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Connecting protected area visitor experiences, wellness motivations, and soundscape perceptions in Chilean Patagonia
Abstract
Supporting worldwide Healthy Parks, Healthy People (HPHP) research expansion, this study investigated how wellness motivations interplay with auditory experiences by examining relationships between protected area visitors’ wellness motivations, and their perceptions of particular sounds and overall soundscape appeal. Visitor surveys (N=899), implemented in the Coyhaique National Reserve in Chilean Patagonia, included participant demographics, wellness motivations, a listening exercise, and overall soundscape ratings. Wellness motivations were reduced into emotional, intellectual, physical, sensory, and social dimensions. All dimensions were significantly correlated with participants’ ratings of the soundscape’s appeal and their desire to visit more (based on the soundscape). Cluster analysis grouped participants into low, moderate, and high wellness motives groups. Groups with high-wellness motives were found to rate specific natural sounds and the overall soundscape higher than groups with lower wellness motives. This study suggests incorporating visitors’ wellness motivations into soundscape and other perception-based research may assist with HPHP objectives.
... In this context, leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), as delineated by Steinbach and Graf [4], assumes multifaceted significance. Beyond its well-documented benefits for physical health and mental wellness, LTPA serves as a conduit for fostering a deeper connection with nature [5,6]. Through activities such as hiking, gardening, or simply spending time outdoors, individuals engage directly with their natural surroundings, cultivating a heightened sense of appreciation and awareness of the environment [7]. ...
... Firstly, the integration of time geography underscores the significance of considering the temporal and spatial context in which LTPA occurs [4]. This approach reveals how the allocation of discretionary time to physical activities not only enhances individual well-being but also fosters a deeper connection with the environment [6], thereby influencing eco-responsible consumer choices. The relationship between LTPA and reduced health risks [18,19], alongside its contribution to positive mental health and subjective wellbeing [20,21], exemplifies the intertwined nature of health and environmental consciousness. ...
... Aligning Marketing Strategies with ESG Goals: By communicating ESG commitments, businesses can leverage the synergies between LTPA, environmental consciousness, and sustainable living [6]. Marketing efforts should not only emphasize the eco-friendliness of products but also highlight how these products support a lifestyle that values health, outdoor activity, and environmental conservation. ...
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the intricate relationship between health and the environment has emerged with unparalleled significance. This investigation examines the effect of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) on health and environmental consciousness and its influence on attitudes towards green/sustainable products among 533 individuals. Utilizing linear structural modeling and regression analysis, the findings reveal that participation in sports and leisure activities significantly mediates the connection between individual well-being and eco-responsible consumer behaviors. Highlighting LTPA’s crucial role in enhancing environmental awareness, this study offers invaluable perspectives for the green product sector. It advocates for the development of strategies that align with consumers’ environmental values, underscoring the essential function of sports and leisure in fostering sustainable consumer practices. Crucially, this underscores the intertwined nature of environmental sustainability and individual health, highlighting their mutual dependence.
... As the ecological services of the environment contribute to enhancing public well-being, there is growing interest in obtaining physical and mental health benefits from the environment. As many people support the positive effects of nature experiences on mental health, it is increasingly important to find ways to incorporate public health considerations into green space management [3]. A soundscape is a type of landscape in a green space that emphasises the reconstruction of the sound environment via human perception [4], one of the main contributing factors to the green space experience. ...
... These actions have greatly affected environmental noise, improved the city's acoustic environment, and provided excellent opportunities for research on aural landscapes and public health [60]. For a long time, scholars' mainstream research on public health has included social, emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of health [3]. Emotion is one of the most critical aspects, which is implied in a person's actual social situation [61]. ...
... Living sounds, such as activities, laughter, and children frolicking, can make people more energetic and inspired. The voice of life can be positively perceived in the natural environment [3]. The research by Hyun In Jo et al. also supports this view [17]. ...
Coronavirus disease 2019 has significantly impacted mental health. Urban green spaces’ ecological function can improve citizens’ well-being and mental health; thus, this study explored the value realisation mechanism of ecological products in green space by examining the impact of urban green space soundscape on citizens’ emotions. Additionally, we investigated citizens’ subjective perceptions and emotional changes in soundscape through questionnaires. An A-weighted sound pressure level meter was used to measure the sound pressure levels at three points in a day to obtain the sound pressure level changes during different day periods in a park. Subsequently, the universal conclusion through a comparative analysis of the sound pressure level change in urban parks during the day was roughly ‘M’ shape. Further, a structural equation model analysed the influence of different soundscape on public sentiment and used a multigroup analysis to examine the difference in the impact of natural sounds in summer and winter on the change in public opinion. The results show that natural and living sounds positively affect citizens’ emotions, whereas mechanical sounds negatively affect citizens’ emotions. Furthermore, natural sounds in summer positively affect citizens’ moods significantly. Conversely, natural sounds in winter negatively affect citizens’ attitudes, but this is not obvious. Finally, this study proposed some suggestions for managing and improving urban green space soundscape.
... PA soundscape research has validated that healthy natural soundscapes can contribute to the HPHP dynamic. They shape visitor perceptions of landscapes, attitudes toward soundscape management, and contribute to the humannature interplay, meaning both visitors and natural ecosystems benefit when natural soundscapes are conserved (Benfield et al. 2010;Benfield et al. 2014;Ednie et al. 2022; 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Francis et al. 2017). Nevertheless, we know little about how PA visitors experience sounds and noise outside of the PA context. ...
... While most HPHP soundscape research has focused on the PA visitor experience context (Ednie et al. 2022;Ferraro et al. 2020;Miller et al. 2020: Pilcher, Newman, andManning 2009;Rice et al. 2020), recent research demonstrates the importance of considering peoples' experiences and soundscape perceptions more holistically by integrating their acoustic experiences with other contexts, including home and work Gale, Ednie, and Beeftink 2021a;Kogan et al. 2017). For example, comparing soundscape perceptions and affect within varied environmental contexts helped Gale, Ednie, and Beeftink (2021a) explain how urban dwellers experience natural sounds within a PA. ...
... The patterns we identified across the three contexts demonstrated the benefits Healthy Parks bring to their visitors, as well as the potential role of PAs in augmenting nature connections that occur outside of their boundaries. Contrasts in the degrees and forms of anthrophonic noise within the different life contexts accentuated the need to conserve and protect natural soundscapes; both to ensure healthy natural systems (Levenhagen et al. 2020), and to provide spaces for humans to escape the anthrophonic noise that fills their home and work contexts Ednie et al. 2022). Considering the current urbanization trends within Chile, this is particularly important within PAs like the CNR, that are near cities. ...
This work addresses the call for integrative approaches to soundscape research that facilitate interdisciplinary advances, through enhancements to the 2018 International Organization for Standardization “Taxonomy of the Acoustic Environment for Soundscape Studies”, included in ISO12913-2 for soundscape data collection and reporting. Specifically, it strengthens natural sound sources and type considerations, enabling integrated approaches across urban and natural contexts. Building on the premise that what people experience in one context (e.g., home; work), they bring into other contexts [e.g., protected areas (PA)], two-phased survey research contrasted Chilean PA visitors’ perceptions of Coyhaique National Reserve acoustic environments with prevalent sounds at home and work (n = 333). The paper�s proposed taxonomy enhancements may enable integration of PA perceptual soundscape research with research from other disciplines / contexts, facilitating better understanding of visitor perceptions that can lead to better informed soundscapes programming and monitoring, and improved Healthy Park, Healthy People outcomes.
... High levels of soundscape appeal have been associated with visitor satisfaction [39][40][41], and overall visit satisfaction, as well as sound-specific appeal, have been found to motivate low-effort pro-environmental behaviors [5,16]. Thus, to advance toward more sustainable tourism practices, it seems particularly important to contextualize soundscape appeal ratings through consideration of visitors' motives and desired experience outcomes [20,21,69]. We recommend that future instruments consider both. ...
... We were uncertain as to how urban visitors would rate the eventfulness of the natural CNR soundscape and further research is merited. Often, visitors are drawn to PAs and natural soundscapes for their calmness and serenity [66,69], motives that seem more suited to De Counsel and Bottledooren's [49] description of rural quiet soundscapes, in contrast to Axelsson et al.'s [23] attributes of eventfulness. If so, one would expect low eventfulness ratings associating the CNR soundscape as being "uneventful, unexciting, empty, without contrast, and immobile". ...
... The attributes Axelsson et al. [23] identified as associated with familiarity included, "common", "commonplace", "real", and "familiar". Nevertheless, PA visitation is often motivated by a desire to "escape the daily routine" or to "experience new/different things" [15,69,71]. Study results demonstrated stark contrasts between the magnitude of anthrophonic sounds heard within home and work environments, as compared to the CNR ( Figure 5). ...
This study examined the potential for Perceived Affective Quality (PAQ; pleasantness, eventfulness, familiarity) soundscape measures developed within urban settings to enrich current soundscape management approaches within protected areas (PAs). Drawing on the premise that people bring experiences from other life contexts into PA settings and PA visitors are increasingly coming from urban areas, research integrated urban visitors’ soundscape perceptions of their home and work acoustic environments with their perceptions of acoustic environments in PAs. Two-phased survey research (n = 333) separated visitors into urban density groups and compared PAQ variables across home, work, and PA contexts. Significant differences resulted, both in ratings of the three acoustic contexts (PA, home, work) for all three PAQ components and between urban density groups. The importance of pleasantness was confirmed across all contexts; however, alone, this dimension lacked sufficient contrast to interpret the complexity of soundscape perceptions, especially considering diverse Healthy Parks, Healthy People (HPHP) visitor experience scenarios and goals. Thus, managers should consider (1) additional PAQ variables that can provide more useful and contrasting information; (2) incorporating methods that integrate PAQ measures across visitors’ different acoustic contexts, and (3) including urban density measures within HPHP research.
... Senses have been analysed extensively in tourism contexts [7,8,[30][31][32][33][34][35]. These analyses include sight [36,37], sound [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], smell [50][51][52], taste [53][54][55][56][57], and touch and temperature [58,59]. Emotions also play a central role in tourism experiences [60][61][62]. ...
