Abstract
Nature-based recreation is among the most relevant ecosystem services supplied by urban green infrastructure, affecting citizens’ physical and mental wellbeing. Providing adequate green spaces for nature-based recreation is among the main goals of urban planning, but commonly-used indicators offer a partial view on the issue. Innovative methods and approaches, such as the ESTIMAP-recreation model, appear as promising ways to increase the quality of information available for decision-makers by considering both the range of green spaces that provide the service and the locally-specific demand. The article presents an application of the ESTIMAP-recreation model to the city of Trento (Italy), aimed at testing its adaptation to the local context and the potential improvements brought to urban planning. The comparison of the results with traditional indicators based on the availability and accessibility to urban parks shows significant differences in terms of priority of intervention across the city, with implications on planning decisions. The application demonstrates that innovative methods can enhance the understanding of nature-based recreation in cities beyond the focus on urban parks, revealing a wide portfolio of actions that planners can put in place to promote nature-based recreation through a multifunctional green infrastructure.
Highlights
Nature-based recreation, i.e., recreational activities involving physical and experiential interactions with natural environment [1], is among the most relevant ecosystem services provided by green infrastructure, especially in urban contexts [2,3]
A large part of the map shows values around 0.5 (Figure 6a). This is a consequence of the high scores received by most of the elements both in the “natural features” and in the “urban green infrastructure” components of the model (Figure 4), probably due to the wide range of green space typologies suitable to provide opportunities for day-to-day nature-based recreation in Trento
While providing all citizens with adequate green spaces for nature-based recreation is among the main goals of green infrastructure planning and management, especially in cities, commonly-adopted indicators that measure the availability and spatial distribution of urban parks offer only a partial view on such a multi-faceted issue
Summary
Nature-based recreation, i.e., recreational activities involving physical and experiential interactions with natural environment [1], is among the most relevant ecosystem services provided by green infrastructure, especially in urban contexts [2,3]. It includes multiple open-air activities of different physical intensity, from walking the dog or strolling in a park, to hiking, running, and cycling in natural environments. Opportunities for nature-based recreation encourage physical activity and active lifestyles, potentially reducing health risk factors such as obesity and cardiovascular disease [11,12]. Nature-based recreational activities can facilitate social interactions, foster empowerment, and promote social cohesion and support [13,14,15]
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