Problem Of Carrying Capacity Of Recreational Lands

First published in 1974. Leisure has come to be a vital force in our lives, a part of self-discovery, essential for our well-being. With increased amounts of leisure time, there has been rapid growth in the demand for diverse recreational facilities and their subsequent overuse. With this in mind, it is clear why the planning, managing and administration of recreational resources, particularly in urban areas, is of personal interest to everyone. Land and Leisure introduces the student to all aspects of recreational land use - spatial, economic, behavioural and physical. This second edition is designed to demonstrate some of the basic up-to-date ideas and issues of the last decade and a half that have been influential in shaping decisions, and is concerned both with urban recreation and the uses of resources within metropolitan areas and with the role of the private sector in providing facilities. The book is divided into five parts with discussions ranging over topics such as the individual's recreational needs, recreational land-use evaluation, regional planning and the problems of decision-making and the provision of recreational resources. Its interdisciplinary approach will enable students to understand the problems, concepts, methods and approaches helpful in furthering and integrating their knowledge of recreational resources.

Public land managers are confronted with an ever-growing and diversifying set of demands for providing recreation opportunities. Coupled with a variety of trends (devolution of governance and decisionmaking, population growth, technological innovation, shifts in public values, economic restructuring) and reduced organizational capacity, these demands represent a significant and complex challenge to public land management. One way of dealing with this situation is to use a framework to assist in working through this complexity. A framework, for the purpose of this report, is a process using a set of steps, based on sound science, that assists managers in framing a particular problem, working through it, and arriving at a set of defendable decisions. Several such frameworks exist for providing recreation opportunities on public lands. These include the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum, Limits of Acceptable Change, Visitor Experience and Resource Protection, Visitor Impact Management, and Benefits-Based Management. The report traces the development of each of these frameworks, describes the fundamental premises and concepts used within them, and provides an assessment of the experience with their use. Each of the frameworks has been used with varying success, depending on the organizations will, its technical capacity, the extent to which the process is inclusive of varying value systems, how open and deliberative the process is, the extent to which the organization is concerned with effectiveness, and the extent to which issues are confronted at the systems level.

Planning and management for tourism growth is becoming essential in the context of sustainable development. Particularly so since many tourist destinations are facing severe pressures from tourist flows and activities. Such pressures are evidenced in terms of dysfunctions (congestion, environmental degradation, etc) which ultimately affect the attraction and competitiveness of tourism destinations. The development of tourism should be considered in accordance with sustainability principles. In this context respecting the capacity of the local system to sustain growth becomes a key challenge. This book examines the use of various tools to define, measure and evaluate tourism carrying capacity (TCC) - a tool aiming to impose limits for entering certain tourist destinations or using certain activities. Drawing on case studies from France, Spain, Italy, Greece, the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Germany and Finland, it presents practical experiences of implementing TCC in various tourist destinations (i.e. historic towns, coastal zones, islands, etc). It draws conclusions regarding the measurement and implementation of TCC assessment and provides further guidelines towards a comprehensive methodological framework for assessing tourism sustainability in the future.

Public land managers are confronted with an ever-growing & diversifying set of demands for providing recreation opportunities. Coupled with a variety of trends & reduced organizational capacity, these demands represent a significant & complex challenge to public land mgmt. One way of dealing with this situation is to use a framework to assist in working through this complexity. A framework is a process using a set of steps that assists managers in framing a particular problem, working through it, & arriving at a set of defendable decisions. This report traces the development of each of these frameworks, describes the fundamental premises & concepts used within them, & provides an assessment of the experience with their use. Illus.