... First, given the key importance of fine sensory and emotional detail in memorable wildlife tourism experiences, the most immediate research priority is to seek techniques to quantify individual senses and emotions in fine detail. This is needed for sounds [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]136], scents [50][51][52]137], touch [59], and taste [53][54][55][56][57], as well as sight. It is also needed in analysing emotions, using fine linguistic distinctions rather than broad valence-intensity approaches. ...
To quantify the role of senses and emotions in creating memorable tourism experiences, we need measurement frameworks that match how memories are created. This study examines that process through directed-content qualitative analysis of tourist encounters with wildlife. Data are derived from: interviews with 20 experienced wildlife tourism experts in 12 countries; 3000 social media posts on tourism enterprise and wildlife encounter websites; and participant observations and records of 168 memorable encounters involving >100 wildlife species, >850 tourists, and ~10,000 h in total, ranging over five decades. Across all data sources, senses and emotions differed between tourist interests and personalities, wildlife species and behaviours, and encounter circumstances. All senses were reported, with the most frequent being sight, followed by sound and smell, and, rarely, touch or taste. Descriptions were fine-grained and complex. The emotions reported were awe, joy, wonder, delight, thrill, amazement, envy, aww (cute-emotion), surprise, elation, satisfaction, interest, boredom, disappointment, sadness, embarrassment, concern, pity, distress, disgust, anxiety, shock, alarm, fear, and panic. Some experiences generated powerful recalls persisting for decades. Short-term, intense, and finely detailed senses and emotions defined experiences, created memories, and determined satisfaction, wellbeing, and subsequent outcomes. More accurate methods are needed to measure and characterise senses, emotions, and memories in tourism experience.
... The recreation impacts could also be in the form of physical impacts on the environment, such as undesirable changes to vegetation and plant diversity (Rawat et al. 2021, Pickering & Hill 2007, soil erosion (Martin & Butler 2021;Peterson et al. 2018), impact on water quality (Cooke & Xia 2020) and disturbance on wildlife (Ma et al. 2022, Marion et al. 2020. At the same time, recreation impacts could affect visitors' quality experience, satisfaction (Dogru-Dastan, 2022, Ednie et al. 2022, visitors' destination loyalty (Amissah et al. 2022, Ramesh & Jaunky 2021, and destination image (Chan et al. 2022, Kusdibyo 2021) of the recreation resource in the future. ...
A systematic quantitative literature review was conducted to assess the characteristics and gaps of the carrying capacity studies in Malaysia. Of the 13 academic papers identified, which were published from 2012 to 2021, results showed a ratio of 1.4 academic papers had been published in the nine years. Almost all the reviewed papers incorporated the elements of public enjoyment and were carried out by eliciting recreational resources, experiential, or managerial conditions. The gaps comprised the lack of carrying capacity studies in the recreation resources under the state and federal forestry department authority, despite being Malaysia's largest and most visited recreation resource networks. In addition, only two studies included the standards of carrying capacity. The indicators determined are most likely to be less specific and manageable, and a lack of attention has also been given to the managerial components of the carrying capacity. Lastly, most studies were conducted from the social science perspective, thus warranting more studies in the natural science discipline to formulate the indicators based on the changes happening to the ecological components of the recreation resources. The review provides recommendations for researchers and decision-makers on the future direction of carrying capacity study in Malaysia.
... Air humidity, temperature Summer weather perception [23] Seasonal weather variation [24] Air chemistry, odours, aromas Forest volatile organics [25] Nature, smells, wellbeing [26] Smells trigger emotions [27] Smell sensory memories [28] Culture and smells [29] Volatile terpenoids [30,31] Aeroanions and health [32] Airborne sound Patagonia forest sounds [33] Tropical forest birdsong [34] Birdsong boosts wellbeing [35] Birdsong alleviates anxiety [36] Birdsong in China [37] ...
Most research on air chemistry and human health has focused on negative consequences of air pollution from cities, rural dust, mining, or industrial sites. Research on nature tourism and nature therapy, in contrast, focuses on positive benefits of air quality for physical and mental health, e.g., via “clean air clean water” holidays. Aeroanions and terpenoids in forests have received particular attention, especially in China, Japan, and Korea. We review and analyse several hundred articles published in English and Chinese. With a few recent exceptions, English-language research has tested indoor negative ion generators, and concluded that they have no measurable health benefit. It has tested terpenoids in indoor aroma marketing. Chinese-language research, in contrast, has analysed fine-scale components of outdoor environments that affect concentrations of aeroanions and terpenoids: ecosystem, latitude, altitude, temperature, proximity to water, and individual plant species. Historically, health outcomes have been taken for granted, with little rigorous testing. Air quality research has shown that aeroanions can become attached to fine water droplets, e.g., after rain in forests, or in mists produced locally by waterfalls. We hypothesise that the health benefits of aeroanions in natural environments may arise through the scavenging of airborne particulates by negatively charged mists, creating especially clean, dust-free air. We propose that this particularly clean-tasting air, contrasting strongly with polluted urban air, creates positive effects on human mental health and perhaps, also on pulmonary physical health. Mechanisms and outcomes remain to be tested. We also propose testing psychological health effects of airborne terpenoid scents from forest trees.
... Environmental awareness is another core concept associated with landscape valuation. In Chile, the use of public PAs for recreation has become more widespread, as a result of increased free time and the rise in the standard of living for some segments of the population (Ednie et al., 2020;Gale et al., 2018). Muñoz (2004a) observed that, for a number of reasons, average Chilean citizens are increasingly internalizing a kind of environmental awareness that results in a new appreciation of natural spaces and their ecosystems, associating this appreciation with growing citizen resistance to the loss of spaces of high tourist, landscape, and recreational value. ...
This chapter explores Chilean tourists’ valuation of tourism experiences in and around the Chilean village of Puyuhuapi. In 2020, local stakeholders were concerned about the impacts that salmon aquaculture infrastructure within the fjords surrounding Puyuhuapi might have on tourism. Research was undertaken to examine how prospective national tourists might perceive visible salmon aquaculture infrastructure within Puyuhuapi’s landscapes. Two hypothetical experience scenarios were designed, with short texts describing possible experiences and visual cues portraying typical destination landscapes. The scenarios were differentiated by the presence of movable floating sea cages. The scenarios were presented to potential tourists through an online survey ( n = 804 responses). Results supported current nature-based tourism experience positioning, suggesting it was well received with and without the presence of salmon aquaculture infrastructure. The visible presence of the movable floating sea cages did not provoke significant differences in the valuation of the landscape for prospective tourists; nevertheless, several significant interactions occurred between tourism experience attributes and socio-demographic characteristics, including population density, level of education, and sex. Discussion focuses on defining a series of hypotheses to inform future research and the importance of expanding understanding of Chilean perspectives and imaginaries of Patagonia and its abundant natural settings and values.
... There is ample evidence of the efforts made by post-Columbian forces to impose western-based spirituality onto Andean and Latin American Indigenous and popular culture. However, there has been a growing recognition of the cultural permanence of Earth-based spiritual beliefs over the last decade, especially in light of a rising social movement oriented around the concept of buen vivir, and a fundamental sense of harmony between humans and nature (Coscieme et al. 2020;Ednie et al. 2020;Gudynas 2011;Nicoletti and Barelli 2019;Villavicencio Calzadilla and Kotzé 2018). As a social movement, buen vivir encompasses many of the same tenets as are found in Indigenous cosmovision. ...
This chapter discusses the merits of harmonious relationships between people, society, and nature, and their potential to help address increasing societal vulnerabilities. In recent years, The Chilean National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) has developed the concept of nature bathing , through its Nature for Everyone program. Nature bathing draws from validated programs that have been found to strengthen the immune system and reduce anxiety, depression, and stress, all of which may contribute to greater psychological resilience. Specifically, CONAF’s Nature Bathing program integrates elements of the cosmovision and practices associated with forest bathing ( Shinrin Yoku , in Japanese), grounding , and Andean Indigenous and popular culture. Accredited experts facilitate a 2–3-hour experience in a PA, promoting a reflective meditation ( mindfulness ), that immerses participants in the environment by activating the senses. This chapter reviews the health benefits attributed to spending time in nature and developing direct relationships with nature. Next, we share some practices and traditions being employed around the world to purposefully rebuild human connections with nature. Then, we delve into CONAF’s Nature Bathing initiative, as an example of a transformative program designed to strengthen the role of PAs as public health infrastructure and help visitors build resilience while rediscovering their interconnectedness with nature.
... Traditional approaches to collecting visitor demographics and origins in U.S. national parks rely on survey-based visitor use studies (Ednie et al., 2020;Rice et al., 2020). For example, Yellowstone National Park (YNP) conducted two studies in the summers of 2016 and 2018 to understand visitor demographic (e.g., gender, age, race, educational level, etc.) and country/state of residence (National Park Service, 2019a;National Park Service, 2019b). ...
Despite the growing body of studies on mining visitor perceptions and attitudes of national park visitors using social media data, few research investigated user demographics and its representative issues. This study assessed visitor demographics, including gender, age, racial groups, and origins of visitors in a U.S. national park through their Twitter user profiles, and compared the results to a traditional visitor survey. The results showed similar percentages of gender groups between Twitter user profiles and the traditional survey. However, significant differences existed across all age groups and all racial groups between the two data sources. Compared to the survey, the visitors identified from social media data were younger and from more diverse race groups. The lists of the top 10 states and countries of residency of visitors from the two data sources overlapped but had different orders. The findings indicated that social media data could only be a complementary data source due to its representative issues. The results allow researchers to explore social media users' demographics by advanced social data analytics. However, this study suggests that analyzing Twitter profile information, such as self-reported names and profile photos, requires special attention from researchers even if the data were publicly available. The authors recommend that future research should attend to the representative and private issues of social media data. Management implications: • Social media user profiles can be utilized for predicting users' demographics, such as gender, age, and racial groups. • Social media data can only be a conplementary data source to understand visitor demographics in future research. VISITOR DEMOGRAPHICS AND ORIGIN FROM TWITTER 3 • The ethical issues of social media data, including private domain and machine learning algorithms, need further discussion.
