Normative principles in the structure of a comprehensive assessment of environmental quality

Theoretical foundations for the development of the functional capabilities of a comprehensive assessment of the quality of the natural environment surrounding a person by including aesthetic criteria in its structure are studied. The dilemma of the beautiful and the useful is considered in the context of a retrospective consideration of the approaches to the problem of the philosophers I. Kant, Socrates, a conceptual appeal is made to the opinion of Ch. Darwin regarding the functions of the beautiful in nature. The problem of adapting aesthetic criteria to traditional evaluation systems is analyzed, the applied viability of environmental evaluation is substantiated if it is based on the recognition of the functional significance of beautiful or ugly in the natural environment. Aesthetic criteria in a comprehensive assessment of the quality of the environment act as an indicator of the level of aesthetic comfort of living conditions. They are based both on the emotional and sensory perception of a natural object, and on the rational awareness of its functional and applied viability. Emotionally positive or emotionally negative design of environmental assessment is of a normative nature, can be expressed in points, the system of which can be conditionally reflected in the socio-ecological concept of “aesthetic comfort”. It is concluded that this approach will ensure the functional viability of the criteria, and, therefore, make them practically in demand in the procedure for a comprehensive assessment of the quality of the natural habitat surrounding a person.