Leisure Facilities Research Articles

Recovered Foam Impact Absorption Systems

The use of foam materials in environments where they come into contact with individuals often results in deterioration, necessitating periodic replacements to maintain safety and hygiene standards. Foam, a lightweight, porous plastic formed by aggregated bubbles, possesses excellent impact-absorbing properties; however, its inherent porosity and susceptibility to wear present challenges. This project aims to develop a technological application for repurposing spent polyurethane (PU) foam from leisure facilities into effective impact absorption systems. By focusing on the reuse of deteriorated foam materials, this initiative seeks to minimize environmental impact while leveraging their beneficial technical characteristics. Addressing issues related to foam degradation, this project endeavors to create sustainable solutions by reintegrating spent foam into new systems. This innovative approach promotes sustainability while enhancing safety through the provision of high-quality, impact-resistant elements. Ultimately, this work aims to contribute to environmental conservation and the advancement of effective impact protection measures in leisure facilities.

A spatial analysis of mental health-related calls for service in Atlantic City, New Jersey

ABSTRACT Objective Police officers often find themselves responding to calls that do not involve criminal behavior, but calls related to individuals experiencing emotional distress or mental illness that requires police response. This research aims to identify high-risk places of mental health calls for service (MHCFS) in an urban setting and compare place features of these locations by police response (locations where a CIT-trained officer is dispatched versus a non-trained officer dispatched). Data/Methods Our research uses Atlantic City Police Department’s calls for service data from 1 January 2019 through 30 December 2022, including the incidents of mental incompetence with location components. After removing the calls that were not coded as mental health, a total of 2229 incidents involving perceived mental illness were geocoded and compared. We used RTMDx software to generate risk terrain models for MHCFS in Atlantic City, NJ. Findings The RTM analysis yielded no association between places of interest and MHCFS for calls involving non-CIT-trained officers. Yet, we identified five high-risk activity spaces of MHCFS where officers with CIT training were involved. Grocery stores (RRV = 2.873), places of leisure (RRV = 2.764), Health & Wellness Facilities (RRV = 2.624), Eateries & Restaurants (RRV = 2.547), and Convenience & Variety Stores (RRV = 2.280) are the risk factors identified by the RTM analysis. Given the characteristics of places identified by risk-terrain modeling, we reason that the characteristics of these places indicate that individuals experiencing perceived or actual mental health problems hang out in spaces with ease of access and in spaces where they can stay relatively longer with minimal attention. Conclusion Our research suggests that there is an association between spatial factors and MHCFS that are responded to by CIT-trained officers. City officials should consider deploying additional resources and mental health staff to these places to address the issue of mental health in urban settings. Future research should consider testing whether the places we identified in our analysis are also high-risk places for MHCFS in other urban environments.

Характеристика способов вовлечения в занятие проституцией и организации занятия проституцией, осуществляемых участниками организованных преступных формирований

The article examines the preparatory stage of criminal activity related to the organization of prostitution, including: finding certain categories of persons who form the necessary structural, administrative, personnel and financial foundation for the effective implementation of this type of criminal business; developing rules for interaction between these categories of persons and with the external environment; selecting and equipping places where both direct provision of sexual services and performance of security functions will be carried out, as well as finding means to ensure the commission of crimes. It also describes in detail such methods of involving persons in this illegal activity as fraud, coercion, placing in financial dependence and others. The article considers various categories of persons participating in the organization of prostitution as part of organized groups. The following forms of organizing prostitution are described: street; in a home at the place of residence of the client or the person providing sexual services; organizing the provision of sexual services under the guise of the activities of leisure facilities; hotel, escort services.

