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The importance of place in landscape management and outdoor recreation has been prominent in the literature since the 1970s. As such, calls to incorporate place into the management of parks, forests, and other protected areas exist. However, little work explores how place attachment may complement existing management frameworks. Hence, the purpose of this investigation was to explore levels of visitors’ place attachment intensity across the six classes of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS). Survey data collected in North America and Europe indicated there was more similarity in place attachment intensities among areas classified toward the less developed end of the ROS, while greater variation existed among the more developed sites. Observing place attachment across all six ROS classes allowed for a deeper understanding of the correlation between place and the management framework.

Impacts of heat periods and stressful life increasingly impact urban population. Green infrastructure such as urban forests can reduce heat-related stress and provide a restorative experience. The study explored preferences of 160 urban woodland visitors in Vienna for, and their trade-offs between, structural components of forest stands using a discrete choice experiment with digitally calibrated images. Three different visitor intentions for choosing a forest stand were explored: preference, heat relief and restorative experience. Results showed that respondents preferred forest stands with a closed canopy and ground vegetation, but without high amounts of dead wood. The structural components were weighed differently by respondents with ground vegetation being the most important component relative to the other forest stand components investigated. While components providing shade became more important for heat relief, results for visitor preferences and restoration were very similar. Results indicate that different recreational intentions lead to different visual preferences for forest stands. Respondents would tolerate a less aesthetically appealing forest stand for a visit to a forest during hot days. Urban foresters may develop a specific type of forest stands to encounter the increasing impacts of urban heat.

Invasive alien species (IAS) can cause ecological and economic damages. To reduce or prevent these damages different management and prevention strategies aim to impede new establishments or a further spreading of IAS. However, for these measures to be successful, public knowledge of risks and threats of IAS as well as public support for eradication measures are important prerequisites. We conducted a survey to examine (i) public and experts' awareness and knowledge of IAS, (ii) their preferences for six invasive plant species and (iii) their preferences for and trade-offs among management alternatives in Switzerland. In addition, a choice experiment was applied to analyse preferences concerning the intensity, priority and costs of interventions. Both, the Swiss public and the experts have a preference for intervening against invasive alien species. However, the public and the experts differ in their priorities of combatting particular species, resulting in a different ranking of intervention necessities. Further, differences were found in the willingness to pay for interventions between the German-, French- and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland. The results suggest that a higher problem awareness increases the willingness to pay for countermeasures. We conclude that education programs or information campaigns are promising instruments to raise public awareness and to avoid conflicts concerning the management of invasive alien species.

Public urban green spaces are crucial for citizens’ wellbeing and are an important part of daily life in cities. To maximize their benefits to quality of life a thorough knowledge of citizens’ preferences and preference heterogeneity is crucial in the planning and design of urban green spaces. This study investigated visitors’ perception of typical green spaces, with a focus on vegetation structure and the presence of typical historic city walls, as well as preferences within the context of perceived stress and safety. We conducted this study in the historic city of Padua in north-eastern Italy. In 2017, face-to-face interviews of citizens were held and choice sets, based on modified images of different green space scenarios, were used to test users’ preferences connected to both stress relief and safety perception. The study highlighted that general, stress relief and safety perception related preferences of the respondents depend on different site characteristics. Respondents preferred a complex but not too wild scenario with sparse trees and aesthetically appealing features such as colourful flowers. Historic walls had a negative effect on general preferences. While general preferences were very similar to stress relief preferences, preferences within the context of safety differed for some attributes. It seems that the vegetation structure and the presence of features linked to human recreational uses are important factors in planning and designing urban green spaces. Management and planning should take into consideration what users demand from green spaces as this will influence their suitable design.

