signage and environmental quality. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-27376-4. OCLC 1010680073.
^Flad, Harvey K. (1997). "Country Clutter: Visual Pollution and the Rural Roadscape". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 553 (1): 117–129. doi:10.1177/0002716297553001011. ISSN 0002-7162. S2CID 60447315.
^Chmielewski, Szymon; Lee, Danbi J.; Tompalski, Piotr; Chmielewski, Tadeusz J.; Wężyk, Piotr (2016-04-02). "Measuring visual pollution by outdoor advertisements in an urban street using intervisibilty analysis and public surveys". International Journal of Geographical Information Science. 30 (4): 801–818. doi:10.1080/13658816.2015.1104316. ISSN 1365-8816. S2CID 425572.
^ abcYilmaz, Demet; Sagsoz, Ayse (28 April 2011). "In the Context of Visual Pollution: Effects to Trabzon City Center Silhoutte". Asian Social Science. 7 (5). doi:10.5539/ass.v7n5p98.
^Wakil, Khydija; Naeem, Malik Asghar; Anjum, Ghulam Abbas; Waheed, Abdul; Thaheem, Muhammad Jamaluddin; Hussnain, Muhammad Qadeer ul; Nawaz, Raheel (January 2019). "A Hybrid Tool for Visual Pollution Assessment in Urban Environments". Sustainability. 11 (8): 2211. doi:10.3390/su11082211. hdl:10536/DRO/DU:30123294.
^Chmielewski, Szymon; Lee, Danbi J.; Tompalski, Piotr; Chmielewski, Tadeusz J.; Wężyk, Piotr (4 November 2015). "Measuring visual pollution by outdoor advertisements in an urban street using intervisibility analysis and public surveys". International Journal of Geographical Information Science. 30 (4): 801–818. doi:10.1080/13658816.2015.1104316. S2CID 425572.
Visualpollution refers to the visible deterioration and negative aesthetic quality of the natural and human-made landscapes around people and to the study...
notice of visualpollution blighting the landscape of the city. There are over 3,000 billboards in Karachi causing visualpollution. Water pollution id by...
Thermal pollution is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human influence, such as use of water as coolant in a power plant. Visual pollution...
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances called pollutants in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans...
Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, that has a negative impact on their...
Light pollution is the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term light pollution refers...
residue left behind can harm the soil and leach into groundwater. Visualpollution is a major effect of litter. Open containers such as paper cups, cardboard...
because he treated buildings by decorating them in order to diminish the visualpollution of the environment. The largest architectural project of Friedensreich...
Guides. ISBN 9781841623399. "Controversial new building slammed as 'visualpollution' at 700-year-old Seljuk tomb". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 12 March...
Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon...
(except for those using a third rail) can be unsightly and contribute to visualpollution. Trams are in a period of growth, with about 800 tram systems operating...
who share a common problem with accumulation of clutter Visual clutter, or visualpollution Clutter (album), a 2007 album by Laki Mera Clutter (software)...
Plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment...
environmental consequences, including deforestation, water pollution, and visualpollution. According to Samuel Robert Aiken, professor of geography at...
poles and related structures are regarded by some to be a form of visualpollution[citation needed]. Many lines are placed underground for this reason...
a 1960 book by Australian architect Robin Boyd. Boyd investigates visualpollution in Australian aesthetic, in relation to architecture and the suburbs...
Dianna Cohen is an American visual artist and activist. She is the CEO and co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, an advocacy group and social...
all ASEAN countries signed the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, but the pollution is still a problem there today. Under the agreement, the ASEAN...
Noise pollution, or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise or sound with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of which...
States' West Coast. Locating wind farms further offshore can also reduce visualpollution, provide better accommodation for fishing and shipping lanes, and reach...
conductors. Power lines and supporting structures can be a form of visualpollution. In some cases the lines are buried to avoid this, but this "undergrounding"...
making it difficult to focus on anything else, making them a form of visualpollution - a state of affairs evoked pithily in Ogden Nash's parody of Joyce...
sought to draw attention to topics such as environmental degradation, visualpollution, debt and the representation of body image in advertising. Brandalism...
the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visualpollution throughout the lifecycle of the product. is as little design as possible...
pollution is the rise or drop in the temperature of a natural body of water caused by human influence. Thermal pollution, unlike chemical pollution,...
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