## 3 Method Implementation and Application
### Definition of a Landscape Subdivision Criterion and Identification of Symbols or Shapes  
The geographical area of reference for the application of the method is the Abruzzo region, selected as a case study. The proposed method requires dividing the region area into various subareas, each of them represented by a specific geometry or, better, a representative shape of that area. The first step concerns the definition of a criterion for dividing the geographical areas into places represented by some shape.  
The definition of a landscape subdivision criterion must meet the following requirements:  
1. The number of areas identified must not be too large, otherwise too many types of supports should be defined, and this would have obvious complications.
2. The representative shapes must be adequate for the purpose: the pylon slenderness is a key feature for a technical solution to be implemented even on a large scale.
3. The areas must be sufficiently identifiable with the chosen representative shapes.  
In the following subparagraphs, a list of suggested criteria for landscape subdivision is proposed, whose resulting symbols are summed up and listed in Table 2.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**No.** & **Functional Requirements** & **Units** & **Functional Requirement** & **Note** & **Priority** \\ \hline
1 & Number of lines that can be supported by the pylon & (lines) & FR \(>\) 1 & With modularity: 3–6 & 5 \\
2 & Accessibility for maintenance operations & (unitless) & Largest possible & Usually 1 day & 4 \\
3 & Frequency of maintenance operations & (n/year) & Smallest possible & Usually one operation/year & 4 \\
4 & Unit installation cost & (**c**) & \(<\)750 k\&/km & Reference value for the most important operator of energy transmission & 4 \\
5 & Unit installation time & (day) & (days) & Usually between 1 and 10 days & 4 \\
6 & Support height & (m) & 35 \(\leq\) FR \(\leq\) 45 & Even higher in particular cases & 4 \\
7 & Adaptability of mechanical properties to specific applications & (unitless) & Yes & & 4 \\
8 & Values range of area of the support base & (m\({}^{2}\)) & 10 \(\leq\) FR \(\leq\) 16 & Smallest area to reduce impact & 4 \\
9 & Adaptability of foundations to any soil medium & (unitless) & Yes & & 4 \\
10 & Adaptability to both natural and urban contexts & (unitless) & Yes & & 4 \\
11 & Compliance with mechanical properties imposed by standards & (unitless) & Yes & & 5 \\
12 & Distance between the conductors & (m) & FR \(\geq\) 11.3 & & 5 \\
13 & Distance between conductors & (m) & FR \(\geq\) 5 & & 5 \\
14 & Distance between conductors and ground parts of the support & (m) & FR \(\geq\) 2.3 & & 5 \\
15 & Vulnerability to lightning & (unitless) & No & & 5 \\
16 & Short circuit safety & (unitless) & Yes & & 5 \\
17 & Vulnerability in extreme weather conditions & (unitless) & No & & 3 \\
18 & Ease of disposal & (unitless) & Appreciated & & 3 \\
19 & Visual impact mitigation strategies & (unitless) & Largest possible & & 5 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Technical specifications for a pylon of a 380-kV electricity line.  
According to the results reported in [24], a better correspondence between the identified shapes and the citizens' requirements can be obtained by involving local residents in participatory design activities [37; 38; 39]. A survey was conducted among 120 people between the ages of 18 and 65, divided into 54 men and 66 women, from different social backgrounds who live in the Abruzzo region and equally distributed throughout the whole territory. For each of the identified criteria (see the following subparagraphs), each person was asked to assign a score to each proposed shape to assess its renown (assigning a score of 1-10) and the consistency of the symbol (assigning a score of 1-10) with the specific area. All the judgements are collected in the last two columns of Table 2. The average of these scores determined the \"shape suitability\" scores in the following Tables (from 3 to 8) for each subdivision criterion.