... Impacts resulting from heavy visitation have caused undesirable changes to vegetation and plant diversity [17,18], erosion of the soil [19,20], diminished water quality [21], and disturbance to wildlife [22][23][24][25]. At the same time, recreation negatively impacts visitors' recreational enjoyment [26][27][28] as well as their loyalty and intention to revisit a place [29,30]. To address the increasing impacts of recreation activities, carrying capacity was introduced in recreation resource management in the early 1960s. ...
Carrying capacity is paramount to recreation and tourism management, which depends on sustainability between resource protection and experience quality. Many studies have examined carrying capacity from several perspectives, but the various methods of assessing carrying capacity have not yet been reviewed. The purpose of this study is to assess the methods of carrying capacity, their trend, and the assessment of carrying capacity made by each method. From the three scientific repositories used in this research, 100 original research papers were included in the review process. A total of 24 methods were recorded. The normative approach and Cifuentes Arias’ method were found to be the two main methods of determining carrying capacity. From the assessment of carrying capacity and the origin of each method, two fundamentals of carrying capacity emerged, and their differences and limitations are discussed. In addition, the study found that the carrying capacity employed in tourism destinations was formulated by complex variables that may require political interventions to ensure their success. Most of the research reviewed here focuses on the social aspects of carrying capacity, thus leaving room for future research. This study should benefit academics, policymakers, and resource managers by comprehensively analyzing the methods, limitations, and directions of future research in carrying capacity studies.
... environmental risk, vulnerability to climate change) (Westermann et al. 2005;Nat Clim Change Editorial 2019). In this context, the information on wildlife influenced by gender and age can help park managers better conserve local biodiversity through, for example, preparing a guidance strategy for integrating visitors' wellness motivations with managing protected areas (Ednie et al. 2022;Thi Khanh Chi 2022). ...
Visitor interests can be crucial to understanding humans’ connectedness in nature. We analysed the relationship between people and flora and fauna species (native and exotic) through YouTube videos of a forest region (southern Patagonia) posted by visitors from different parts of the world. We characterised the species of flora and fauna observed by the visitors and calculated the time that appears in the videos as a proxy for their connectedness to biodiversity. The biodiversity observations were contrasted against visitors’ sociodemographic characteristics (age and gender) by the Van der Waerden test and multivariate analyses. We created a sociogram that showed connections among species through visitor links to these data. Our results reveal different degrees of relationship between species, where some exotic ones were more preferred than natives (Van der Waerden test p = <0.100). Differences in the linkage to the flora and fauna species were related to the age and gender of the visitors. Visitor interests are modulated by access to ecosystem types (e.g. forests) and species’ commonness/rarity and docility. Gender and age had less influence on the interests than expected, but it determined differential values on native and exotic diversity. Three groups of species emerged from the sociogram based on the visitor connectedness to flora and fauna species, evidencing high connections among native trees (Nothofagus spp.), exotic beavers (Castor canadensis), and native geese and ducks (e.g. Chloephaga picta). The novel approach utilised provides valuable data that can be used to test the influence of gender and age on the different biodiversity interests. This information has potential applications for nature conservation by detecting unsponsored biodiversity and ecosystem types that could be promoted, capturing the visitor interests, and improving the offer of visitor activities according to gender/age observations.
... The most recent and general of these frameworks includes: tourism destinations and activities; tourist personalities and life histories; sensory and emotional components of tourist experiences; and intensity and duration of memories ( Figure 1). The main components of this framework have a long history of research as independent topics, with recent research on senses [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], emotions [31][32][33][34][35], and memories [36]. Mechanisms derived from recent research on tourism and mental health are closely analogous to those developed during earlier research on tourism experience value [37,38]. ...
The healthcare sector recognises the role of nature in mental health. The tourism sector is equipped to take people to national parks. The conservation sector gains support from visitors. Theoretical frameworks for mental health benefits from nature tourism include: tourism destinations and activities; tourist personalities and life histories; sensory and emotional components of tourist experiences; and intensity and duration of memories. Mental health deteriorated worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery of global economic productivity requires immediate, accessible, affordable mental health measures at national scales, and nature-based approaches provide the best option. Different countries have adopted a variety of public, private, or voluntary mechanisms. Some focus on design of activities, others on provision of facilities. Costs and implementation depend on key research questions: marginal benefits of nature tour guides or psychologists compared to self-guided nature experiences; comparisons between repeated brief visits and one-off nature holidays; effects of biodiversity, flagship species, and scenic or wilderness quality; and differences between individuals, depending on personalities, life histories, and mental health status and symptoms.
... The next paper, by Ednie et al. (2022), examined the relationships between visitor perceptions of specific sounds and the total soundscape attractiveness in Coyhaique National Reserve within the Chilean Patagonia and the wellness motivations of these visitors. Visitor groups with high-wellness motivations were found to rate the total soundscape, as well as particular natural sounds, higher than visitor groups with lower wellness motivations. ...
... To address desensitization, managers should consider programming and facilities that can help educate about the growing prevalence and impact of anthrophonic sounds, and particularly vehicular noise, on natural systems and visitor experiences. While managers have increasingly brought the benefits of natural soundscapes to visitors through a range of programs, including listening trails, interpretive resources, and soundwalk programs (Pilcher et al. 2009;Ednie et al. 2020;, they may want to also focus visitors on understanding the risks of increasing anthrophony within natural soundscapes. Interpretative materials and programs could inform visitors about the importance of natural sounds and teach them to recognize and listen more attentively for signs of healthy and/or degraded soundscapes. ...
This study explores how existing connections to natural places may affect PA visitors' experiences and perceptions within the PA. Specifically, outside-the-PA soundscape perceptions are examined to better understand how their experiences outside the PA may affect perceptions of PA soundscapes and visitors' ability to effectively contribute to conservation monitoring. Survey research (n=389) of recent urban visitors to the Chilean Coyhaique National Reserve (CNR) in Patagonia unpacked perceptions of the acoustic environments within the places where participants felt most connected to nature, including landscape features, favorite and prevalent sounds, and acceptability of particular anthrophonic sounds. Favorite and prevalent sounds were open-coded, and anthrophonic sounds were rated for prevalence and acceptability. The mountain landscape features and sounds ('wind', 'running water',' birds') participants described as prominent within the places where they felt most connected to nature aligned well with CNR characteristics. Participants who 'sometimes''/often' heard certain anthropogenic sounds (vehicles, aircraft, machines, city sounds), within the places where they felt most connected to nature, rated those sounds as more acceptable than participants who reported 'never' hearing them, raising concerns about complacency toward anthrophony in natural settings. Continued research efforts are warranted to better understand visitors' frames of reference, their influence on the reliability of social norm data for PA soundscape monitoring, and their influence on PA managers' ability to protect conservation values.
... In greenspaces designated for relaxation, sounds that originate from non-natural sources have often been perceived negatively and have been linked with disruptions to health restoration processes (Andringa and Lanser, 2013). Ednie et al. (2020) have identified that human sounds, including talking, laughter, footsteps, and especially, personal sounds like one's own breath or the sound of wind hitting clothing, can be perceived positively within a natural environment, aligning with visitor well-being motivations, contributing to overall higher soundscape appeal and a desire to visit more frequently. ...
Urban greenspace soundscapes can contribute to the restorative effects that nature provides for the psychological and emotional health of people when certain conditions are met. The main objective of this paper is to propose practical criteria to help planners and managers in the design, development and preservation of urban greenspaces whose soundscapes may contribute to the renewal of health. Systematic literature review informed a conceptual potential Health Restoration Soundscapes (HeReS) model, based on five conditions: (1) Naturalness, (2) Sound Levels, (3) Perceived Sound Sources, (4) Soundscape Assessment, and (5) Sensescape Coherence and proposed Health Restoration Soundscapes Criteria (HeReS-C), for HeReS evaluation in urban green areas. The HeReS-C were applied in 21 sites in Argentina, Sweden, and Chile. General results are provided for all 21 sites, along with three in-depth profiles of HeReS-C applications that provide case studies across a range of resulting HeReS-C scenarios, including sites that meet the HeReS-C criteria, those that do not, and sites that could qualify in the future, if appropriate management measures are taken. HeReS-C showed to be a promising tool for the recognition of potential health-restoring soundscapes in urban greenspaces; informing their design and management to favor the well-being and health of the population.
Environmental noise knows no boundaries, affecting even protected areas. Noise pollution, originating from both external and internal sources, imposes costs on these areas. It is associated with adverse health effects, while natural sounds contribute to cognitive and emotional improvements as ecosystem services. When it comes to parks, individual visitors hold unique perceptions of soundscapes, which can be shaped by various factors such as their motivations for visiting, personal norms, attitudes towards specific sounds, and expectations. In this study, we utilized linear models and geospatial data to evaluate how visitors’ personal norms and attitudes, the park’s acoustic environment, visitor counts, and the acoustic environment of visitors’ neighborhoods influenced their perception of soundscapes at Muir Woods National Monument. Our findings indicate that visitors’ subjective experiences had a greater impact on their perception of the park’s soundscape compared to purely acoustic factors like sound level of the park itself. Specifically, we found that motivations to hear natural sounds, interference caused by noise, sensitivity to noise, and the sound levels of visitors’ home neighborhoods influenced visitors’ perception of the park’s soundscape. Understanding how personal factors shape visitors’ soundscape perception can assist urban and non-urban park planners in effectively managing visitor experiences and expectations.
Mental health and experience value at tourism destinations are multidimensional concepts with complex mechanisms. They are built on parallel bodies of research, especially for outdoor nature and adventure destinations. Their theoretical frameworks have the same components, connected in the same structures: place and activity, personalities, senses, emotions, and memories. The two distinct outcomes, health and experience respectively, depend on detailed differences in how these components are perceived and processed by individual tourists at particular destinations. Quantitative measures are already available for tourist personality and satisfaction, but not yet for tourist senses, emotions, memories, or mental health. Since each has multiple components, vector or matrix measures will be needed. We propose these as priorities for future research in destination marketing and management.
