Abstract
Examining the evolution of Occidental Petroleum’s oil handling terminal on the island of Flotta in Scottish Orkney (1972-1978) reveals how a new planning procedure was invented to justify a controversial industrial development in a seemingly undisturbed scenic landscape. One of the UK’s first Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) was undertaken with a specific focus on visual amenity. To reduce the visual impact of the 395-acre facility in the island’s flat moor landscape, techniques of computerized visual analysis were developed. The article thus traces the invention of a new digital technology designed to simulate human visual perception by replacing the observing subject with a “seeing” algorithm. The significance of its use in the terminal project is the advent of one of Britain's most widely used tools for planning and development control: Visual Impact Analysis (VIA). Ultimately the article argues that the VIA of the proposed terminal on Flotta served as the official justification for a planning decision that had already been granted.
| Original language | English |
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| Number of pages | 24 |
| Publication status | Unpublished - Jun 2018 |
| Event | Science and Democracy Network (SDN): Annual Meeting - The Technical University of Munich, School of Management & Munich Center for Technology in Society, Munich, Germany Duration: 27 Jun 2018 → 30 Jun 2018 http://stsprogram.org/sdn/meeting/archive/annual-meeting-2018/ |
Conference
| Conference | Science and Democracy Network (SDN) |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Germany |
| City | Munich |
| Period | 27/06/18 → 30/06/18 |
| Internet address |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- EIA
- Visual Impact Analysis (VIA)
- environmental design