Who’s evaluating Swiss landscapes?

Wildscapes - a type of landscape specific to Switzerland (Photograph: Rebekka Sutter) - If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, how do you define a beautiful landscape? Machine learning algorithms can be helpful here, says Adrienne Grêt-Regamey. Few people know that Switzerland has to record, describe and evaluate its various landscapes and their qualities¹. And once the stocktake is completed, landscape quality objectives (LQOs) must be formulated - for example, which landscapes and which features should we preserve and promote? To provide a basis for this, the Swiss Foundation for Landscape Conservation has drawn up a catalogue of characteristic cultural landscapes². The catalogue covers 39 different landscape types, which differ in their usage, function and natural conditions. One example here are the remote, difficult to access pastures known as "Wildheulandschaften" on the steep sides of the Muota Valley. Although hardly worth the effort and expense of farming, the centuries-old tradition of alpine hay making is practised here. The area is a haven for species that have become rare, and a vital part of the Swiss sense of homeland. All the landscapes listed are very diverse, have been shaped by humans in very different ways and have completely different qualities. Such a catalogue can also be used to formulate development objectives tailored to the specific landscapes, which can be assessed at a later stage. Everyone finds the green Alps beautiful . But how do I determine the qualities of a landscape?