The Arena Liga Portugal: aiming for SMART design

The new Portuguese Football League headquarters – Arena Liga Portugal – is a high-profile, prestigious project located in the city of Porto. LAIII was presented with a brief to deliver the architectural vision of a 'floating' cube against a challenging programme, incorporating a diverse range of uses, including office space, auditorium, museum, sports hall, and a vast green podium. The result is a striking head office whose structural design, detailing and complexity are masked by the simplicity of its concept. As engineers, we see ourselves as more than just designers. We believe true value can only be delivered if we share common drivers with other stakeholders and work together to create answers that balance our overall goals, to arrive at the most suitable solutions possible. Throughout the design process, our main goal was to ensure we reached a cost-effective solution for Arena Liga Portugal, by balancing design drivers; in particular, we sought to avoid jeopardising the project vision in any way. This mindset was particularly important during the early stages of the design process. At this point, not only are the opportunities to create an impact the greatest, and the ideas the most abundant, but the exploration of these is the most rewarding. The challenge was to find the 'best' design options for the project. The best structural design is something that is very difficult to define and achieve, since every stakeholder has its own definition of 'best'. Some might define it as the most efficient in terms of cost and time/programme, while others judge it in terms of performance or sustainability credentials. There is not a single correct definition. The best solution is the one that gathers the most value among all the stakeholders for a given project. The entire building aims to be a fluid and open space, with strong links to the city and the local community. Arena Liga Portugal HQ will be an urban beacon, visible day and night. Expected to be completed by the end of 2024 as a landmark institutional building that is simultaneously a sports, cultural and leisure facility. it will raise the profile of an area of the city that is sometimes forgotten.

지역사회 공공 여가시설 접근 편리성과 사회적 지원이 어머니의 양육스트레스에 미치는 영향

This study aimed to examine the impact of accessibility to public leisure facilities and social support on mothers' parenting stress. An analysis was conducted on 1,296 mothers of 6th-grade children in the 13th wave (2020) of the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC). The results are as follows: First, the higher the accessibility to public leisure facilities in the community, the lower the stress related to the mother's parental role and overall parenting stress. Second, it was found that the higher the level of social support for the mother, the less stress related to their parental role and overall parenting stress. In particular, emotional support was proved to be the most influential, and it was verified that providing intimacy and trust first for raising children is an important factor that can reduce parenting stress. The findings of this study validate that enhancing accessibility to community leisure facilities and strengthening various social supports can reduce parenting stress for mothers with upper-grade elementary school children. This confirms the social importance of leisure support and suggests the significance of interventions through social relationship support to reduce parenting stress.

Dynamics of everyday practices of urban parents

In order to further improve family policy, the article aims to analyze the dynamics of everyday practices of parents. The empirical basis is the databases on individuals of the Comprehensive monitoring of living conditions (GKS-KOUZH — 2011,2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 years), which is conducted by the Federal State Statistics Service. Subsamples of urban fathers and mothers living with children under the age of 15 have been formed. The daily practices of parents are analyzed based on the indicators of work, leisure, sports, health, smoking and alcohol consumption contained in the database, depending on gender, educational level and number of children. The article presents an analysis of studies on the transmission of constructive and destructive parenting practices to children. It is shown that during the analyzed period, the proportion of parents who work in their specialty, attend various leisure facilities, participate in the activities of political and public organizations, engage in sports and drink alcohol is stable. The proportion of mothers attending religious institutions and meetings of believers has decreased. There are positive trends in a significant increase in the proportion of both fathers and mothers who are satisfied with their profession and salary, who make tourist trips, who positively assess their health and a decrease in the proportion of fathers who smoke. According to the analysis of the KOUZH-2022, more parents with higher education work in their specialty, are satisfied with wages, have the opportunity to work distantly via the Internet, practice buying food and goods over the Internet, make tourist trips, visit the theater, museums, exhibitions, restaurants, participate in social activities, do not smoke, play sports or active recreation compared to parents without higher education. Parents with many children are similar in terms of types of professional activities and level of education to one- and two-child parents. The absolute advantage of parents with many children is a significant proportion of religious fathers and the lowest level of alcohol consumption by fathers and mothers. Positive trends in the daily activities of parents inspire optimism about the prospects for fertility and the quality of parenthood.

