Enhancing sustainability through aesthetic values: Exploring the role of aesthetic values in the management and planning of marine social-ecological systems in Nova Scotia

Abstract

Marine and coastal areas offer crucial Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) like enjoyment, inspiration, and aesthetic experiences, which are essential for human well-being. Recognizing and evaluating these CES is vital for identifying potential conflicts and enhancing social sustainability within holistic marine management frameworks such as Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). Despite the growing acknowledgment of social factors in modern sustainability frameworks, gaps remain in understanding CES of complex marine Social-Ecological Systems (SES), particularly in assessing people’s aesthetic values and preferences. Using Nova Scotia as a case study, this research employed a multi-method approach to explore the role of aesthetic values in the sustainable management and planning of marine SES. It involved both a content analysis to explore how the language around CES and aesthetics are integrated into MSP documents and a public survey to understand the factors that influence Nova Scotians’ visual preferences towards marine seascapes. This research found wide recognition of CES terminology in marine spatial plans, although its inclusion is uneven and inconsistent, with often superficial integration of aesthetics. The analysis identified enabling conditions for effectively integrating aesthetic values, including smaller-scale plans, bottom-up engagement, and top-down directives. The survey findings show that the ocean’s aesthetic value was generally considered important but visual appeal differed across seascape types. Furthermore, visual appeal preferences were found to be intertwined with values related to place attachment as well as moral judgements about the impacts of developments. The study’s synthesis proposes a framework that combines institutional and research pathways to effectively integrate aesthetics into marine spatial planning, thereby supporting more comprehensive and socially sustainable management of marine environments.