Protected areas (PA) represent the primary mechanism to protect global ecosystems; yet current capacities often lead to geographic imbalances for PA management around the world. PA soundscapes have proved a valuable element to inform effective management, as natural sounds are important for healthy natural systems and rewarding visitor experiences. This article employed a systematized literature review of PA soundscape research, matching the areas of study described for the 218 articles, with PA from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). The studies took place in 372 PA, which were cataloged by geographic location and size where possible, country, and continent. Data charting included extracted keywords, research objectives, methods, outcomes and future research needs. Numeric and geographic analysis focused on understanding the nature, extent, and distribution of the studies, while thematic analysis was applied to identify trends with respect to methods, outcomes, and future research. Study results identified content and geographic imbalances between studies in tropical and temperate zones, terrestrial and marine environments, and the Global South and North. Discussion considers how global initiatives may support information and resource sharing that facilitates knowledge and capacity transfer between the two regions.
This study explored perceptions of the soundscapes of the CNR (Coyhaique National Reserve). Visitor surveys (N = 899), included demographic data and an exercise in listening to ambient sound. Results showed interest and affinity for sound as part of the recreation/tourism experience, with generally positive responses for most of the ten coded categories (Wind, Birds, Insects, Forest, Water, Voices, Passersby, Personal Sounds, Machines, Airplanes/City). Similarities and differences emerged between three groups of visitors (locals, national tourists, foreign tourists), with respect to the ways they experienced the sounds. The discussion focused on: how the results can inform better management in the RNC; how soundscapes can be used to increase understanding and support for RNC mandates; and possible initiatives to encourage citizen participation and governance of Chile's Natural Protected Areas.
Following global trends, nature-based tourism in the Aysén region of Chilean Patagonia has grown dramatically in recent years. This growth has challenged traditional economic activities derived from commodification of natural resources, including ranching, logging, and mining. A qualitative research study conducted in 2016-2017 used semi-structured interviews and focus groups to investigate how local residents perceived the changes that accompany rural development around the nationally protected area of Cerro Castillo, projected to be one of the region's protected areas that will drive economic development through tourism in coming decades. Results identified several themes reminiscent of the rural transition that took place in the western United States in the mid to late-1900s. During this era, the remote, rugged, wild frontier lands of the sparsely populated intermountain west shifted from an economy grounded in extractive industries to a service-based one, geared towards amenity migrants and tourists seeking recreation opportunities and closeness to nature. Patterns and lessons are drawn between similar transitions across geographies and timescales, which may assist planners with understandings of trends and tendencies as tourism continues to influence rural transition in Patagonia.
Both Parks Victoria, AUS and the United States National Park Service (USNPS) focus on promoting human health and well-being while sustaining environmental well-being. This has been fostered by the agencies through the “Healthy Parks Healthy People” program, in which Parks Victoria and the USNPS are global leaders as well as agency collaborators. Given global concerns regarding health and well-being (human and environmental) this movement is crucial. However, in order for parks and associated tourism providers to implement effective health strategies, we must understand what a “healthy park” is, how evidence is being promoted to existing and potential tourists, and what lessons can be learned from these agencies to facilitate these benefits globally in other settings. This research examines these questions across both agencies through content analyses, interviews, and assessments of tourism use trends. Results inform global park tourism planning and promotion efforts to improve social and ecological.
Juridical protection of the rights of nature is steadily emerging in several legal systems and in public discourse. Building on a recent publication in Transnational Environmental Law in which we interrogated Ecuador’s constitutional experiment with the rights of nature, we critically reflect in this contribution on Bolivia’s legal regime providing for the rights of Mother Earth. We do so, first, by sketching the juridical-political context within which these statutes were drafted and adopted, and then by analyzing the relevant constitutional provisions that provide the basis for the laws of Mother Earth. The third part forms the bulk of the discussion and details the background and the most relevant provisions of Bolivian statutes with a view to enabling a deeper critique in Part 4, in which we critically evaluate both the symbolic and the theoretical significance of the statutes as well as concerns related to their practical implementation. Insofar as the rights of nature paradigm has now become a truly global debate and a consideration in transnational comparative legal borrowing practices, our analysis aims to reveal the Bolivian experience, which could be instructive for civil society groups, academics, politicians and legislatures in a transnational setting.
Soundscape assessment takes many forms, including letting the consequences of the soundscape be an indicator of soundscape quality or value. As a result, much social science research has been conducted to better quantify problem soundscapes and the subsequent effects on humans exposed to them. Visual evaluations of natural environments are one area where research has consistently shown detrimental effects of noisy or anthropogenic soundscapes (e.g., those containing noise from motorized recreation), but the potential moderating role of individual attitudes toward elements within the soundscape has not been sufficiently explored. This study demonstrates that both pro-motorized recreation and pro-motorized recreation management attitudes can alter the effect of motorized recreation noise on scenic evaluations in opposing directions. Pro-recreation attitudes lessen the effect of the soundscape, while pro-management attitudes heighten the negative effect of anthropogenic sounds on scenic evaluation. The implications for other areas of soundscape research, especially with regard to soundscape quality assessment through experienced outcomes, are discussed, including possible strategies for prioritizing known or relevant moderating variables.
Non-motorized outdoor recreation contributes significantly to the U.S. economy by providing over six million jobs and $88 billion in federal and state tax revenues (Southwick Associates, 2013). Participation in non-motorized wildland recreation, defined in this paper as non-motorized outdoor recreation that is dependent on the natural resources of an undeveloped natural setting, has increased in recent years with half of Americans participating annually (Outdoor Foundation, 2017). There has been a growing field of evidence demonstrating the relationship between natural settings and human health (e.g., Frumkin, 2001). This research suggests that the qualities and characteristics of setting may enhance or inhibit health outcomes (e.g., Kellert, Heerwagen, & Mador, 2011). Wildland settings (e.g., national parks, national forests, refuges) have unique characteristics that are thought to contribute to human health through the activities that take place in these settings. Similar to the components outlined by Hammitt, Cole, and Monz (2015), our study focuses on wildland recreation and explores the potential relationships between recreation on wildlands and physical and mental health.To date, there has not been a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature exploring how recreation that takes place in wildland settings influences physical and mental health and if these health outcomes differ from recreation in other more urban and exurban outdoor settings (e.g., urban green space). This is particularly important because society faces a range of chronic and acute health challenges and many argue that outdoor recreation in wildland settings offers an important antidote to many of these health challenges. Yet, without investigating and summarizing the results of peer-reviewed investigations, we have little understanding of the potential for wildland recreation improving mental and physical health.To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed empirical studies of wildland recreation activities and assessed physical and mental health outcomes. We investigated whether wildland recreation positively contributed to a range of physical and mental health outcomes, the type of recreation activity, where the activity occurred, and if outcomes were positive, why the health benefit occurred.Our analysis explores aspects and focus areas wildland recreation health research (i.e., most studies focused on hiking; how recreational activities impact mental and physical health; and aspects of the physical setting, the recreational activity, and the social atmosphere that influence health). We discuss these trends and outline recommendations for future research to expand our understanding of the linkages between wildland recreation and human health.Our research has implications for managers and researchers. For researchers studying the connections between wildland recreation and human health, this review facilitated identification of trends and gaps which can inform and strengthen this area of research. For managers of wildlands and individuals working to address physical and mental health, our study offers empirical evidence of the connections between wildlands and human health, and can inform how best to manage such lands to promote health benefits.Subscribe to JPRA
El crecimiento urbano contemporáneo adopta patrones fragmentados y escasamente densos. El proceso se ha tomado como norma general dentro de un modelo de Estado neoliberal, que lejos de restringir la expansión de lo urbano por ocupación del espacio rural, lo fomenta desregulando el uso del suelo no urbanizable. La ratificación de la participación estatal en la construcción de este fenómeno requiere el análisis de las herramientas que lo posibilitan. Así, utilizar una metodología que incluya el examen y comparación de cuerpos normativos se hace ineludible para revelar el grado de colaboración administrativa que, por acción u omisión, sustenta la producción de espacio residencial. Por lo tanto, el objetivo del presente estudio es corroborar la tendencia generalizada hacia la normativización de la ciudad difusa, que hoy se encuentra ampliamente respaldada en Chile, afianzado un estadio avanzado del proceso hacia el que España transita.
Palabras clave: expansión urbana, planificación urbana, relación campo-ciudad.
Chile's National System of Protected Areas (SNAPSE) has experienced exponential visitor growth during recent years, and this growth has been especially pronounced in the more remote units of the country. One catalyst for this growth is Chile’s ongoing national policy development geared toward integration of rural and peripheral zones, labeled as extreme, with more developed, urban centers in the central region (Correa Vera, 2012; Ministry of the Interior, 1999, 2008, 2011). Special development plans and funding packages designated for extreme zones have helped accelerate the implementation of center-periphery policy, injecting significant resources into infrastructure and capacity building projects (Bachelet, 2016; Gobierno Regional de Aysén, 2014; Hamamé Villablanca, 2017).The Aysén Region, situated 1,650 kilometers (1,025 miles) south of Santiago in the iconic area of Patagonia, is designated as one of Chile’s extreme zones. While nature-based tourism development is an appealing prospect at both the regional and national levels, many local and regional planners warn that nature-based tourism development is not automatically sustainable. Recently, Aysén’s Special Development Plan for Extreme Zones (PEDZE) funded an initiative to develop visitor use plans for the National Reserves within the Aysén region. The funding was to revamp and apply the Chilean National Forestry Corporation’s (CONAF) national visitor use planning model, which became an adaptation of the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) Open Standards framework, suited to accommodate local context, to integrate the vision, priorities, and resources of local communities, and better prepare for rapidly changing conditions. This paper examines the application and adaptation of the national visitor planning model’s initial phases (conceptualization and planning) to the contexts of three case study National Reserves within the Aysén Region. The study demonstrates the process of adapting the method to three local contexts emphasizing a 360° approach to developing plans that fit and support the region’s needs, and lessons learned from carrying out robust planning processes within a very short window of time. Discussion identifies important strengths and weaknesses of this 360° approach in terms of its capacity to prepare the region’s protected areas for the challenges of center-periphery integration.