Rural residential choices: unravelling the nexus of accessibility and preferences

ABSTRACT As rural residents increasingly migrate to urban areas to improve living conditions, employment, and education, closely examining the relationship between residential choices and accessibility becomes crucial. This study employs a Stated Preference Survey (SP) with an orthogonal experimental design and uses the Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) to explore the preferences of rural residents for accessibility in the built environment when choosing new residences, including potential disparities between residents on the urban fringe and those in suburban areas. The findings reveal a strong inclination among residents for proximity to essential services such as education, transportation, healthcare, markets, recreation, and amenities. Preferred residential locations include within a 2-kilometre radius of schools, 300 metres from bus stops, 500 metres from medical facilities, 2 kilometres from markets, between 500 metres and 1 kilometre from leisure facilities, and within 1 kilometre of supermarkets. Additionally, commuting time preferences vary, with rural residents favoring a 15-minute commute, peri-urban residents preferring 5 minutes, and distant suburban residents showing no clear preference for commute times ranging from 5 to 15 minutes. These insights carry significant implications for urban and rural planning and development.

«ГДЕ ЗАПИСЫВАЮТ В КОШАЧЬИ ИМПЕРАТОРЫ?»: ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ ОБРАЗОВ ЖИВОТНЫХ В СОВРЕМЕННОМ БРЕНДИРОВАНИИ МУЗЕЕВ И ДОСУГОВЫХ ПРОСТРАНСТВ

The article describes the ways the image of cats is used to make museums attractive to visitors. The author has studied how this practice is applied in such museums as the Hermitage Museum, house museum of Anna Akhmatova on the Fontanka River, the State Museum of Vyborg Castle, and archaeological reserve «Tauric Chersonese». Moreover, some social networking pages on Vkontakte and «Classmates» have been analysed, including those of the cat Bridgelet, the cats from Chersonese, and the cat Philimon from Vyborg Castle. The article proves that the images of the cats from these and other museums have become popular means to attract prospective visitors. The following examples of conducting such a marketing work can prove it: social networking pages run in the name of cats, various contests and events connected with cats. The author has come to the conclusion that the usage of feline images is brought about by multifaceted transformations in society. In particular, nowadays museums and libraries function not merely as places to store data and historically valuable artefacts, but also as leisure facilities. In addition, the attitude to domestic animals plays a huge role here, as now they are kept at home for pleasure, rather than for work. We can’t but mention the changes in the system of social values: domestic asceticism has been replaced by a convenient and cosy way of life, thus popularizing the images of animals that are associated with it.

A Reusable Past. Opportunities for the Utilization of Industrial Heritage in Salgótarján, Hungary

AbstractIndustrial heritage is not just the industrial landscape, buildings, and material objects, but also the highly complex cultural heritage created by industrial society, with many unique features. The former industrial towns of East-Central European countries have little memory of their early capitalist industrial past, and their socialist legacy is mostly seen as an unwanted and unwelcome burden. Industrial heritage preservation in Hungary was also adversely affected by the ideology of de-industrialization in the late 1980s, and this was compounded by struggles over the politics of memory. Salgótarján, as the seat of Nógrád County, is a city with county rights that has one of the worst social and economic indicators in the country, with dozens of slums, many of them on former industrial sites. The number of sites suitable for greenfield investment in the valley town is low, while the proportion of under-utilized brownfields is high. The real turning point in the development of the settlement was the opening of the mines and the mining boom in the second half of the 19th century. The opening of the mines was soon followed by the construction of larger industrial plants: the steel mill, the hollow-glass and later flat-glass factory, and the ironworks (stove factory). Initially, skilled workers were recruited from abroad, which laid the foundations for a unique society, as much of the population had no ties to the settlement, or even to Hungary—only to the work and their employer. The industrial society of Salgótarján formed a well-defined local community with a sense of identity. The management of the companies and factories, the network of workers' welfare institutions, the managed leisure programs and facilities, and of course the built environment of the colonies played a major role in all this. Under state socialism, the factories continued to operate with an artificially inflated workforce, and after the political regime change in 1989, the privatized plants closed down with dramatic abruptness, leading to social trauma and high unemployment in the settlement. The preservation and presentation of industrial heritage is also important for the city's identity while the built environment is undergoing a radical transformation, which is why buildings that are deemed worthy of preservation should be given a new function as soon as possible so that they may remain an integral part of the settlement.

Effects of Community Assets on Major Health Conditions in England: A Data Analytic Approach.

