An immersive path-based study of wind turbines' landscape: A French case in Plouguin

Wind turbines (WT) are socially controversial because of their visual and acoustic impacts. Today, visual impact is studied through photomontages and virtual environments while acoustic impact is rather evaluated through technical studies. This paper aims to study the landscape of WT in situ using an immersive path-based method in which the observer is directly interacting with the environment. In order to evaluate the assets of such a method, first a non-immersive survey based on interviews is performed. Then, the immersive study, the “commented country walks” inspired from an urban space description method, combines pedestrian's perception and motion in order to characterize and contextualize impacts. The study of two different paths – corresponding to the immediate and the intermediate distance area of the WT park – reveals the influence of the environment (physical factors, space shapes) and of the observer (geographical origin, motion) on the visual and acoustic impacts. The comparison between the interviews and the “commented country walks” demonstrates how immersion enhances perceptive information and how WT impacts depend on environmental features. The immersive path-based method gives rich objective results that we propose in WT studies.