Evidence that experiences of nature can benefit people has accumulated rapidly. Yet perhaps because of the domination of the visual sense in humans, most research has focused on the visual aspects of nature experiences. However, humans are multisensory, and it seems likely that many benefits are delivered through the non-visual senses and these are potentially avenues through which a physiological mechanism could occur. Here we review the evidence around these lesser studied sensory pathways—through sound, smell, taste, touch, and three non-sensory pathways. Natural sounds and smells underpin experiences of nature for many people, and this may well be rooted in evolutionary psychology. Tactile experiences of nature, particularly beyond animal petting, are understudied yet potentially fundamentally important. Tastes of nature, through growing and consuming natural foods, have been linked with a range of health and well-being benefits. Beyond the five senses, evidence is emerging for other non-visual pathways for nature experiences to be effective. These include ingestion or inhalation of phytoncides, negative air ions and microbes. We conclude that (i) these non-visual avenues are potentially important for delivering benefits from nature experiences; (ii) the evidence base is relatively weak and often based on correlational studies; and (iii) deeper exploration of these sensory and non-sensory avenues is needed.
This research examined the degree to which commitment to parks and parks-focused motivations are linked to well-being, broadly defined. We draw on psychological theory that suggests that experiences that expand our sense of meaning and identity enhance well-being and act as stress buffers. Similarly, pursuit of social and spiritual motivations have been linked to well-being and are important resources for stress reduction. To test this, the association of psychological commitment, including informational complexity (i.e., participants’ degree of parks-related knowledge), position involvement (i.e., the degree to which participant identity is linked to parks) and motivations (e.g., psychosocial, spiritual, economic) with well-being (e.g., life satisfaction and self-rated mental health) was examined among a group of 634 visitors to two parks in Alberta, Canada. Further, we examined potential role of parks-focused commitment and motivations as stress buffers. Multivariate analyses showed that the more park visitors valued informational complexity (i.e., the level of knowledge one has about parks), the greater their mental health. Further, greater position involvement (i.e., parks linked to identity) was associated with higher levels of life satisfaction. In terms of motivations, higher levels of spiritual/ecological motivations were associated with greater life satisfaction and greater psychosocial motivations were also linked better mental health. In terms of buffers, position involvement seemed to provide some relief from the impact of self-rated stress on diminished mental health, and psychosocial motivations helped lessen the association of stress with lower life satisfaction. Thus, the degree to which people are invested in their knowledge of parks, parks are a reflection of identity, and people have parks-focused motivations appear to have implications for well-being. These findings are discussed in terms of the contribution of park visitors’ relationship to parks and well-being as well as implications for marketing and park management. For example, the results suggest that educational programming may enhance benefits derived from parks visits by increasing visitor’s informational complexity and identification with parks. In particular, parks-focused education in childhood fosters life-long commitment to parks and protected areas. Further, those who seek to enhance parks visitation and public support for parks may want to highlight the importance of social motivations for visiting parks and potential stress buffering benefits.
Parks and protected areas offer refuge from the fatigue of daily life. An existing body of literature provides evidence that experiences in nature can promote restoration and improve overall health and well-being. Previous research on sounds in national parks has determined that manmade sounds negatively impact visitors’ enjoyment, as well as, their assessment of the landscape. Additionally, previous studies have indicated that experiencing the restorative sounds of nature is important to visitors in national parks, and despite the growing body of protected area soundscape-focused research, very little attention has been placed on the relationship between natural sounds and cognitive health. As anthropogenic sounds and human-caused noise continues to increase in national parks, it is imperative to understand how these sounds influence visitor experience. This laboratory simulation aimed to increase understanding regarding the positive effects of natural sound on attention restoration. Using an experimental design, the researchers tested the effects of natural and anthropogenic sound, on attention restoration by having participants complete cognitive tasks after exposure to various sound clips or with no sound present. Based on previous studies, the researchers hypothesized that participants exposed to a natural sound condition would score higher on a cognitive task than those exposed to anthropogenic sound conditions. The relationship in mean cognitive performance scores between participants in the natural, anthropogenic, and control sound conditions were found to be approaching statistical significance. Findings suggested that participants who received the natural sound condition outperformed those in the no sound or control condition. Results from the study indicate that natural sounds can potentially facilitate attention restoration. Outcomes of this study provide a better understanding of how parks can serve holistically as places for human, environmental, and ecological health, as specifically measured through the role of natural sounds on recovery from mental fatigue. In addition, gaining a better understanding of the benefits natural sounds can have on restoration from mental fatigue will further validate the protection of park soundscapes. Finally, this research will help park and protected area managers, specific programs and initiatives, such as the Healthy Parks Healthy People and the Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, develop plans and policies that aim to provide visitors with a beneficial, cognitively restorative soundscape experience.
Sustainable development efforts in urban areas often focus on understanding and managing factors that influence all aspects of health and wellbeing. Research has shown that public parks and green space provide a variety of physical, psychological, and social benefits to urban residents, but few studies have examined the influence of parks on comprehensive measures of subjective wellbeing at the city level. Using 2014 data from 44 U.S. cities, we evaluated the relationship between urban park quantity, quality, and accessibility and aggregate self-reported scores on the Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index (WBI), which considers five different domains of wellbeing (e.g., physical, community, social, financial, and purpose). In addition to park-related variables, our best-fitting OLS regression models selected using an information theory approach controlled for a variety of other typical geographic and socio-demographic correlates of wellbeing. Park quantity (measured as the percentage of city area covered by public parks) was among the strongest predictors of overall wellbeing, and the strength of this relationship appeared to be driven by parks' contributions to physical and community wellbeing. Park quality (measured as per capita spending on parks) and accessibility (measured as the overall percentage of a city's population within ½ mile of parks) were also positively associated with wellbeing, though these relationships were not significant. Results suggest that expansive park networks are linked to multiple aspects of health and wellbeing in cities and positively impact urban quality of life.
Executive Summary: Former Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne (2007), acknowledged the role National Parks should play in health and fitness: “National parks will be part of the solution to reduce obesity, chronic illness, and adult-onset diabetes” (p. 12). However, given the increase in urbanization and population diversity, we have turned our focus to an urban-proximate state park. First Landing State Park (FLSP) in Virginia Beach includes 2,888 acres of land, 20 miles of trails, and is situated in the most populated city in Virginia. Little research exists on the perceived health benefits of urban park trail users.The purpose of this study was to explore demographic variables and perceived health benefits of urban park trail users by using the Perceived Health Outcomes of Recreation Scale (PHORS) at FLSP. Similar to Tinsley and Croskey’s (2002) investigation, rather than focus on the activities and activity preferences, we looked at perceived psychosocial benefits derived from the activities.This research study considered (a) gender differences, (b) racial group differences, (c) age difference, (d) residential differences, and (e) trail user types as they related to perceived health benefits and park use. A total of 307 questionnaires were completed, with a response rate of 66.3%. However, because the focus of this study is on urban recreation, visitors from outside of Hampton Roads were removed, leaving 84% of responses (n=258) for the purposes of this study. Analyses included t-tests, ANOVAs and regression. This study reveals the critical role of urban-proximate parks in providing opportunities for wellness, access to nature, social justice, and improved quality of life. It also provided multiple key insights into the demographics and perceived health benefits of urban visitors to the most visited state park in Virginia. Gómez and Malega (2007) had called for more studies to explore the relationship between perceived benefits of recreation and park use. This study answered that call and found, of the three perceived benefits captured by the PHORS (psychological benefits, improvement benefits, prevention benefits), perceived realization of a psychological outcome was the only significant predictor of park use. According to Kil and colleagues, “little knowledge exists on wildland urban interface user groups’ perceived benefits” (p. 377). It is our hope that we have begun to address this gap in the literature, calling for more studies of this nature.
Executive Summary: Leisure in parks and other forms of protected areas are connected to an individual’s health and well-being. In this paper, we report on the results of a multi-year study that surveyed 1,515 visitors to three Provincial Parks and three Kananaskis Country Provincial Recreation Areas in Alberta, Canada. Results revealed several important findings with significant policy and planning implications for Alberta Parks, as well as the international parks and protected area community more broadly. Findings show that anticipated human health and well-being benefits were a major factor motivating individuals’ decision to visit a park or protected area. Perceived psychological/emotional benefits (89.1% of visitors), social benefits (88.3%), physical benefits (80.3%) and environmental well-being benefits (79.4%) were deemed the most important motivations. However, there was a negative correlation between age and each of these perceived benefits, indicating that older visitors were less motivated to visit protected areas for these reasons. Perceived benefits (outcomes) followed a similar pattern to motivations. The most improved factors were psychological/emotional (90.5%), social (85%), and physical well-being (77.6%). A demographic analysis revealed that females rated financial, social, psychological/emotional and spiritual well-being motivations higher than males. Income and education were also positively related to individuals’ ratings of physical, psychological and environmental well-being. Interestingly, health motivations and benefits (or outcomes) were correlated highly with nature relatedness, meaning the more connected one is to nature, the greater the motivation to visit parks and the greater the health and well-being benefits received from park experiences. Overall, this study represents the largest examination of the human health and well-being benefits associated with visitor experiences in a Canadian protected areas context. The results substantiate the need for park organizations to better understand the “service provider” – “client” relationship from a human health and well-being perspective so that integrated policies and visitor experience programs can be developed or enhanced where appropriate. The Alberta Parks Division, and the international protected areas community more broadly, should actively develop the social science foundation internally, and externally (through partnerships with the social science research community), to ensure that decisions are science-based, society-oriented, and effective at meeting both conservation and visitor experience objectives. Finally, our research indicates the need for a better empirical understanding of the human health and well-being motivations and benefits of visitors representing different social and population subgroups (e.g., youth, elderly, couples, family units, new immigrants) and of the role of distinct natural environments in health promotion.
To evaluate the relationship between aircraft noise exposure and the quality of national park visitor experience, more than 4600 visitor surveys were collected at seven backcountry sites in four U.S. national parks simultaneously with calibrated sound level measurements. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate parameters describing the relationship among visitor responses, aircraft noise dose metrics, and mediator variables. For the regression models, survey responses were converted to three dichotomous variables, representing visitors who did or did not experience slightly or more, moderately or more, or very or more annoyance or interference with natural quiet from aircraft noise.