Background Heatwaves form a serious public health threat, especially for vulnerable groups. Interventions such as active outreach programs, exposure reduction measures and monitoring and mapping of at-risk groups are increasingly implemented across the world but little is known about their effect. Objectives To assess how vulnerable groups are identified and reached in heat health interventions, to understand the effectiveness and efficiency of those interventions, and to identify research gaps in existing literature. Methods We performed a literature search in relevant scientific literature databases and searched with a four element search model for articles published from 1995 onward. We extracted data on intervention measures, target group and evaluation of effectiveness and efficiency. Results We identified 23 eligible studies. Patterns exist in type of interventions 1) to detect and 2) to influence extrinsic and intrinsic risk and protective factors. Results showed several intervention barriers related to the variety and intersection of these factors, as well as the self-perception of vulnerable groups, and misconceptions and unfavorable attitudes towards intervention benefits. While modest indications for the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions were found, efficiency remains unclear. Discussion Interventions entailed logical combinations of measures, subsumed as packages. Evidence for effective and efficient intervention is limited by the difficulty to determine effects and because single measures are mutually dependent. Interventions prioritized promoting behavioral change and were based on behavioral assumptions that remain untested and mechanisms not worked out explicitly. Conclusions Multifaceted efforts are needed to tailor interventions, compiled in heat health warning systems and action plans for exposure reduction and protection of vulnerable populations, to fit the social, economic and geographical context. Besides adequately addressing relevant risk and protective factors, the challenge is to integrate perspectives of vulnerable groups. Future research should focus on intervention barriers and improving the methods of effectiveness and efficiency evaluation.

Research on place attachment suggests that place identity and place dependence differ between recreationists with varying levels of specialization, recreating in different settings and with different resource proximities to their home. To further explore this relationship, we compared place attachment and recreation specialization of whitewater boaters in four different river settings. Data were collected on three rivers in the US and one in Austria. Place attachment was measured using four place identity and four place dependence items. Recreation specialization was treated as a multivariate construct consisting of the three dimensions; behavior, skill, and enduring involvement. The results of a cluster analysis revealed three specialization clusters. Two ANOVAs were performed by using place dependence and place identity as dependent variables and specialization clusters and the sampling rivers as independent variables. Place identity was not expressed differently between rivers but differed in specialization clusters. Place dependence was different between rivers but not between specialization clusters. Findings suggest that place attachment dimensions vary in river setting and specialization levels. Management should take into account that boaters exhibit different place attachment based on the specialization level and resource proximity to their home.

Previous research has found higher levels of heatwave mortality and morbidity among urban residents with a migration background because of their social, health and environmental conditions. The purpose of the study was to investigate and compare heat induced changes in the outdoor recreation behaviours of Turkish migrants with those of non-migrants on hot days in Vienna. Specifically, the study compared coping behaviours due to heat such as inter-area, intra-area, temporal and activity displacement between migrants and non-migrants. The study interviewed 400 migrants and non-migrants in four public green spaces of different area sizes and asked about their outdoor recreation motives and activities, as well as behavioural changes, due to summer heat. Results show that migrants have different motives for visiting urban green spaces on hot days, and that they visit these less frequently on hot days compared to non-migrants. While both groups shift their outdoor uses more to shady areas and the cooler times of the day, more migrants visit green spaces in the afternoon, perform more energetic recreational activities, and use sunnier sites more frequently than non-migrants on hot days. Few migrants and non-migrants stated that they would visit alternative green spaces when it is hot. The results indicate that migrants’ behaviours result in higher heat exposure, while making less use of the opportunities larger green spaces such as forests can provide for heat relief. Recommendations on how green and city planners could reduce heat related health risks for both study groups are presented.

A pine barrens is an open, fire-dependent ecological community once prevalent in sandy areas of northern Wisconsin (USA). Efforts to restore pine barrens on public lands have been hampered in part because their character does not conform to many people’s ideals of Northwoods forest scenery, challenging land managers on how to balance social and ecological goals. We studied the manager-relevant attributes of a pine barrens restoration site to predict nearby landowners’ landscape preferences and to ascertain whether their preferences differed. We designed a discrete choice experiment where different levels of six attributes of pine barrens were systematically manipulated in visual choice scenarios and presented to landowners (N = 542) of small, family forest parcels in an online survey. Half of the respondents read an informational statement about barrens ecology and management prior to judging the scenarios for visual preference, while everyone answered questions about their knowledge and experience with barrens. Results showed dominant preferences for scenarios indicating a Northwoods “scenic aesthetic,” with smaller openings, higher tree density, and lower fire intervals and understory shrub density. Latent class and a priori segmentations revealed smaller subgroups of landowners had higher preferences for more open treatment designs tending toward an “ecological aesthetic,” and while previous experiences at pine barrens helped to distinguish subgroups, prior knowledge and information did not. Implications are discussed for restoring pine barrens in a social context.

