Design for Outdoor Recreation

Simon Bell

• Éditeur: Taylor & Francis
• Année: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781134108046
• Édition: 2
• Sujet: Architecture
• Sous-sujet: Architecture General

Design for Outdoor Recreation takes a detailed look at all aspects of design of facilities needed by visitors to outdoor recreation destinations. The book is a comprehensive manual for planners, designers and managers of recreation taking them through the processes of design and enabling them to find the most appropriate balance between visitor needs and the capacity of the landscape. A range of different aspects are covered including car parking, information signing, hiking, waterside activities, wildlife watching and camping. This second edition incorporates new examples from overseas, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Eastern Europe as well as focusing on more current issues such as accessibility and the changing demands for recreational use.

One
Recreation planning

Before designing sites and facilities it is important to put the right kinds in the right places. Site planning is essential if conflicts between different users, and between users and the landscape setting and wildlife, are to be minimized. Difficult or costly management and maintenance activities also have to be avoided. As with the development or marketing of any commodity, the operator has to match supply with demand. If this is not achieved, problems are likely to occur. Visitors may fail to get the most out of their experience; the setting or site may suffer undue wear and tear; expensive investments may be underused; other resource values such as habitats may be damaged unnecessarily.

Many of the organizations or individuals that provide recreation own or have access to a land base of varying extent. They are providers of opportunity. How much they provide depends on the demand from actual and potential visitors, the capacity of the site or land base to supply that demand without damage over time – that is, sustainably – and the resources available, including income from visitors, to provide and manage the necessary investments in facilities needed to meet the demand.

Recreation planning is about assessing the demand, both actual and potential; about assessing the capacity of the land base to meet that demand in a sustainable way; and about using available resources wisely to optimize the potential. Planning can be looked on as taking place at three levels.

The first planning level is strategic, where major decisions are made based on policies set by government, whether national, regional or local, the main demographic and demand factors operating at a macro-level. The data that affects the development of these policies may include national surveys of recreation demand patterns as well as development planning issues surrounding urban growth trends, transport development and economic factors. Examples of strategic plans include the decision to develop a series of ‘community forests’ in England partly, to provide major new recreational resources near to where large numbers of people live; the plans of the Danish government to locate new forests on former farmland to provide new recreational areas; the new legislation developed in the UK to increase the rights of access to various types of private land such as forest, moorland and non-cultivated farmland. Countries with traditions of strong planning systems, such as many European countries, are generally more able to develop these kinds of strategies than countries such as the USA where strategic planning is only possible in Federal or State lands.

The second type of planning is where the policies and strategies are delivered on the ground at the level of the land management unit. If the recreational provider is a state institution such as a national forest service, it is likely that the policies will reflect very closely some or all aspects of the national policies and strategies; it may be one of the tasks of the organization to undertake a major initiative such as the expansion of forest in Denmark either directly or through fiscal incentives to the private sector. Assuming that it is developing the project directly, then the planning approach involves assessing the potential of the area to supply recreation goods, facilities and services to a defined market, perhaps the local and regional population within an hour or two’s drive of the area. The data used to inform the planning will probably include an interpretation of the relevant demand, planning and other factors interpreted at a regional or sub-regional level. Without such data, any plans for an area are likely to be risky.

The third planning level is the site level, where a more localized area is to be developed as a specific site for particular activities, with car parking, information, toilets, trails, and so on. This may be one of several such sites in a single large recreational area. The general plan may zone the overall area for different activities or identify specific attractions to be developed. These specific site plans deliver the brief to the recreation planners and designers charged with the development of the site, its layout, facilities, construction details, information provision and everything else needed. Once constructed, the site is handed over to the managers who will operate it. Ideally the planners, designers and managers will work together as a team, ensuring that everything is dovetailed together from the outset.

This chapter mainly deals with the area planning stage, taking on board many of the major trends likely to affect recreation over time and then planning the distribution of recreational activities in space and time, providing the main specification to the designer of an individual site.

Trends in demand for outdoor recreation

Observers of recreation management over recent decades will have noticed two things: first, that demand for outdoor recreation has grown continuously, and shows no sign of stopping; and, second, that the types of recreation that people are using have changed in several ways.

This could mean that existing destinations may be having difficulty in coping with increased numbers of visitors, and that the facilities and opportunities provided may not be meeting people’s desires and expectations. A car park built to accommodate 30 cars may have to be doubled or trebled in size if people are not to be turned away; the advent of a newer activity such as extreme mountain biking may mean that conflicts with existing users arise, and special trails may have to be created to segregate uses and reduce wear and tear on the ground.

