Thomas A. More

Valuation of urban parks

Abstract One reason why urban parks and open spaces are subject to development pressure is that planners and researchers have been unable to articulate their value in economic terms. Three valuation techniques — each with its own strengths and weaknesses — have been applied to urban parks. This paper reviews the three techniques and presents study results from the hedonic valuation technique. Study results indicate landscape planners need to be aware of the strengths and shortcomings of each to properly evaluate research on this topic.

Do user fees exclude low-income people from resource-based recreation?

A mail survey of New Hampshire and Vermont households shows that although user fees are widely accepted, they may substantially reduce participation in resource-based recreation by those earning less than

Solitude Experiences: Varieties, Settings, and Individual Differences

30,000 per year. For example, 23% of low-income respondents indicated that they had either reduced use or gone elsewhere as a result of recent fee increases, while only 11% of high-income users had made such changes. A conjoint analysis also suggests that low-income respondents are much more responsive to access fees than high-income respondents. And we find that a

Affective responses to natural areas near cities.

5 daily fee for use of public lands would affect about 49% of low-income people as compared to 33% of high-income respondents. We conclude that potential impacts of this magnitude highlight several critical problems in the design of recreation fee programs.

Identifying the dimensions of service quality in a park context.

Solitude may be positive or negative, depending on situational and personal factors. From prior research, nine types of solitude were identified. Based on data from a questionnaire study of undergraduate participants, factor analysis suggests that these nine types can be reduced to three dimensions, two positive and one negative. These are, respectively, Inner-Directed Solitude (characterized by self-discovery and inner peace), Outer-Directed Solitude (characterized by intimacy and spirituality), and Loneliness. Personality and value correlates, as well as situational correlates, of the various types of solitude also were explored.

A Functionalist Approach to User Fees

ABSTRACTIn an exploratory study of emotions in recreation, visitors to three Audubon nature centers in Massachusetts completed a questionnaire to measure their moods at the beginning and at the end...

The parks are being loved to death and other frauds and deceits in recreation management.

Previous invetigations of service quality in several private-sector services have suggested that it consists of five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. This study was concerned with whether or not these dimensions described service quality in the context of parks, and if so which dimensions were most important. The results indicated that service quality in parks was described by four dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness and assurance. There were differences in perceived service quality between users of different parks. the most important dimension was tangibles, and the relative importance of each dimension varied according to the specific park which was visited.

PUBLIC-ATTITUDES ABOUT COYOTES IN NEW-ENGLAND

Few recreation issues are more controversial than imposing fees for access to public lands. Fee proponents argue that user fees: (a) promote equity by charging users directly; (b) increase economic...

The structure of recreation behavior.

Many common concepts in recreation and leisure research originate from the “interests” of four groups: users, legislators, managing agencies, and researchers. These interests, and their ties to social class, make frequently discussed concepts like overuse, business-like management for public agencies, benefits/values, and sustainability ontologically suspect. A functionalist approach is advocated as an alternative. Researchers need to be aware of the “political” context of research concepts to avoid pitfalls in their application.

Declining National Park Visitation: An Economic Analysis

Abstract A survey of New England residents suggests that achieving an acceptable balance between coyote control and coyote protection is likely to be very difficult. Only 5% of survey respondents felt that coyotes should be eliminated, but when asked if coyotes should be completely protected, 39% agreed, 40% disagreed, and 23% were willing to pay an average of