Extensive outbreaks of the emerald ash borer ( Agrilus planipennis ; EAB), an invasive forest insect, are having serious impacts on the cultural ecosystem services of urban forests in the United States and other countries. Limited experience with how such outbreaks might affect recreational opportunities prompted this investigation of visitors to a state park in St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, where EAB damage is occurring. A photo-questionnaire solicited visitors’ visual preferences for trail environments in a discrete choice experiment. Systematically manipulated digital images simulated different levels of EAB impact in combination with other physical and social attributes including trail-proximate EAB-related forest management responses, land use context of the viewscape beyond the trail environment, visitor types, and visitor densities. Results indicated that EAB impacts were significant but of lesser importance than surrounding viewscape development and visitor numbers. Specifically, respondents preferred dense trailside shrub vegetation and low trail user numbers and disliked viewscapes showing city buildings and removal of most ash trees. Results suggest that trail planning should not only consider near-view landscape impacts but also the visual quality of more distant viewscapes, and that urban forest managers need to be aware of how forest insect impacts and subsequent management responses affect recreation setting preferences.

Heat affects cities because of the urban heat island effect and will increasingly affect these areas due to ongoing urbanization and climate change. Among those most vulnerable towards urban heat are the elderly. This study analysed coping behaviours to avoid heat stress among 193 elderly residents living independently in urban heat islands of Vienna. A visual discrete choice experiment employed digitally calibrated images to simulate urban green spaces and analysed green-space preferences of the elderly on hot days. This study found three coping behaviours among the elderly: outdoor, home and second-home coping. Heat-coping segments differ in their health status, adaptive capacity and green-space use. Green spaces which provide shadow and a pond and which are easily accessible and cooler than the home would encourage most of the elderly for a visit. Segments differ in their preferences for green spaces. Study findings underline the importance of a heat-adjusted green-space design for the elderly.

Associations between biodiversity, human health and well-being have never been discussed with reference to agriculturally managed, species-rich mountainous meadows. We evaluated these associations between extensively managed (one mowing a year, no fertilization) and abandoned (no mowing since more than 80 years, no fertilization) semi-dry meadows located in the Austrian and Swiss Alps. We quantified the richness and abundance of plants, grasshoppers, true bugs, bumblebees, syrphids and landscape characteristics in the surroundings of the meadows. Associations between these biodiversity attributes and short-term psychological and physiological human health effects were assessed with 22 participants (10 males, 12 females; mean age 27 years). Participants´ pulse rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were not affected during visits to managed or abandoned meadows. However, perceived health benefits (e.g., stress reduction, attention restoration) were higher during their stays in managed than in abandoned meadows. Also, the attractiveness of the surrounding landscape and the recreation suitability were rated higher when visiting managed meadows. Perceived naturalness was positively correlated with plant richness and flower cover. A positive correlation was found between SBP and forest cover, but SBP was negatively correlated with the open landscape. A negative association was found between grasshoppers and recreational and landscape perceptions. We suggest to discuss biodiversity attributes not only in connection with agricultural management but also with cultural ecosystem services and health benefits to raise more awareness for multifaceted interrelationships between ecosystems and humans.

This study explored visitors’ preferences for social conditions of trail use in urban forests. It is important to understand the heterogeneous nature of visitor preferences because the recreational use of urban forests is characterized by multipurpose uses with different visiting motivations. To understand preference heterogeneity, this study used a discrete choice experiment using a latent class model that incorporated motivational and sociodemographic factors as membership likelihood function. In 2006, 256 visitors to the Nopporo Forest Park, Hokkaido, in northern Japan, completed questionnaires with a series of discrete choice tasks using computer-manipulated images presenting various social conditions of trail use, such as visitor numbers and harvesting behavior on wild food plants. The study identified two visitor groups. One group consisted of more elders whose motivation was to enjoy the natural environment. Although they tended to tolerate crowded conditions, they particularly disliked plant pickers, who harvest wild vegetables alongside the trail. The other group was less tolerant of crowds, and enjoying the natural environment was not their primary purpose for visiting the park. These visitors especially disliked excessive numbers of visitors, but they did not dislike plant pickers. These results suggest that traditional park management assumptions about typical visitors poorly serve the heterogeneous nature of the visitor population.

