Abstract
Although outdoor recreation participation has been studied extensively, little research has come from less developed regions of the world. This paper examined outdoor recreation participation and its predictors in Istanbul, an increasingly urbanized and populated megacity, in Turkey. The results show that nearly half of the people interviewed in this study had claimed to visit a nature area at least once a week or more often, nearly three-quarters invested a travel time to these areas of between 30 min to 2 h, about two-thirds spent more than 2 h at the area, and about one-third was engaged in leisurely walking. The frequency of visits was almost the single predictor of travel time. Visit frequencies were predicted by the travel time and visit length. Activity type and traveling longer than 2 h predicted the length of visits. Recreational activity type was predicted by visit length and travel time. Socio-demographic variables were associated with only a few outdoor participation variables. The findings imply that the residents have limited contact with nature and limited opportunity to benefit from such interaction.
Highlights
Outdoor recreation participation has become increasingly popular around the world [1,2]
The majority of studies focused on access or use of the facilities in neighborhoods, but this study examined the socio-economic status (SES) of the districts in which residents live, which is associated with outdoor recreation participation in major recreational areas of the urbanized megacity
With the premise that recreational area demand and use are the products of many factors related to recreationists and the recreational environment, this study focused on three major research questions: (1) What are the patterns of outdoor recreation participation for residents of Istanbul? With this research question, we aimed to describe and analyze travel time, frequency and length of recreational area visits, as well as types of recreational activities they are engaged in during their visits
Summary
Outdoor recreation participation has become increasingly popular around the world [1,2]. Participating in outdoor recreation in urban parks of metropolitan areas provides opportunity for human-nature contact and contributes to the well-being of urban dwellers [3,4]. While the majority of human-nature contact studies come from more developed regions of the world, such as Europe, Australia, and North America [5], evidence from different/other parts of the world has been emerging recently. This is important because urbanization trends between more developed and less developed parts of the world diverge, with the developing countries experiencing a comparatively more rapid urbanization [6]. Different and new challenges for the well-being of inhabitants in urbanized megacities in less developed regions needs to be addressed
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