Visual pollution

Visual pollution disturbs the functionality and enjoyment of a given area, limiting the ability for the wider ecological system, from humans to animals, to prosper and thrive within it due to the disruptions to their natural and human-made habitats.

[1] Frameworks for measurement have been established and include public opinion polling and surveys, visual comparison, spatial metrics, and ethnographic work.

[5][6][7][8][9] Visual pollution can manifest across levels of analysis, from micro instances that effect the individual to macro issues that impact society as a whole.

[1] The effects of visual pollution have primary symptoms, such as distraction, eye fatigue, decreases in opinion diversity, and loss of identity.

As businesses look for ways to increase the profits, cleanliness, architecture, logic and use of space in urban areas are suffering from visual clutter.

[14] Variations in the built environment are determined by the location of street furniture such as public transport stations, garbage cans, large panels and stalls.

For example, logo signs that provide directional information for travelers without disfiguring the landscape are increasing and are a step toward decreasing visual pollution on highways in America.

[15] In September 2006, São Paulo passed the Cidade Limpa (Clean City Law), outlawing the use of all outdoor advertisements, including on billboards, transit, and in front of stores.