Recent research has indicated that the younger generations may be disconnected from nature and even show some dislike for natural conditions. This study addressed adolescents’ preferences for riverscapes with varying fluvial dynamics as recreational settings. A stated choice survey with digitally calibrated river scenarios asked Austrian pupils (N = 281) about their preferences for several physical and social characteristics of a floodplain landscape. Pupils perceived riverscapes with a high water dynamic as best for recreation, while water bodies with low water levels and algae, dry river sites, floods and littered trails were disliked. Heterogeneity among the pupils was found with one smaller segment preferring settings with high water dynamic and low human impact, while the larger one preferred settings with more human impact and low water dynamic. This segment that shows some dislike for natural conditions had less experience with rivers and scored lower on natural river-related attitudes and ...

The study compared psychological and physiological health effects of short-term stays at managed and abandoned meadows, a mountain river, and an urban site of a dependent sample of 22 adult participants (mean age 27) during an 11-day field trip. The study found that pulse rates decreased during the stays at all the meadows and the urban site while no decrease was observed at the river. Blood pressure increased at all sites during the stay, with no study-site differences for systolic, but for diastolic, blood pressure. Participants reported more positive psychological health effects as a result of their stays at the most remote meadow and the river on attention restoration, stress reduction and wellbeing compared to the urban site, while no differences in health perceptions were observed between managed and unmanaged meadows. This study suggests that perceived and measured health benefits were independent of the degree of naturalness of meadows. While differences measured on the physiological level between urban built and natural sites were marginal, psychological measures showed higher health benefits of the natural environments compared to the built one.

Cognitive functioning and academic performance of pupils depend on regular breaks from classroom work. However, it is unclear which settings during such breaks provide the best environment to restore cognitive performance and promote wellbeing of adolescent pupils. Therefore, we investigated the effects of staying in different urban green spaces during breaks. Sixty-four pupils (16&ndash, 18 years old) participated in a cross-over experiment. They were placed into one of three settings (small park, larger park, forest) for one hour during a lunch break. Wellbeing was assessed four times (Nitsch scale), and a cognitive test (d2-R Test of Attention) was applied in the classrooms before and after the break. Wellbeing was almost always highest after the stay in the green spaces. However, a sustained effect was only found for the forest. Concentration performance values of the d2-R test were significantly higher after the pupils&rsquo, stay in green spaces for all sites. The highest increase of performance was found for the larger park type. In conclusion, this pilot study showed that study breaks in green spaces improved wellbeing and cognitive performance of adolescents. It also found that larger green spaces, either parks or forests, have stronger positive impacts on wellbeing and cognitive performance than small parks.

A supportive attitude of residents towards protected areas is crucial for successful implementation and management, particularly in densely populated regions such as Central Europe. While previous studies have revealed that emotional and cultural drivers, as well as information level and group membership, can influence attitudes towards protected areas, the effect of place-attachment dimensions remains unclear. A postal survey among local residents (N = 460) explored factors influencing attitudes towards the Lungau (-Nockberge) Biosphere Reserve in Austria before its official recognition. Results indicated societal support throughout all socio-demographic strata. A logistic regression showed that, besides socio-demographics and information level, place attachment had a significant influence on the acceptance of the biosphere reserve. Supporters and opponents showed both high place identity and dependence, while waverers scored low on these dimensions. Results indicate that place attachment is relevant for...

Extensive outbreaks of tree-killing insects are increasing across forests in Europe and North America due to climate change and other factors. Yet, little recent research examines visitor response to visual changes in conifer forest recreation settings resulting from forest insect infestations, how visitors weigh trade-offs between physical and social forest environment factors, or how visitor preferences might differ by nationality. This study explored forest visitor preferences with a discrete choice experiment that photographically simulated conifer forest stands with varying levels of bark beetle outbreaks, forest and visitor management practices, and visitor use levels and compositions. On-site surveys were conducted with visitors to State Forest State Park in Colorado (n = 200), Lake Bemidji State Park in Minnesota (n = 228), and Harz National Park in Germany (n = 208). Results revealed that the condition of the immediate forest surrounding was the most important variable influencing visitors' landscape preferences. Visitors preferred healthy mature forest stands and disliked forests with substantial dead wood. The number of visitors was the most important social factor influencing visitor landscape preferences. Differences in the influence of physical and social factors on visual preferences existed between study sites. Findings suggest that both visual forest conditions and visitor use management are important concerns in addressing landscape preferences for beetle-impacted forest recreation areas.

