As an integral part of understanding changes in landscape character it is important to gather evidence of how people perceive landscape and change. For example, at the national scale, questions on the public perceptions of green and natural spaces across different landscapes are of interest. Some analysis of People and Nature Survey (PaNS) data is available here for 2020-2023. New PaNS questions on landscape character and change are being introduced from April 2024 to collect new data.
The PaNS User Hub provides information about the People and Nature Surveys and a number of resources which are available to access and use, including links to technical reports and an interactive data viewer. The People and Nature Surveys are Natural England’s flagship social science and statistics project. The surveys gather evidence and trend data through an online survey relating to people’s enjoyment, access, understanding of and attitudes towards the natural environment, and its contributions to wellbeing.
This provides access to mapping of People and Nature Survey data (April 2020 – March 2023) by landscape types relating to questions about public perceptions of change in the quality and the beauty of green and natural spaces. A brief method report and the findings of this analysis can be downloaded here.