Enframing the Viewshed: Deliberative Democracy Experiments in the Wind Energy Age

这项研究项目由科学与社会计划资助，探索风能开发的视觉影响评估过程。为了减缓全球变暖和确保能源独立，州政府和私人开发商正在美国各地选址和安装大型风力发电场。然而，美国许多社区已经发出声音，反对这种形式的可再生能源造成的“美学污染”。为了回应“视觉负担”的说法，州和联邦机构现在要求风能开发商进行视域分析，以评估拟议项目的视觉影响。这些可视化模拟了风力涡轮机在风景或海景的映衬下可能是什么样子。在制作这些图像的过程中，视觉分析人员必须决定哪些观点需要保护，以及这些观点对访问该地区的居民和游客意味着什么。这些模型成为管理公共美学的权威模拟。然而，这些图像经常被公民团体剥夺合法性，甚至被扭曲，他们辩称，风力发电场将比模拟显示的要明显得多。这项研究的目标是阐明有助于产生社会对风能技术接受度的利益相关者战略。通过在美国的比较案例研究，本研究项目旨在更好地了解1)专家如何模拟、分类和标准化视觉影响；2)让不同的公众参与解决视觉冲突和减轻感知的“审美污染”的慎重决策的形式。研究将分三个阶段进行。在第一阶段，代表不同地理区域、开发商和景观类型的九个案例研究将通过背景研究、电话和电子邮件采访进行审查。在这个初始样本的基础上，将选择三个案例进行深入的实地调查。第二阶段的研究集中在这三个案例上，将包括对每个项目现场的10-12个利益相关者进行长时间的半结构化访谈。这些访谈的目的是详细了解包括公开听证和可视化论坛在内的协商民主机制如何使利益攸关方参与谈判和减轻视觉影响。在第三阶段，将对案例研究进行比较，以了解有助于创造审美共识条件的社会经济、政治和制度配置。在这项研究的最后阶段，研究结果将被用来为视觉影响评估制定社区最佳实践指南。该项目的学术价值在于它创新性地综合了来自协商民主和可视化研究领域的关键STS文献，以解决公民参与风能辩论的问题。关于视觉化在商议过程中的作用的研究很少。除了扩展这些文献，这项研究还将通过提供记录视觉影响的替代格式并让利益相关者参与审议缓解技术来帮助从业者。该项目的更广泛影响是基于其目标，即将目前的风能视觉僵局转移到更有力、更具公民参与性的讨论中，讨论在全球气候和能源挑战的世界中保护环境的价值。除了学术文章外，调查结果还将发布在互动网站上，并向相关公民团体、机构和行业协会展示。将通过项目网站向感兴趣的团体提供视觉影响评估最佳做法的社区工具包。

This research project, funded by the Science and Society Program, explores the visual impact assessment process for wind energy development. Large scale wind farms are being sited and installed across the USA by state governments and private developers in the rush to mitigate global warming and secure energy independence. Yet, many communities in the United States have raised their voices against the 'aesthetic pollution' caused by this form of renewable energy. In response to claims of 'visual burden', wind developers are now required by state and federal agencies to conduct viewshed analyses to estimate the visual impact of a proposed project. These visualizations simulate what wind turbines may look like against the landscape or seascape. In the course of producing these images, visual analysts must decide which views need protecting and what those views represent to residents and tourists visiting the region. These models become the authoritative simulations that govern public aesthetics. Yet, these images are routinely delegitimated, and even distorted, by citizen groups who argue that wind farms will be vastly more conspicuous than the simulations suggest. The objective of this research is to articulate the stakeholder strategies that help produce social acceptance of wind technologies. Through comparative case study development in the United States, this research project aims to better understand 1) how visual impact is simulated, classified and standardized by experts; and 2) the forms of deliberative decision-making that engage diverse publics in resolving visual conflict and mitigating perceived 'aesthetic pollution'. The research will be performed over three phases. In Phase I, nine case studies representing different geographic regions, developers, and landscape types will be examined through contextual research, phone and e-mail interviews. Based on this initial sample, three case studies will be chosen for in-depth field investigation. Phase II research, focusing on these three cases, will involve long, semi-structured interviews with 10-12 stakeholders at each project site. The goal of these interviews is to understand in detail how deliberative democracy mechanisms, including public hearings and visualization forums, have engaged stakeholders in negotiation and mitigation of visual impact. In Phase III, the case studies will be compared to understand the socio-economic, political and institutional configurations that help produce conditions for aesthetic consensus. In this final stage of research, the research results will be used to produce a community best practices guide for visual impact assessment. The intellectual merit of the project lies in its innovative synthesis of key STS literatures from the fields of deliberative democracy and visualization studies toward addressing civic participation in wind energy debates. There is very little research about the role of visualization in deliberative processes. In addition to expanding this literature, the research will aid practitioners by presenting alternative formats for recording visual impact and engaging stakeholders in deliberating mitigation techniques. The project's broader impacts are based on its aims to move the current wind energy visual impasse toward a more robust, civically engaged, discussion about the value of protecting place in a world of global climate and energy challenges. In addition to academic articles, findings will be posted on an interactive website and presented before relevant citizen groups, agencies, and industry associations. A community toolkit of best practices in visual impact assessment will be made available to interested groups via the project website.