Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
emphasising their contribution to understanding the wider context in which such
activities take place. One key feature of the chapter is the emphasis on five specific
aspects of geographical inquiry:
• description
• classification
• analysis
• explanation
• application of theoretical and conceptual issues to practical problem-solving contexts.
According to Coppock (1982), the geographer's principal interest in the geographical
analysis of leisure provides a useful starting point in understanding the areas of research
which have also been developed in urban recreation and tourism research in that they
examine
the way in which…pursuits are linked to the whole complex of human
activities and physical features that determine the distinctive characters of
places and region, and the interactions between such pursuits and the
natural and man-made environments in which they occur…[and] the study
of the spatial interactions between participants and resources probably
represents the most significant contribution the geographer can make.
(Coppock 1982:2-3)
The focus on the behavioural aspects of recreational and tourism behaviour together with
the planning, and more recently, the management implications of such activities in the
urban environment have become fruitful areas for geographical research.
INSIGHT: Stanley Park, Vancouver
In 1886 1000 acres (404 hectares) of Federal Government land on a largely logged
peninsula was leased to the Vancouver City Council for park and recreation purposes.
The area, which was named Stanley Park, after Lord Stanley, Governor General of
Canada in 1888 when the park was officially opened, now lies at the heart of
Vancouver's park system and attracts an estimated 8 million visitors a year to North
America's third largest urban park. As well as providing a significant secondary growth
forest ecosystem and wetland, the park also contains a number of built attractions and
recreation opportunities. Although the former zoo in the park has been closed, the park
still contains such attractions as the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science centre, a
miniature railway and children's farmyard, summer theatre and Brockton Point Visitor's
centre that features a number of First Nations totem poles. Recreational sites include
swimming areas, golf course and putting green, tennis courts and, probably most
significantly in terms of use, numerous bicycling, roller blade, jogging and walking paths.
Stanley Park therefore continues many of the traditions of a multiple-use large urban park
or commons of the Victorian Period, comparable with similar large areas of urban
greenspace elsewhere in the world such as Kings Park in Perth, Western Australia,
Centennial Park in Sydney, New South Wales, or the Domain, in Auckland, New
Zealand.
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