LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT (LCA) AS A MAIN TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Landscape is an important national resource an outstanding natural and cultural inheritance which is widely appreciated for its aesthetic beauty and its important contribution to regional identity and sense of place . Landscape is a sphere within which a range of processes actively occur, where phenomena of natural entities eternal and change including landforms, soils, vegetation and attributes are influenced by humans. Landscape also is a mirror of man’s actions Upon the physical surface of land, a constantly changing reflection of actions and non-actions(Abrahamson, 1999). So it has become a necessary for using technique of Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) to analyze, develop and achieve a sustainable development strategy here in our country. So the study is divided into three main parts: - - First, the study of the nature elements , man-made elements and the cultural and social elements that making Landscape Character for an area - - Second, the study of the elements that affect the visual quality , aesthetics of the landscape character , human perception and the visual image of it - Third: the practical study of Landscape character Assessment and its steps for application on Alexandria city using GIS program, then study kom el-dikka as a sample to get its characteristics for making a real strategy for a development .