Economic Valuation of Landscape at Risk: A Critical Review

Identifying which aspects should be considered at risk is very important to preserve the environment and landscape. Although the literature on this issue is currently centered on climate changes, the preservation of landscape appears to be closely connected to property rights and local policies. A wide range of applications focused on landscape evaluation has provided a methodological framework, but the inclusion of the economic point of view appears to be more recent. At this regard, the contribution considers the economic valuation of landscape with the aim of highlighting the role played by risk and uncertainty in individual choices. It reviews the limits of expected utility theory and reclassifies according to the method, over a period of about 20 years, a certain number of experimental studies in relation to their valuation goals. Finally, it shows the various sources of risk that affect landscape in order to encourage future applications in this field.