There are a number of key trends shaping the changes in recreation demand in developed countries that can be identified and their influences analysed. Some of these are demographic trends, some are social or political, others are technological and economic and yet more are driven by lifestyles.

Older people are now one of the major user groups of the outdoors. Their requirements have to be considered, along with those of other groups, to ensure that they have a chance to gain the most from their visits.

Demography

The population structure of most developed countries is changing. The proportion of children and younger people is declining while that of older, retired people is expanding. Significantly, the proportion of women is increasing as they live longer than men on average. This trend is likely to increase during the lifetimes of everyone living today. Older people have more free time, which may extend up to 20 or even 30 years beyond working age, given greater life expectancy.

A recent phenomenon is that of ‘agelessness’, where people are willing to participate in activities that used to be associated with younger people. Thus, people are in one sense becoming younger, or at least do not consider themselves to be old until much later in life. This is partly associated with better health and, for the baby-boom generation at least, affluence. The economic power of this generation is well recognized by the advertising industry.

Of course, not all elderly people are affluent, fit or live in places where access to the outdoors is easy. They may not have cars. However, a great many take up at least some of the opportunities presented to them. Many are active walkers (with or without a dog), and may visit the same area up to twice a day. Many participate in nature-watching activities, enjoying driving into the countryside at any time of the week or season, and this helps to keep them active and feeling fulfilled. Senior citizens in great numbers go on coach trips to visit scenic attractions, and enjoy the chance to see wild and natural places, albeit briefly.

A family of Turkish people in a park in Berlin. These people come from a culture where visiting a park or green area is mainly an opportunity for a family outing.

As people become older, they also have particular requirements. They may need easier, smoother paths, shorter routes, more seats, more access to toilets and fewer steps or stiles. They may appreciate a chance to drive to a viewpoint rather than having to walk to it. They may prefer places where wardens or rangers are nearby to help them if they are worried about getting lost.

Increasing ethnic diversity

Migration of people is becoming a major feature of modern societies and a significant demographic factor in many countries. Migration may include within-country migration – from rural areas to cities, leading to rural depopulation, though this does not lead to increased ethnic diversity. Migration from one country to another, such as within Europe, is a major trend over recent years and this leads to different cultural and ethnic mixes. A good example is the large number of Polish people moving to live and work in Britain. As well as Polish delicatessens and increased attendances at Catholic churches, the Polish migrants have different traditions in the use of the outdoors. They are especially keen on mushroom collecting, for example, and in the mushroom seasons will visit forests for this purpose. In the USA recent trends have focused on the Hispanic, largely Mexican immigration to many areas, affecting the language of whole regions as well as other cultural aspects and recreation traditions.

Migration between continents has been taking place for many years, such as Turkish people going to Germany, people from the Caribbean and Indian sub-continent moving to Britain and Africans moving to France. This is increasing and new trends are emerging. Many of both the established and the new ethnic groups have very different attitudes to outdoor recreation and as a result their needs may not be recognized. In Britain, for example, people of Caribbean origin often prefer to visit a country park, if they visit at all, for a large celebratory family get-together rather than to go for a walk. In Germany, the same is typical for the Turkish community.

With the increase in ethnic diversity often comes an increase in language diversity, leading to a need to consider the way that information is provided. It may be necessary to use several different languages in order to help promote a site and to ensure that the widest possible community know about it.

Social changes

Nowadays there are fewer nuclear families of the variety once featured on most television commercials for breakfast cereal: married couples and their dependent children. More people are living singly, as child-free couples or as lone parents. Single people may be widowed or divorced as well as those who are unmarried. Multiple shared occupancy – where a number of single people share a house or apartment – is also increasingly common and not just among students.

The ways in which many of these new types of household use their free time to visit the outdoors are different from those of the heyday of car-borne family camping holidays or visits to the seaside. Single people may be more likely to find friends with similar tastes, perhaps of the same sex, to pursue particular types of activity. They may use leisure activities as a means to meet people, often using the internet (see ‘Technology’ below). Young people, especially, may favour more risky forms of recreation, and if they are reasonably affluent, this may require special equipment (see ‘Specialized tastes’ below). Childless married couples are freer to maintain the activity patterns of their youth, unencumbered by small children. They may pursue similar activities to single people, but favour those where mixed sexes can more easily share the experience.

