How can the interdisciplinary study of environmental aesthetics inform the improvement of human-environment relations and public policy? J. Douglas Porteous, an established scholar in human geography and environmental studies, synthesizes historical, psychological, and legal perspectives to define the scope of environmental aesthetics. He argues that a structured understanding of taste and aesthetic experience is necessary to guide effective urban and wilderness planning.

Experts recognize this work as a foundational text that successfully bridges the gap between theoretical aesthetics and practical environmental planning. Readers frequently note the clarity of the prose despite the breadth of the interdisciplinary subject matter covered.