Reflexive loops on scaling issues in landscape quality assessment

•Scaling issues are poorly debated in landscape quality assessment.•Research projects in quality assessment deal with several scales at different levels.•Different landscape concepts are often mixed in one assessment.•We suggest to systematically have reflexive loops on scaling issues.

Though most landscape ecologists have integrated scaling issues in their works, these issues are often disregarded in landscape perception and preference studies. Researchers base their studies on a predefined single scale to assess the landscape, and they pay little attention to the scale specificity of their analysis and recommendations. We reconsidered three landscape assessment studies from our research unit in light of scaling issues. In addition to the scale of the assessed landscape, researchers should address the scale of the landscape surrogate that is submitted for assessment, including the spatial references of the people surveyed and the target level of application of the results. Indeed, many of the landscape assessment methods mix different landscape notions and scales. Therefore, we recommend the cautious use of these assessments, the integration of qualitative insights in addition tithe scoring and paying attention to the perception scale, as defined by Fairclough (2006).