Urban green infrastructure provides a number of cultural ecosystem services that are greatly appreciated by the public. In order to benefit from these services, actual contact with the respective ecosystem is often required. Furthermore, the type of services offered depend on the physical characteristics of the ecosystem. We conducted a review of publications dealing with demand or social factors such as user needs, preferences and values as well as spatially explicit supply or physical factors such as amount of green space, (bio)diversity, recreational infrastructure, etc. and linking demand and supply factors together. The aim was to provide an overview of this highly interdisciplinary research, to describe how these linkages are being made and to identify which factors significantly influence dependent variables such as levels of use, activities or health and well-being benefits. Commonly used methods were the combination of questionnaires with either on-site visual recording of elements or GIS data. Links between social and physical data were usually established either by using statistical tools or by overlaying different thematic maps. Compared to the large number of variables assessed in most studies, the significant effects in the end were relatively few, not consistent across the studies and largely dependent on the context they were seen in. Studies focused on aesthetic and recreational services, while spiritual, educational and inspirational services were not considered when creating links to spatially explicit ecological structures. We conclude that an improvement and harmonization of methodologies, cross-country studies and an expansion of this line of research to a wider range of services and more user groups could help clarify relationships and thereby increase applicability for urban management and planning. Urban green infrastructure provides a number of cultural ecosystem services that are greatly appreciated by the public. In order to benefit from these services, actual contact with the respective ecosystem is often required. Furthermore, the type of services offered depend on the physical characteristics of the ecosystem. We conducted a review of publications dealing with demand or social factors such as user needs, preferences and values as well as spatially explicit supply or physical factors such as amount of green space, (bio)diversity, recreational infrastructure, etc. and linking demand and supply factors together. The aim was to provide an overview of this highly interdisciplinary research, to describe how these linkages are being made and to identify which factors significantly influence dependent variables such as levels of use, activities or health and well-being benefits. Commonly used methods were the combination of questionnaires with either on-site visual recording of elements or GIS data. Links between social and physical data were usually established either by using statistical tools or by overlaying different thematic maps. Compared to the large number of variables assessed in most studies, the significant effects in the end were relatively few, not consistent across the studies and largely dependent on the context they were seen in. Studies focused on aesthetic and recreational services, while spiritual, educational and inspirational services were not considered when creating links to spatially explicit ecological structures. We conclude that an improvement and harmonization of methodologies, cross-country studies and an expansion of this line of research to a wider range of services and more user groups could help clarify relationships and thereby increase applicability for urban management and planning

Public urban green spaces play an important role in urban sustainability. These places should provide high-quality recreation experiences for the urban residents. However, they are often overused. The Wienerberg area in the south of Vienna, Austria, was transformed from a waste disposal site into a natural recreation area. During the past years, intensive settlement densification processes have taken place, resulting in a doubling of the local population living within a few minutes walking distance. An on-site survey among green space visitors (N = 231) revealed that the majority of them considered the area to be overcrowded on Sundays/holidays and reported a perceived increase in visitor numbers during the past years. Visitors with more past experience, as well as those who have perceived an increase in visitor numbers during recent years, reported higher crowding perceptions. A significant proportion of them try to avoid these crowds, relying on behavioral coping strategies, such as inter-area displacement. While urban regeneration has provided an attractive recreation area, urban densification around the green space appears to have reduced its recreational quality. Monitoring recreation quality indicators, such as crowding perceptions, seems to be useful for sustainable urban green space management and city planning.

Knowledge about the recreation quality expected by forest visitors and the perceived impacts is necessary to be able to manage forests on a sustainable basis. While the ecological impacts of recreation use have been a central topic in forest recreation research for ~ 30 years in Europe (e.g. Volk, 1979 ; Weiger, 1982 ; Volk et al. , 1995 ; Schemel and Erbguth, 2000 ; Ingold, 2005 ), social impacts such as user confl icts – in particular crowding – have rarely been investigated. This is surprising, as most forests – particularly those in Central Europe – are within the reach of many day users from urban areas or are situated within city limits. As a result, most of these forests face high and increasing recreational use pressure. Therefore, crowding may become a more prominent issue in recreation management. In times of multi-purpose forestry ( Font and Tribe, 1999 ), the recreational use of forests is gaining greater importance and the need for information about crowding has become apparent for sustainable forest management in Europe. However, the current status of European crowding research has neither, so far, been summarized nor analysed. The objective of this paper is to review the fi ndings and the methodological approaches Crowding in European forests: a review of recent research and implications for forest management and policy