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Abstract:
This study aims to analyse the perception of cultural landscape by local communities,with emphasis on representatives of Generation Y in the sense of people aged between 16and 34 in the context of the development of wind energy identified through the locationof wind-power plants. We have chosen to study the commune of Dąbrowa Chełmińska(LAU-2, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship [województwo kujawsko-pomorskie], NUTS-2),a suburban area housing one of the oldest wind-power plants in Poland as well as moderninstallations. We achieved the aim of this paper by conducting a bipartite study usingquestionnaire interviews and Wejchert’s impression-curve method. The analyses we haveperformed indicate that matters related to cultural landscape engage every resident ofthe commune, yet primarily the younger generation: Generation Y. This is a social groupinterested in processes, which are currently underway, especially those regarding innovationand ecological actions. The study shows that the perception of cultural landscapecomprising wind-power plants by the local community, including Generation Y, is primarilyambivalent. We are dealing with diverse, sometimes even contrasting opinions, bothamong young people and the generation of their parents and grandparents. Generation Ygives a more negative assessment of the presence of wind turbines in cultural landscapethan the generation of parents and grandparents. It may seem surprising that in the viewof the respondents, wind-power plants do not dominate the landscape, although representativesof Generation Y stated that they should be removed as elements disharmonising thelandscape.