Visual pollution

Visual pollution is the degradation of the visual environment due to unattractive or disruptive elements that negatively impact the <a href="/facts/Aesthetic/FSD8f7oF">aesthetic</a> quality of an area. It can affect urban, suburban, and natural landscapes. It also refers to the impacts <a href="/facts/Pollution/JRagxumQ">pollution</a> has in impairing the quality of the landscape, formed from compounding sources of pollution to create the impairment. Visual pollution disturbs the functionality and enjoyment of a given area, limiting the ability for the wider <a href="/facts/Ecology/YE8upuJU">ecological system</a>, from humans to animals, to prosper and thrive within it due to the disruptions to their natural and human-made habitats. Although visual pollution can be caused by natural sources (e.g. <a href="/facts/Wildfire/LU3797A0">wildfires</a>), the predominant cause comes from human sources.
As such, visual pollution is not considered a primary source of pollution but a secondary symptom of intersecting pollution sources. Its secondary nature and subjective aspect sometimes makes it difficult to measure and engage with (e.g. within <a href="/facts/Quantitative_research/C1t5h075">quantitative</a> figures for policymakers). However, the history of the word pollution, and pollution's effect over time, reveals the fact that every form of pollution can be categorised and studied in its three main characteristics, namely contextual, subjective and complex. Frameworks for measurement have been established and include public opinion polling and surveys, visual comparison, spatial metrics, and ethnographic work.
Visual pollution can manifest across <a href="/facts/Level_of_analysis/Xk66HjwW">levels of analysis</a>, from micro instances that effect the individual to macro issues that impact society as a whole. Instances of visual pollution can take the form of <a href="/facts/Plastic_bag/7keA8Q57">plastic bags</a> stuck in trees, advertisements with contrasting colors and content, which create an oversaturation of anthropogenic visual information within a landscape, to community-wide impacts of <a href="/facts/Overcrowding/B43av3a8">overcrowding</a>, <a href="/facts/Overhead_power_line/jULhrQNv">overhead power lines</a>, or <a href="/facts/Traffic_congestion/CTl1sfGX">congestion</a>. Poor <a href="/facts/Urban_planning/dcuv8eTp">urban planning</a> and irregular built-up environments contrast with natural spaces, creating alienating landscapes. Using Pakistan as a case study, a detailed analysis of all visual pollution objects was published in 2022.
The effects of visual pollution have primary symptoms, such as distraction, <a href="/facts/Eye_strain/k9oTCUuE">eye fatigue</a>, decreases in opinion diversity, and loss of <a href="/facts/Personal_identity/HRfyp7qh">identity</a>. It has also been shown to increase <a href="/facts/Stress_(biology)/H29jPp2B">biological stress</a> responses and impair balance. As a secondary source of pollution, these also compound with the impact of its primary source such as <a href="/facts/Light_pollution/AD03VyzX">light</a> or <a href="/facts/Noise_pollution/dVwYwHMM">noise pollution</a> that can create multi-layered <a href="/facts/Public_health/4563Kre9">public health</a> concerns and crisis.

Visual pollution open-in-new

Visual pollution