Models with the most predictive power included noise dose metrics of sound exposure level, percent time aircraft were audible, and percentage energy due to helicopters and fixed-wing propeller aircraft. These models also included mediator variables: visitor ratings of the “importance of calmness, peace and tranquility,” visitor group composition (adults or both adults and children), first visit to the site, previously taken an air tour, and participation in bird-watching or interpretive talks. The results complement and extend previous research conducted in frontcountry areas and will inform evaluations of air tour noise effects on visitors to national parks and remote wilderness sites.
Research consistently documents positive links between human contact with nature and health and well-being. Recent work has explored the role of visitation to parks and protected areas in providing health and well-being benefits. This conceptual paper identifies the state-of-the-art research findings on this issue from an interdisciplinary perspective. The results reveal increasing understanding of the positive relationships between park and protected area visitation and the associated health and well-being benefits to the visitors. It also establishes the need for better collaboration between park and protected area and health institutions, which will require new and innovative transdisciplinary partnerships in order to better understand salient issues, realign common interests where appropriate, and effectively integrate empirical evidence into relevant policy, planning and management. Recommendations are made for specific knowledge user groups, such as policy makers, social and health professionals, protected areas professionals, and researchers, with the ultimate objective of better linking human health and well-being and protected areas policies to enhance delivery mechanisms for health promotion activities.
The current article provides a guideline for conducting factor analysis, a technique used to estimate the population-level factor structure underlying the given sample data. First, the distinction between exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) is briefly discussed; along with this discussion, the notion of principal component analysis and why it does not provide a valid substitute of factor analysis is noted. Second, a step-by-step walk-through of conducting factor analysis is illustrated; through these walk-through instructions, various decisions that need to be made in factor analysis are discussed and recommendations provided. Specifically, suggestions for how to carry out preliminary procedures, EFA, and CFA are provided with SPSS and LISREL syntax examples. Finally, some critical issues concerning the appropriate (and not-so-appropriate) use of factor analysis are discussed along with the discussion of recommended practices.
Conflicts over wildlife conservation in protected areas can occur because stakeholders hold divergent values and value orientations. In this exploratory study, differences in value orientations among visitors to Chile’s Tamango National Reserve (TNR) were examined. Questionnaires were completed by visitors (n = 97) during the Chilean summer of 2012. Respondents were grouped into strong protection (63%) and mixed protection-use (37%) value orientation groups using cluster analysis. Mixed protection-use group members were more likely to be local residents, less formally educated, less likely to pay the reserve entry fee, and less supportive of huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus) conservation policies compared to the strong protection group. Most TNR visitors would support policies that protect wildlife in the reserve, and development with deleterious effects on the huemul would be viewed less favorably. It is suggested that a post-material shift and place relations moderate relationships between value orientations and Chilean wildlife conservation policy preferences.
We are at a key juncture in history where biodiversity loss is occurring daily and accelerating in the face of population growth, climate change, and rampant development. Simultaneously, we are just beginning to appreciate the wealth of human health benefits that stem from experiencing nature and biodiversity. Here we assessed the state of knowledge on relationships between human health and nature and biodiversity, and prepared a comprehensive listing of reported health effects. We found strong evidence linking biodiversity with production of ecosystem services and between nature exposure and human health, but many of these studies were limited in rigor and often only correlative. Much less information is available to link biodiversity and health. However, some robust studies indicate that exposure to microbial biodiversity can improve health, specifically in reducing certain allergic and respiratory diseases. Overall, much more research is needed on mechanisms of causation. Also needed are a re-envisioning of land-use planning that places human well-being at the center and a new coalition of ecologists, health and social scientists and planners to conduct research and develop policies that promote human interaction with nature and biodiversity. Improvements in these areas should enhance human health and ecosystem, community, as well as human resilience.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041614001648#
The first public product of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is its Conceptual Framework. This conceptual and analytical tool, presented here in detail, will underpin all IPBES functions and provide structure and comparability to the syntheses that IPBES will produce at different spatial scales, on different themes, and in different regions. Salient innovative aspects of the IPBES Conceptual Framework are its transparent and participatory construction process and its explicit consideration of diverse scientific disciplines, stakeholders, and knowledge systems, including indigenous and local knowledge. Because the focus on co-construction of integrative knowledge is shared by an increasing number of initiatives worldwide, this framework should be useful beyond IPBES, for the wider research and knowledge-policy communities working on the links between nature and people, such as natural, social and engineering scientists, policy-makers at different levels, and decisionmakers in different sectors of society.
This report reviews the literature about noise effects on recreationists and wildlife in New Zealand's natural areas. International literature on the nature of noise impacts, factors that influence them, responses to noise and key theoretical concepts are summarised. The range of methods available to measure noise and its effects are also critically discussed. The review of the New Zealand literature on noise impacts in natural areas then provides a synthesis of these studies and details the development and application of methodologies in New Zealand. The literature review indicates that monitoring of the impact of noise on recreationists in New Zealand has focussed on methodologies that are simple, affordable and easily carried out. Despite this, the development of the standard aircraft monitor (SAM) and its replication at a range of sites has enabled long-term changes to be recorded and for noise to be viewed in a national context. A number of other innovative approaches have also been applied in New Zealand, including limits of acceptable change (LAC) studies and the use of research diaries. In contrast, approaches used to address noise impacts on wildlife have not followed a standardised approach. Instead, studies have focussed on specific species at specific sites, using individualised methods. The focus has been on general disturbance rather than noise specifically, and studies have tended to examine short-term behavioural responses rather than long-term, cumulative effects. The report concludes with recommendations for future studies.
Kawsay in Colonial and Postcolonial Borderlands
The personage of Huatya Curi, the “Baked Potato Gleaner,” figured prominently in an early colonial account of the landscape and religious mythology of the Andean people of Huarochirí, a province in the mountainous interior of Lima in the Viceroyalty of Peru. The Huarochirí manuscript, a sixteenth-century Quechua document, introduces Huatya Curi with these words: “Chay pacha cay huatya curi ñisca huacchalla micuspapas huatya cuspalla causaptinsi sutiachircan huatya curim ñispa …” ‘At that time Huatya Curi, a poor potato eater, was accustomed to living from gleaning baked potatoes, and for that reason people named him Huatya Curi …‘ (Salomon and Urioste 163; my trans.; see also Taylor 32–33). While poor, Huatya Curi was powerful; in the same passage he goes on to vanquish a mighty Andean lord, Tamta Ñamca. The demise of Tamta Ñamca sets the stage for the ascendance of Paria Caca, Huatya Curi's father, who emerges as the chief Andean deity. Huatya Curi's existence is earthly yet linked to his supernatural lineage.
Research has shown that helicopter noise from tourist flights is very common in some national parks and wilderness areas . At Grand Canyon National Park , air craft noise has been found to be as high as 76 dB (A) with as many as 43 noise events in a 20-minute period . The present study examined the influence of 40 dB (A) or 80 dB (A) helicopter noise on assessment of a popular Grand Canyon vista in a laboratory simulation. Participants (44 female and 36 male undergraduates) viewed 68 slides of scenic vistas and assessed them on naturalness, preference, and scenic beauty and evaluated dimensions of freedom, annoyance, solitude, and tranquility. Compared to a control condition of background natural sounds (e.g.,birds, brooks), noise conditions negatively impacted all dependent measures. Although the effects were most pronounced at the 80-dB level, even the 40-dB helicopter noise negatively impacted all dependent variables. Results suggest that helicopter noise interferes with the quality of the visitor experience and even affects the perceived aesthetic quality of landscapes.
This study explores the importance of different motivations to visit three types of recreational settings—farms, private forests, and state or national parks. Data were collected via a mail-back questionnaire administered to a stratified random sample of households in Missouri (USA). Descriptive and inferential statistics reveal both similarities and discontinuities in motivations for visiting farms, private forests, and state or national parks for recreation. Being with family, viewing natural scenery, and enjoying the smells and sounds of nature were all highly important motivations for visiting the three types of settings. However, all 15 motivations examined were perceived to be significantly more important for visits to state or national parks than to farms or private forests. Findings suggest that individuals are more strongly motivated to recreate at state and national parks relative to farmlands or forests. Post hoc paired t tests comparing motivations between both agricultural settings (farms and private forests) revealed significant differences in eight different recreational motivations. Individuals tended to place more importance on the ability to use equipment and test their skills when considering recreating on private forests. Conversely, social motivations (e.g., doing something with the family) were more important when individuals were considering recreating on farmland. Collectively, the findings suggest individuals expect distinctly different outcomes from their visits to farmlands, private forests, or state or national parks. Consequently, all three types of recreational settings have competitive advantages that their managers could capitalize on when making decisions about how to attract new visitors or produce the most desirable experiences for current recreationists.
Natural sounds contribute to high-quality experiences for visitors to protected areas. This study investigated the effects of three common sources of recreational motorized noise on laboratory participants’ evaluations of landscape scenes. Seventy-five study participants completed landscape assessments along eight aesthetic and experiential dimensions while listening to audio clips of natural sounds, propeller planes, motorcycles, and snowmobiles. The change from the natural sound baseline for each motorized source of noise was calculated. Results indicated that all motorized sources of noise had detrimental impacts on evaluations of landscape quality compared with natural sounds. Motorcycle noise was demonstrated to have the largest negative impact on landscape assessments. In addition to confirming that noise from motorized recreation has significant impacts on the experiences of potential park visitors, this simulation suggests that the specific source of the noise is an important factor in determining observer evaluations of the quality of the natural environment.
