Taking dignity seriously? A dignity approach to environmental disputes before human rights courts

Townsend, Dina L.

doi:10.4337/jhre.2015.02.04

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A landscape confers a measure of a sense of dignity (pride and respect from others) on its inhabitants as much as the inhabitants derive dignity and pride from their landscapes. The relationship between environmental quality and human dignity (and by extension human rights) has been articulated, but much research needs to be done to provide stronger linkages to policy, legal and environmental decisions (Townsend, 2015). A landscape provides a context that influences notions of self-esteem and the way the human inhabitant is conceived of by others.…”

Section: Landscape Desirability Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It provides the material resources that express or enable the expression of one's dignity, a situation that is often neglected in environmental design and adjudication (Townsend, 2016). As a result, environmental degradation or poor-quality landscape poses a threat to human dignity and rights and addressing the former will amount to serving the latter (Townsend, 2015). In urban contexts, landscapes provide first impressions of status and wealth, and could be a basis for notionally or formally discriminating between poor and non-poor, or safe and unsafe neighborhoods, and can therefore be a basis for environmental justice.…”

Section: Landscape Desirability Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Quantifying perceived landscape desirability in human settlements: the case of four communities in Cape Coast, Ghana

Yawson

2020

Ghana J. Geography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Through their natural, aesthetic and cultural attributes, landscapes serve a range of human needs. The perception and value placed on these attributes and services confer desirability on a given landscape. Landscape desirability refers to the extent of acceptability or preferability of the perceived state and functioning of a given landscape in relation to serving the landscape needs of its human inhabitants. This paper presents the idea of, and an approach for quantifying landscape desirability using four communities in Cape Coast, Ghana. A landscape desirability index was derived from four factors (attractivity, wellbeing, dignity, and eco-resilience) based on scores assigned by respondents to three sub-components of each of the four factors. The results show that all the communities scored their landscapes moderately on attractivity, wellbeing, dignity, and eco-resilience, as well as overall landscape desirability. Bare surfaces and contribution to flood and erosion mitigation were a major consideration in respondents’ scores of the sub-components of the factors. Nature and beauty (sub-components of attractivity) and sub-components of eco-resilience contributed considerably to the low desirability indices for the communities. This suggests the need to focus on these components in efforts to enhance landscape desirability. The findings suggest a need for wider studies to capture residents’ perceptions of their landscapes as an input into participatory landscape planning, transformation and management in Ghana. The quantitative approach applied can easily be adapted and replicated across communities and spatial scales to provide a comparable basis for sustainable landscape transformation in human settlements.

show abstract

Section: Landscape Desirability Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Landscape Desirability Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%