Countryside Recreation and London's Urban Fringe

Abstract

A number of assumptions are often made about the traditional role that the urban fringe can play in informal recreation. Some of these assumptions are identified and the results of a survey of the use of sites in London's Green Belt are presented and used to test their validity. The findings of the survey suggest that most urban-fringe sites are not accessible to inner city residents but are used by people drawn from very localized catchments. Characteristics of both trips and visitors suggest that the recreational use of these sites has more in common with that of urban parks than sites in the deeper countryside. Any enhanced recreational role for the urban fringe should be based, not on the assumption that the urban fringe is accessible to all urban residents or that it acts as a substitute for the deeper countryside, but rather on the role that it can play for those who live in or close to it.