Abstract
A growing trend towards high-density urban living increases the significance of natural features within the urban fabric. In high-rise living the view is one means of continuing contact with the environment. Using visualizations, public survey techniques, and a geographic information system (GIS), we estimate the effect of parks, water, industry, and high-rise buildings on willingness to pay for views from high-level apartments. With the GIS we determine what will be visible within the view and the proportion of different land uses or structures that make up the view. In order to link the analytical variables to the view values a set of base images is systematically altered in terms of the proportion of water, parks, buildings, and industry present in the scenes. Surveys are conducted to determine the willingness of people to pay for preferred views. The results from a regression analysis show that water and green space have positive coefficients and buildings and industry both have negative coefficients. Particular attention is paid to the influence of distance on the view proportions. Our calculations are compared with empirical results from other studies.
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