Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
capacity may be developed which might be defined thus: 'recreation resources/facilities
will only be suitable for use by a certain number of people beyond which figure carrying
capacity will be exceeded to the detriment of the resources and/or the users' experience'
(Owens 1984:167). In trying to put the concept into practice, a range of studies were
developed to measure capacity (e.g. Dower and McCarthy 1967; Stankey 1973), with the
attempt to differentiate between ecological, physical, social and psychological (or
perceptual) capacity (see Chapter 4).
The other area of study noted by Owens (1984) was user perception studies. The
greatest impetus for such studies emerged in the USA, particularly in relation to
perception of wilderness areas (Stone and Taves 1957) with a specific management
objective—the extent to which policies could be developed which would not adversely
affect users' perceptions. Lucas' (1964) landmark study of Boundary Waters Canoe area
saw users' opinions being canvassed which showed that some respondents had a more
restricted view of wilderness than others and this assisted managers in developing land
use zoning measures.
The key perception studies undertaken have focused on the following range of themes,
although in practice a number of the studies have often been dealt with under more than
one theme:
• perception of scenery and evaluation of landscape quality
• perception of wilderness, wilderness management, and the psychology of wilderness
experience
• social and psychological carrying capacity
• comparison of managers' and users' perceptions
• social benefits of recreation, socialisation into leisure, quality of life elements in leisure
experience
• behaviour at sites and social meaning of recreation in relation to particular activities
• perceived similarities between recreation activities and substitutability
• psychological structure of leisure, leisure activity types, typology of recreation activity
preferences (see Owen 1984 for more detail of these studies).
Robinson (1990) also documented the behavioural differences between recreationalists in
different countries, where there are cultural differences in the perception of rural
aesthetics.
SUPPLY OF RURAL RECREATION
The types of studies developed and published reflect the geographer's interest in rural
land use and the geographer's concern with the spatial distribution of resources which led
to a range of studies of resource inventories and rural recreation. According to Pigram
(1983), for many people, the concept of resources is commonly taken to refer only to
tangible objects in nature. An alternative way is to see resources not so much as material
substances but as functions. In this sense resource functions are created by man through
the selection and manipulation of certain attributes of the environment.
Resources are therefore constituted by society's subjective evaluation of their value
and potential so that they satisfy recreational needs and wants. Earlier research by