Paradoja: "activo físicamente pero sedentario, sedentario pero activo físicamente". Nuevos antecedentes, implicaciones en la salud y recomendaciones The paradox of being physically active but sedentary or sedentary but physically active The use of objective methods to measure physical activity and thus assess sedentary lifestyle, may change the definition of individuals as being sedentary or physically active. This situation would also interfere on the benefits of phy-sical activity and the dangerous effects of sedentary lifestyle on health. The aim of this review is to clarify the changes that have recently occurred in this area. These could be included in future health care strategies and recommendations for the population. (Rev Med Chile
This paper built upon prior positive soundscapes research conducted within an urban context. It explored the potential for the emotional dimensions proposed by Cain and colleagues to be applied within a natural protected area (PA) context, at a soundscape level, as a com- plement to existing perceptual constructs of acceptability and per- sonal interpretation (annoyance and pleasingness) of individual sounds. Visitor perceptions were measured (n¼898) for six sound- scapes and individual sounds within Chile’s Coyhaique National Reserve (CNR), during the summer of 2018. Study results demon- strated parallels between the more urban-focused positive sound- scapes work and sound perceptions within a PA context. The discussion focused on the potential and limitations of using Cain and colleagues’ emotional dimensions for PA soundscape evaluation, identifying benefits of a combined approach that also incorporates the perceptual constructs proposed by Miller and colleagues at an individual sound level.
KEYWORDS Positive soundscapes; visitor experiences; emotional dimensions; perceptual research; protected areas
Despite increasing scientific understanding of the global environmental crisis, we struggle to adopt the policies science suggests would be effective. One of the reasons for that is the lack of inclusive engagement and dialogue among a wide range of different actors. Furthermore, there is a lack of consideration of differences between languages, worldviews and cultures. In this paper, we propose that engagement across the science-policy interface can be strengthened by being mindful of the breadth and depth of the diverse human-nature relations found around the globe. By examining diverse conceptualizations of "nature" in more than 60 languages, we identify three clusters: inclusive conceptualizations where humans are viewed as an integral component of nature; non-inclusive conceptualizations where humans are separate from nature; and deifying conceptualizations where nature is understood and experienced within a spiritual dimension. Considering and respecting this rich repertoire of ways of describing, thinking about and relating to nature can help us communicate in ways that resonate across cultures and worldviews. This repertoire also provides a resource we can draw on when defining policies and sustainability scenarios for the future, offering opportunities for finding solutions to global environmental challenges.
After the creation of the Diocese of Viedma (1953), in Northern Patagonia, there took place the dedication to the Missionary Virgin, promoted by the Diocese’s second Bishop, Monsignor Miguel Hesayne (1975–1993). In the midst of the military dictatorship (1976–1983), he appointed her Patron Saint of Río Negro, a province that at the time belonged to the Diocese of Viedma. He followed the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, especially the Puebla Document, which considers the Virgin Mary as the patron saint of the Americas, with the dedication of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Hesayne sought to identify his Diocese with a female figure with indigenous features, like the Virgin of Guadalupe. In conceiving the Missionary Virgin deprived of ornaments and royal attributes, the bishop aimed to reflect his pastoral of the “option for the poor,” thus bringing attention to the marginalized groups and peripheral spaces of the province, and also attributing a new meaning to its social and territorial identity.
Protected areas (PAs) worldwide are facing increasing visitation and complexity. Mounting pressures from the private sector are intensifying the risks associated with overtourism. The increasing strategic importance of PAs for the communities and regions in which they are situated requires improved management effectiveness; yet, recent studies indicate significant and growing systemic risk. Worldview analysis can be a valuable tool for building consciousness and informing the evolution of PA planning and management. Directed content analysis was used to examine two Visitor Use Plans developed for the Coyhaique National Reserve, located in the iconic Patagonia cultural area of southern Chile. The plans were developed using distinct planning frameworks, with different underlying assumptions. Research questions focused on how modernist, postmodernist and integral worldviews were expressed within the two plans. Worldviews were explored in both manifest and latent manners, considering plan text, models and overall context revealing patterns and links between the plans and planning frameworks that guided their development. Rich context and a thorough discussion of methods assists with the incorporation of worldview evaluation within PA management theory, informing the continuing development of knowledge and capacities that can better prepare PAs for future challenges. ARTICLE HISTORY
This paper addresses Protected Area (PA) research gaps through an exploration of the plural nature of natural area values, using the three dimensions (intrinsic, instrumental, and relational) of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Conceptual Framework for values assessment. Research employs an online survey (n = 155), combining the Natural Area Value Scale (NAVS) and a fictional protected area decision making scenario to examine how visitor use planning participants in the Aysén Region of Chile assigned value to natural areas. Two relational values (aesthetics, recreation) emerge as the most highly assessed of the four NAVS dimensions in the study. Cluster analysis identified three distinct value orientation cluster groups, based on their NAV dimension ratings. Differences amongst the value cluster groups help identify potential power imbalances that have the potential to contribute to PA conflict. Comparisons of the user groups that local management authorities use to segment stakeholders reveal a number of similarities. Management scenario responses, which incorporate newly emerging relational value concepts, suggest that study participants incorporate plural value considerations and prefer solutions that include relational values.
Progress with conservation of New Zealand’s temperate indigenous grasslands, and particularly the rangelands of the South Island rain-shadow region, is described from the first modest reserve in the late 1960s. Early debates centred on serious degradation of many rangeland areas under the pastoral farming practices of periodic burning and associated sheep grazing, but later involved the need for baseline research areas and the protection of indigenous biodiversity and ecosystems. A Government-initiated tenure review process since the mid-1990s is described, whereby farmers volunteer to relinquish the more vulnerable, usually higher elevation and biodiverse, areas of their lease-hold properties in return for free-hold arrangements for the more productive areas. Reviews are ongoing. To date, 82 completed reviews of the 303 properties has resulted in 49 per cent of their 441,188 hectares being formally protected, and an additional 125,792 hectares from five properties purchased by the Government, being designated as conservation land. The current conservation status of the country’s four major indigenous grassland types, totaling 15.4 per cent protected, is described in relation to the grassland types and their altitudinal distribution in relation to their baseline areas at the time of European settlement in the early 1840s. © 2012, IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature. All rights reserved.
Is the need for nature relatedness a basic psychological need? Using
Baumeister and Leary’s need criteria as comparators, we explored
literature arcing across disciplines to find evidence that either supported
or undermined our proposition that the human need for
nature may be a fundamental psychological need. We found that
while nature’s salubrious effects benefited humans across the lifespan,
and largely transcended cultural boundaries, socioeconomic
status, age, and state of health, the benefits of being in nature
depended on choice, perception of safety, and absence of fear. Race,
ethnicity, and gender tended to impede leisure in natural environments.
In concluding that the need for nature relatedness is a basic
psychological need, we discuss practical implications for leisure and
recreation professionals, researchers, educators, architects, and city
planners and proffer several practical interventions in several
domains to benefit both the environment and humanity.
The literature has approached the issue of leisure experience in protected areas from different theoretical and methodological angles, establishing, among other questions, the need to explore approaches capable of explaining the sense of place established by visitors to natural protected areas based on their leisure experiences and the influence exerted on this construction by sociodemographic variables and preferences. Taking a quantitatively driven mixed approach, a total of 704 tourists were surveyed in three national parks in Chile, and the findings included the following: (1) the most significant variable when it comes to constructing senses of place lies in the opportunity for visitors to enjoy their desired leisure experiences; (2) the levels of the different dimensions of sense of place vary according to gender, age, ethnic origin and quality of the leisure offer; and (3) confirmation of the emerging and multidimensional nature of leisure experience in contact with nature.
In this paper we analyze mesodefects accumulating during plastic deformation on the faceted high angle grain boundaries. It is shown that the system of mesodefects can be represented as a set of linear mesodefects of the rotational type (junction disclinations), and planar mesodefects of the shear type (uniformly distributed dislocations with Burgers vector lying in the plane of the facet). The process of formation of broken dislocation boundaries in the elastic fields of various configurations of the abovementioned mesodefects is studied within the framework of computer simulation.
Denali National Park and Preserve (DNPP), home to 6 million acres of land protected as wilderness, has collected a variety of biophysical acoustic data related to a backcountry management plan. However, very little is known about visitor experience related to sounds in the DNPP wilderness. This research explores wilderness users’ sound-related motivations for visiting DNPP and conducts listening activities to help managers develop indicators related to quality soundscape experiences. Sound-related experiences were motivations for a majority of DNPP wilderness visitors. Additionally, aircraft noise (e.g. propellers, helicopters, jets) emerged as a potential indictor for understanding the quality of visitor wilderness experiences. Future research should focus on further implementing Management By Objectives frameworks to develop thresholds, monitoring conditions, and implementing management actions as needed to protect the wilderness soundscapes of DNPP.
Protected areas are critical locations worldwide for biodiversity preservation and offer important opportunities for increasingly urbanized humans to experience nature. However, biodiversity preservation and visitor access are often at odds and creative solutions are needed to safeguard protected area natural resources in the face of high visitor use. Managing human impacts to natural soundscapes could serve as a powerful tool for resolving these conflicting objectives. Here, we review emerging research that demonstrates that the acoustic environment is critical to wildlife and that sounds shape the quality of nature-based experiences for humans. Human-made noise is known to affect animal behavior, distributions and reproductive success, and the organization of ecological communities. Additionally, new research suggests that interactions with nature, including natural sounds, confer benefits to human welfare termed psychological ecosystem services. In areas influenced by noise, elevated human-made noise not only limits the variety and abundance of organisms accessible to outdoor recreationists, but also impairs their capacity to perceive the wildlife that remains. Thus soundscape changes can degrade, and potentially limit the benefits derived from experiences with nature via indirect and direct mechanisms. We discuss the effects of noise on wildlife and visitors through the concept of listening area and demonstrate how the perceptual worlds of both birds and humans are reduced by noise. Finally, we discuss how management of soundscapes in protected areas may be an innovative solution to safeguarding both and recommend several key questions and research directions to stimulate new research.
Following the growth of nature-based tourism, national parks and other protected areas have become important tourist attractions and tools for regional development. Meanwhile, research on the impact of nature on human health and well-being is increasing and taken into account in park management. This study examines health and well-being benefits perceived by visitors to Finland's protected areas. It is based on survey data from five national parks and one strict nature reserve in 2013–2015: an on-site visitor survey (N = 3152) and an Internet-based health and well-being survey (N = 1054). The study indicates that visitors’ perceived benefits to their well-being were highly positive. Visits to protected areas promoted psychological, physical, and social benefits. In particular, park visits were found to provide strong and multi-faceted, long-lasting, embodied and sensory well-being experiences as well as escape from everyday life and work. Overnight visitors reported more well-being benefits than day visitors, and different types of park had different well-being benefits. The study suggests that the potential benefits of protected areas for public health are significant, emphasizing the need to integrate health and well-being arguments into the neoliberalist politics assessing the economic benefits of protected areas and their role in regional development.
