Landscape Routes as an Infrastructural Core of Cultural Landscapes; Their Distinctive Role for The Character of Region

摘要

Roadside tree avenues are a distinctive element of the landscape of Warmia and Mazury, which is a testament to the history of the region from the Prussian time. Their emergence was imposed top-down and was dictated both by practical and aesthetic reasons. Today they are a problematic heritage in the view of current tendencies of infrastructural development of the country that favour highways and the opportunity to cover the distance between start and destination point as fast as possible. Nevertheless, the literature and conducted scientific studies indicate a change in perception of the in-car experience which underlines a pleasure of travel itself. The research also suggests the growing need for planning route on the basis of the attractiveness of its elements. The work also distinguishes the conditions that must occur for the scenic route be established and put under protection. Moreover, it presents different views of assessing the value of such a road and the cultural landscape in which it is inscribed. It also describes the impact of the individual elements of scenic route on well-being of a participant of road traffic and his perception of the space. This paper attempts to survey the existing trends and actions in development and protection of scenic roads in selected and to present the tree-lined roads of northern Poland on the background of the examples. This has been done on the basis of personal experience and observation, as well as the literature. There have been juxtaposed routes' common elements and the elements distinctive to individual countries and regions. The results of the survey indicate that the scenic route, as a picture of the economic, historical, social and political situation of the place is an infrastructural core of cultural landscape. It constitutes the uniqueness of the region not only from the biological, but also cultural point of view. Then, apart from the obvious economic importance of scenic routes for the development of non-invasive tourism in the region, there is indicated their important role in shaping local identity. In the light of the above, the paper estimates possibilities for protection of tree-lined roads of northern Poland as the network of scenic routes characteristic for the region.