Assessment of aesthetic and ecological functions of the urbanized part of small watercourses of Mlynivka and Radchanka by the indicator of visual quality of the environment

Abstract The article highlights the importance of protection and preservation of small rivers in the conditions of global urbanization, in the context of the study of the aesthetic value of the territory within urban and suburban landscapes. Since the preservation of small rivers is the primary goal for ensuring quality ecosystem services for the purpose of: recreation, functioning of the hydro-complex of the urban system, aesthetic purposes, such a study will allow to identify, at the initial stage, areas that have been significantly changed as a result of anthropogenic activity. One of the approaches to such a study is the assessment of the indicator of visual quality of the environment, which is the result of the summation of visual effects (visual pollution) inherent in urbanized areas within the shoreline of small watercourses. The study was conducted on the example of the small rivers Radchanka and Mlynivka within the limits of the Ivano-Frankivsk urban united territorial community. The main focus of the research was on identifying objects and factors that create visual pollution, according to 30 main criteria based on the proposed methodology, taking into account the elements of expert evaluation. To determine the contribution of each of the three groups of evaluated criteria – natural objects, anthropogenic and man-made objects, physiognomic characteristics of the territory, the method of calculating the relative indicator of the visual quality of the environment was applied. The result of the assessment was the identification of areas with high aesthetic value and areas that need to be restored to preserve natural aesthetic and ecological functions. The article contains proposals and solutions that can be recommended to communities to improve the visual quality of the territories within the shoreline of the mentioned watercourses.