At the heart of parks and recreation is the underlying goal of improving the quality of life of individuals and contributing to healthy communities. Quality of life has been both theoretically and empirically linked to healthy people and communities; therefore, investigation of the relationship between parks and recreation and quality of life is imperative for the rationale that parks and recreation is a critical public services component of any community. Although definitions and approaches to measure it differ, quality of life typically includes subjective or personal factors and objective or external factors. A recent approach to measuring quality of life is to use a multidimensional concept that includes indicators and attitudinal measures. This method was employed by Andereck and Nyaupane (2011a) to examine how tourism affects quality of life among individuals in communities. Our study adapted a scale developed by Andereck and Nyaupane to investigate the influence of parks and recreation on quality of life for California residents, as a component of the state’s Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. To do this, we formulated two research questions: (1) What is the influence of parks and recreation on perceived quality of life within their community?, and (2) Does a person’s perception of the personal benefit from parks and recreation influence perception of quality of life in a community? The questionnaire included three sets of scales that were combined into a parks and recreation quality of life index (PRQOL) to measure residents’ perceived QOL impacts of parks and recreation. Five PRQOL domains (community pride and awareness, quality infrastructure and community, economic vitality, natural/cultural preservation, crime and substance abuse) developed from the data by employing Exploratory Factor Analysis, demonstrated that the impact of parks and recreation positively influences perceptions of quality of life for California residents. To understand the relationships between personal benefit of parks and recreation and the five PRQOL domains, a multivariate general linear model was constructed. This model indicated that perceived personal benefit resulting from parks and recreation was positively related to all five PRQOL domains. Ultimately, positive perceptions of PRQOL by community residents could influence policy development, funding, and access to parks and recreation resources, programs, and services.
Executive Summary: Happiness is a quality that nearly all people naturally desire. Happiness has been shown to have a host of positive features, including enhanced mental and physical health, more satisfactory relationships, increased earning potential, and even longer life. Park and recreation facilities have been normatively associated with happiness for over a century, yet research on the relationship of parks with happiness is scant—particularly from a social-psychological perspective. The literature has primarily dealt with the topic tangentially through investigations of leisure and subjective well-being. Given that park activities and happiness are aspects of leisure and subjective well-being, respectively, this study explored whether applicable relationships were also true for parks and happiness. Four hypotheses were investigated: a) park visitation will stimulate happiness; b) across park activity types, fitness activities will have the greatest impact on happiness; c) the diversity of park activities will be more positively associated with patron happiness than the quantity of time spent; and d) there will be a positive relationship between park satisfaction and happiness. Field research was conducted with the cooperation of a county park system. Park patrons in three demographically diverse municipalities in a southeast U.S. coastal region were sampled over a seven-month period. Three out of the four hypotheses were supported by the findings, which suggested that leisure’s relationship with subjective well-being largely holds for parks and happiness. This study’s findings indicate that humans’ innate desire for happiness may be fulfilled when visiting a park. Patrons indicated that they were happy during their park visit and even happier at the end of it. No particular park activity promoted more happiness than another. Study results propose that happiness is not necessarily augmented as much through additional time spent but, instead, by engaging in a greater diversity of park activities during a visit. Patrons generally reported being satisfied with the county parks. Also, patrons left the park happier when they were more pleased with its operation. This has positive implications for park management because happiness is a key component of quality of life, the improvement of which is central to the mission of many urban parks. Park management can leverage this mission success to cultivate greater public trust and support, which is instrumental to securing funding—a critical issue for park and recreation departments across the nation.
Leisure in parks and other forms of protected areas are connected to an individual’s health and well-being. In this paper, we report on the results of a multi-year study that surveyed 1,515 visitors to three Provincial Parks and three Kananaskis Country Provincial Recreation Areas in Alberta, Canada. Results revealed several important findings with significant policy and planning implications for Alberta Parks, as well as the international parks and protected area community more broadly. Findings show that anticipated human health and well-being benefits were a major factor motivating individuals’ decision to visit a park or protected area. Perceived psychological/emotional benefits (89.1% of visitors), social benefits (88.3%), physical benefits (80.3%) and environmental well-being benefits (79.4%) were deemed the most important motivations. However, there was a negative correlation between age and each of these perceived benefits, indicating that older visitors were less motivated to visit protected areas for these reasons. Perceived benefits (outcomes) followed a similar pattern to motivations. The most improved factors were psychological/emotional (90.5%), social (85%), and physical well-being (77.6%). A demographic analysis revealed that females rated financial, social, psychological/emotional and spiritual well-being motivations higher than males. Income and education were also positively related to individuals’ ratings of physical, psychological and environmental well-being. Interestingly, health motivations and benefits (or outcomes) were correlated highly with nature relatedness, meaning the more connected one is to nature, the greater the motivation to visit parks and the greater the health and well-being benefits received from park experiences. Overall, this study represents the largest examination of the human health and well-being benefits associated with visitor experiences in a Canadian protected areas context. The results substantiate the need for park organizations to better understand the “service provider” – “client” relationship from a human health and well-being perspective so that integrated policies and visitor experience programs can be developed or enhanced where appropriate. The Alberta Parks Division, and the international protected areas community more broadly, should actively develop the social science foundation internally, and externally (through partnerships with the social science research community), to ensure that decisions are science-based, society-oriented, and effective at meeting both conservation and visitor experience objectives. Finally, our research indicates the need for a better empirical understanding of the human health and well-being motivations and benefits of visitors representing different social and population subgroups (e.g., youth, elderly, couples, family units, new immigrants) and of the role of distinct natural environments in health promotion.
In Bolivia and Ecuador the concept of Buen vivir, based on indigenous cosmologies, has been formulated by indigenous organisations as an alternative paradigm to mainstream development theory. It has also inspired environmentalist movements in their struggle for a different environmental governance beyond extractivism, and it has been appropriated by national governments to justify economic and social policies and their political agendas. In Peru, Buen vivir is emerging as a political project to express ecological concerns, as well as self-determination, territoriality and cultural rights of indigenous peoples. In these experiences the formulation and implementation of Buen vivir is a complex and contentious process which expresses the tensions and dynamics between indigenous politics and the political economy of extraction. This article explores the different meanings of Buen vivir in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru and the struggle of indigenous peoples to re-appropriate the concept which has been co-opted by the state using conventional views of development. We argue that Buen vivir serves as a political platform on the basis of which different social movements articulate social and ecological demands based on indigenous principles, in order to challenge the economic and political fundamentals of the state and the current theory, politics and policy-making of development.
Visual exposure to natural scenes can aid in recovery from stress, attentional fatigue, and physical ailments including surgery and sickness. Yet little is known about what role auditory stimuli may play in restorative processes. The current study extends prior work on the benefit of natural visual scenes to the domain of natural auditory exposure. Undergraduate students (N=133) were exposed to an unsettling video and reliably reported worsened affective state on the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) immediately following the stimuli. Participants were then randomly assigned to either a natural sounds condition or to a comparison condition that was natural sounds intermingled with anthropogenic sounds (human voices or motorized vehicles). Participants exposed to a brief period of natural sounds following the video showed greater mood recovery, as measured by the BMIS, than did those exposed to the same stimuli also containing human-caused sounds (voices or motorized vehicles). Thus natural so...
This study investigated the impact of nature experience on affect and cognition. We randomly assigned sixty participants to a 50-min walk in either a natural or an urban environment in and around Stanford, California. Before and after their walk, participants completed a series of psychological assessments of affective and cognitive functioning. Compared to the urban walk, the nature walk resulted in affective benefits (decreased anxiety, rumination, and negative affect, and preservation of positive affect) as well as cognitive benefits (increased working memory performance). This study extends previous research by demonstrating additional benefits of nature experience on affect and cognition through assessments of anxiety, rumination, and a complex measure of working memory (operation span task). These findings further our understanding of the influence of relatively brief nature experiences on affect and cognition, and help to lay the foundation for future research on the mechanisms underlying these effects.
Available here: http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1QdlwcUG4~B3U
A growing body of empirical research suggests that brief contact with natural environments improves emotional well-being. The current study synthesizes this body of research using meta-analytic techniques and assesses the mean effect size of exposure to natural environments on both positive and negative affect. Thirty-two studies with a total of 2356 participants were included. Across these studies, exposure to natural environments was associated with a moderate increase in positive affect and a smaller, yet consistent, decrease in negative affect relative to comparison conditions. Significant heterogeneity was found for the effect of nature on positive affect, and type of emotion assessment, type of exposure to nature, location of study, and mean age of sample were found to moderate this effect. The implications of these findings for existing theory and research are discussed, with particular emphasis placed on potential avenues for fruitful future research examining the effects of nature on well-being.
Wellness is considered the paradigm of counseling and development (J. E. Myers, 1991, 1992). However, researchers have failed to agree on a definition or on the dimensional structure of wellness. Furthermore, existing quantitative wellness instruments are inadequate for capturing the complexity of wellness. The author reviews wellness theory and proposes an integrated definition of the construct. Existing wellness assessment instruments are explored along with advancements in research, theory, and measurement. Finally, implications for counseling and assessment are addressed.
Opportunities to experience natural sounds are among the most important reasons for visiting parks, and mandates require that the National Park Service protect natural soundscapes. Due to its proximity to military installations, military aircraft are prevalent above Sequoia National Park, and exposure to sounds produced by aircraft have been found to detract from visitor experiences. Military overflights and associated acoustic impacts are likely to continue given Sequoia’s relationship with these agencies, and proximity to military installations, and in turn visitor experiences may be depreciated. This study examined whether educational messaging could significantly affect Sequoia visitor acceptability of military aircraft sounds, and evaluated the strengths and limitations of visitor communication strategies as they pertain to soundscape management. Results determined that informing visitors about the presence of military aircraft through a theoretically-derived message could improve acceptability of military aircraft sounds by as much as 15%. These results indicate that educational messaging may offer immediate benefits to Sequoia visitor experiences.