Ode Sang, Åsa
- Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
In recent years the relationship between outdoor recreation and public health has been increasingly acknowledged. One way planners and policymakers can promote physical activity within their administrative areas is to stimulate more people to engage in outdoor recreation. However, a prerequisite for outdoor recreation is accessibility to recreational landscapes. In current research, the terms 'access' and 'accessibility' are defined and used in different ways. In order to provide planners and policymakers responsible for urban green structure with useful tools for promoting outdoor recreation, there is a need to find ways for accessibility to be measured and mapped in ways reflecting the different dimensions of perceived accessibility. The literature review identifies the key dimensions describing accessibility to recreational landscapes and the related attributes that can be assessed when studying peoples' perceived accessibility. Two main dimensions of perceived accessibility are identified: physical accessibility (related to attributes in the physical landscape), and cultural, social, or sociopsychological accessibility (related to attributes of the observer). The author concludes that researchers, planners, policymakers, and others aiming to assess accessibility to a recreational landscape need to make conscious choices regarding which dimensions and attributes of perceived accessibility should be included based on the purpose of their assessment.
Keywords
landscape perception; planning tools; promoting physical activity; accessibility; outdoor recreation
Published in
Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift / Norwegian Journal of Geography
2014, volume: 68, number: 3, pages: 145-154
Publisher: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
SLU Authors
Associated SLU-program
Nature experiences and health
Global goals (SDG)
SDG9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure
SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
UKÄ Subject classification
Landscape Architecture
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2014.904399
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/67084