Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 18.3
New
landscapes, Murton
Grange, North Yorkshire
Moors National Park.
Source:
Based on Statham
1993.
control access and to the multifaceted problem
of reconciling different recreational uses of the
same area of land. As in many other areas of
human activity, an additional element within this
research in recent years has been the issue of
whether recreation and tourism in rural areas can
be managed in a sustainable fashion. The
dimension of sustainability seems destined to
feature very prominently in applied research on
management issues in future and may redress its
previous neglect in government policies relating
to tourism and recreation. It may also offer new
ways of reconciling competing economic, social
and cultural objectives in rural areas (Murdoch
1993). However, for this to occur there will need
to be much more work on how sustainability can
be measured in a practical fashion in particular
situations and on how the various conflicts
between different uses are to be resolved at a local
level.
One of the key problems facing researchers on
rural issues in general is the diversity of roles that
the countryside fulfils in modern society. The days
when rurality in the developed world could
simply be equated with primary production have
disappeared as 'rural' has taken on a more complex
meaning. While agriculture and forestry still
dominate rural land use, recreational, tourist,
sporting, military, conservation and other
commercial interests have assumed a far greater
importance. In particular, the public's increased
pursuit of leisure activities in rural areas has given
it a voice on rural issues that has often conflicted
with that of long-term agricultural interests. Yet
an overriding problem is that the public hold
ambivalent, ambiguous and contradictory views of
what role they wish the countryside to fulfil and
how they wish it to be managed with respect to
recreational provision (McNaghten 1995). This
makes it extremely hard to plan for multiple use,
