Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Small scale
Children's play
Domestic
gardens
Local streets/
Local
catchment
areas
pavements Waste
ground Grass
verges
Source:
S.Williams (1995)
do not participate due to financial barriers. Even when such barriers are removed,
the image of participation still has cultural and social barriers (e.g. opera-going)
•
transport
can be a deterrent to urban recreational participation where access is limited
by car ownership or where a short journey by bus may be difficult and costly in time
for public transport users.
Using the key variables, which reflect basic resource attributes, S.Williams (1995)
devised a practical typology of urban recreational resources as illustrated in Table 5.3.
The challenge for recreational provision in any urban context is the planning and
management undertaken to ensure that principles of equity and equal access are permitted
where possible.
URBAN RECREATIONAL PLANNING
According to Patmore (1983):
It may be possible to view [urban recreation] provision in a rational,
hierarchical frame, to develop models for that precision that equate access
and opportunity in a spatial pattern with mathematical precision, but
reality rarely gives an empty canvas where such a model can be developed
in an unfettered form. Rather, reality is conditioned by the accident of
historic legacy, by the fashions of spending from the public purse and by
the commercial dictates of the public sector.
(Patmore 1983:117-18)
In geographical terms, urban recreational provision in town and cities grew in an ad-hoc
fashion, and in many western European contexts the task of city planners in the 1960s
and 1970s was to tidy up the decades of incremental growth. In the UK, one solution used
was to create 'leisure directorates' in city councils to amalgamate public recreation
interests into one consolidated department. As Burtenshaw et al. (1991) argued, the
consolidation of recreation activities in the public sector led to debates on the extent to
which such activities should be a commercial or municipal enterprise. In fact, no one
coherent philosophy has been developed, with individual cities deciding the precise range
of activities which should be publicly funded. However, as Veal (1994:185) poignantly
noted, 'urban outdoor recreation takes place primarily in parks, playing fields and
playgrounds. The provision of such facilities constitutes the largest single public leisure
sector, in terms of expenditure, land allocation and staff and is the longest established'.
As a result, the public sector is a key agent in developing urban areas for leisure and
