Appreciation esthetique des equipements de transort d'energie (reseaux de pylones)

In the Province of Quebec as much as in the rest of North America, numerous debates surrounding power transmission lines implementation have revealed aesthetics concerns to be a significant factor in the social acceptance of a project. These concerns are mainly associated with its impact on the depreciation of the landscape; public equipment wears it down and destroys it. Thus, aesthetic appreciation of the equipment directly concerns stake of landscape and hence constitutes a major obstacle to further development of power transmission line projects. The aesthetic appreciation, defined through its qualitative dimensions (visual, material, spacial, ecological, affective, ethic and other qualities), is linked to several values that imply the territory as well as the equipment. Appreciation is also associated with citizens' interest in maintaining and improving their quality of life and quality of surroundings.; On a theoretical level, the research is based on the premise that the aesthetic appreciation of the landscape derives from everyday life experience. However, current theories of aesthetics reveal a lack of consensus on the actual object of study. For most part, they overshadow the everyday aesthetic experience, giving emphasis rather to artistic phenomena. In this regard, the thesis suggest a significant theoretical repositioning, turning away from the concept of disinterestedness that is dominant in most traditional views on aesthetics, substituting it for the concept of engagement.; On a methodological level, the positioning and the collection and analysis tools offered by qualitative research have resulted in extensive questioning of the aesthetic phenomenon raised by this issue. Analysis of the phenomenon is supported by three types of qualitative data that offer differentiated perspectives: direct experience of the equipment in different power transmission lines situations; briefs submitted during the public consultation (GAPE) concerning the Hertel-SaintCesaire and Grand-Brule-Vignan project's; and a qualitative survey through semi-conducted interviews with twelve individuals. The analysis suggests a descriptive categorization of all data leading to an interpretative conceptualization of the appreciative process, which is defined as integrative and nuanced. Defined as such, the analysis reveals three interpretative categories: a level of familiarity and strangeness, a process of prioritizing values and a progression in appreciation.; Finally, and on a fundamental level, this thesis suggests two perspectives aiming at the understanding of the phenomenon of aesthetic appreciation of equipment: a logic of confrontation and that of the least-offensive intervention. The desire to protect landscape, which leads to the idealization of landscape without equipment, characterizes the logic of confrontation. The latter, rather emphasizes how people accommodate themselves to, or accept the presence of utility equipment, if less offensive. The thesis contributes to demonstrate the necessity and pertinence of understanding the rationale behind people's aesthetic appreciation of energy equipment by examining all aspects of their everyday aesthetic experience of both the landscape and its public equipment, which in turn, contributes to a social construction of landscape.; Keywords: landscape, everyday aesthetics, appreciation, power transmission lines, pylon, infrastructure, design, environmental design, public equipment, qualitative research...