Lone parents may present the most varied characteristics. Frequently, single-parent families are less affluent, less likely to possess a car, and less able to take up the opportunities available to other people or families. Because many are less affluent, such families may want to visit places nearer to where they live, where access need not be by car, and which are free or cheap to visit. If divorced or separated, non-custodial parents have access to their children at weekends or during holidays, they may want to make the most of such times by visits to special places.

Polarization of income

Social inclusion is another aspect that has become more important politically in recent years. Polarization of incomes has increased significantly in the past 10 years in most countries as the economies of developed and developing countries have grown substantially and tax regimes have been less progressive. In countries of the former Soviet Union or Eastern Bloc, economic growth is strong but polarization is dramatic.

Available leisure time and spending power have therefore both increased, but in different sectors of the population. With the changed economic patterns of many countries, higher-earning people tend to work harder and longer hours and have less leisure time, while the lower earners and unemployed have more enforced spare time but, in many cases, little cash for leisure spending.

If both these groups participate in outdoor recreation, then the highest earners are more likely to go for weekends at ski resorts or to take expensive long-haul holidays to exotic locations, where the most is made of the limited opportunity for leisure. Another feature is the demand for high-quality experiences and high-quality service by the more affluent.

Less affluent people may already live in less attractive residential areas, suffer from poorer diets, participate less in physical exercise and have poorer health, leading to a compound indicator of ‘social deprivation’ being used in social exclusion policy–making. In some countries there is a growing political will to address this and, as far as access to the outdoors is concerned, the need to bring areas suitable for recreation closer to where the least advantaged live has become an element of policy. In Scotland, for example, the term ‘environmental justice’ is used to describe the need for people to live in and have access to good environments.

Lifestyle changes

The way people live has also been changing rapidly. Changing work patterns mean that there is an increase in the number of people with part-time work or multiple jobs. Home working is also on the increase. Furthermore, there is an increase in the use of career breaks and ‘gap’ years or sabbaticals taken by everyone from school leavers and students to mature employees. The working week with fixed weekends is not as common so there is greater flexibility about when to participate in recreation. There is a demand for a better work–life balance, in part reflected in European legislation like the Working Time Directive. This adds to the trend for recreation and nature tourism to be year-round activities, which can be good news for providers keen to expand their businesses from seasonal limitations.

The empowered consumer is also a feature. People are becoming harder to please, more demanding and have higher expectations. The quality of the recreational offer made by providers has to be high, products and services have to be special, not just ordinary and recreational experiences (places, activities and services) have to be provided to a high standard. This also leads to a need for the standard of design of facilities to be high.

Coming with the empowered consumer is the convenience culture. With the perceived lack of time noted above, convenience in everything is one means of making the most of limited time. Thus, people want activities that use their time well, they want them close to where they live, they want them easy to get to and to prepare for so that they can take whatever opportunity they have to fit them in.

Specialized tastes and the fragmentation of leisure

With increased experience and more activities to pursue, recreation consumers are becoming more sophisticated, and the market is diversifying in order to meet the wide range of specialist markets. There are now many ‘communities of interest’ who participate in specific activities, often requiring special areas, equipment or access during particular seasons. Success in leisure markets depends much more on identifying the specialisms or niche products. This poses great challenges for managers and designers, as special facilities may be needed with particular design requirements, such as segregation, zoning and other forms of management strategies in order to deal with potential conflicts.

Adrenaline sports have become increasingly popular in recent years, albeit undertaken in a controlled environment with minimum physical risk.

As economies mature and the desire for material things is to a large extent satisfied, this is replaced by a desire for experiences. This is accompanied by the increase in interest in adrenaline sports and the outdoors becomes a place where such experiences can be authentically achieved. Recreation can be packaged and marketed as an experience.

Some activities tend to be fashionable and their period of popularity may be rather brief. Recreation managers need to be able to respond quickly to provide for these as the fashions develop and, equally, to drop them once the fashion fades.

The networked society

Society is always connected and networked 24 hours a day, seven days a week via the internet; increasing numbers of people of all ages possess mobile phones and are used to being able to plan their activities at the last...

Table des matières

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Recreation planning
• 2 Design concepts for outdoor recreation
• 3 The journey to the destination
• 4 Providing visitor information
• 5 Parking the car
• 6 Toilet facilities
• 7 Picnicking
• 8 Children’s play
• 9 Trails
• 10 Water-based recreation
• 11 Wildlife viewing
• 12 Design for overnight visitors
• 13 Interpretation
• 14 Comprehensive site design
• Bibliography