The broader determinants of health including a wide range of community assets are extremely important in relation to public health outcomes. Multiple health conditions, multimorbidity, is a growing problem in many populations worldwide. This paper quantified the effect of community assets on major health conditions for the population of England over six years, at a fine spatial scale using a data analytic approach. Community assets, which included indices of the health system, green space, pollution, poverty, urban environment, safety, and sport and leisure facilities, were quantified in relation to major health conditions. The health conditions examined included high blood pressure, obesity, dementia, diabetes, mental health, cardiovascular conditions, musculoskeletal conditions, respiratory conditions, kidney and liver disease, and cancer. Cluster analysis and dendrograms were calculated for the community assets and major health conditions. For each health condition, a statistical model with all community assets was fitted, and model selection was performed. The number of significant community assets for each health condition was recorded. The unique variance, explained by each significant community asset per health condition, was quantified using hierarchical variance partitioning within an analysis of variance model. The resulting data indicate major health conditions are often clustered, as are community assets. The results suggest that diversity and richness of community assets are key to major health condition outcomes. Primary care service waiting times and distance to public parks were significant predictors of all health conditions examined. Primary care waiting times explained the vast majority of the variances across health conditions, with the exception of obesity, which was better explained by absolute poverty. The implications of the combined findings of the health condition clusters and explanatory power of community assets are discussed. The vast majority of determinants of health could be accounted for by healthcare system performance and distance to public green space, with important covariate socioeconomic factors. Emphases on community approaches, significant relationships, and asset strengths and deficits are needed alongside targeted interventions. Whilst the performance of the public health system remains of key importance, community assets and local infrastructure remain paramount to the broader determinants of health.

Aging in Place: Toward Understanding Momentary Well-Being and Daily Satisfaction of Older People

Few studies have investigated how older people’s daily activities and characteristics of the surrounding urban environment affect their emotions and daily satisfaction. This study fills the research gap by using a paper-based survey and a smartphone ecological momentary assessment (EMA) application (with GPS tracking and pop-up surveys about activities) to study older people’s well-being in Hong Kong. Three hundred and two older adults completed the paper survey and forty-two of them further completed a six- to seven-day EMA survey. Based on a total of 1,530 activity episodes, generalized estimating equation models were developed to examine the relationship between older people’s socioeconomic background, activity participation, urban environment characteristics, and their feelings of happiness and calmness. Results show that older people’s daily life satisfaction is affected by the emotions they experienced throughout the day. In particular, a higher level of happiness was associated with socializing, leisure, and recreation activities taking place outside of the immediate neighborhood, and calmness was best achieved during passive relaxation and resting activities within the residential neighborhood. Furthermore, characteristics of the environment at activity locations are statistically significant in explaining momentary well-being. The findings support the planning for age-friendly cities and communities through encouraging older people to engage in activities outside their residential neighborhoods and designing activity locations with more leisure facilities, lower road density, and higher exposure to water bodies.

Assessment of the potential of theme parks for the socio-economic development of the region

Parks have become widespread and have a significant impact on the culture of the population, regional development, the economy, as well as on the dynamics of social processes. The potential of theme parks in the context of regional development was assessed. As criteria for evaluation, we used open data from statistical collections on the subject of the study through the application of the expert assessment method. Experts ranked by importance the indicators for assessing the potential of theme parks. Each measure was scored on a 1-to-5 scale Available statistics by study topic were grouped as follows: theme park infrastructure; leisure facilities; services offered in the park; Internet provision; organized leisure activities; staffing; financial terms. The parks of Lipetsk, Moscow and Vladimir regions have high potential, at the end of the rating are the parks of Tambov, Kostroma and Smolensk regions.

Evaluating 15-minute walkable life circles for the senior: a case study of Jiande, China

ABSTRACT Walking is the primary travel mode for daily errands, leisure, and accessing local services, particularly for most seniors. Sufficient and diverse facilities within walking distance help improve seniors’ well-being. Countries today face the challenge of providing enough facilities for more seniors and adopt some possible solutions, such as China’s 15-minute community life circle. Focused on Jiande, a medium-sized city in southeast China, we propose an assessment framework with three dimensions: availability, diversity, and balance among medical, living, and leisure facilities. Using GIS network analysis, this study reveals disparities in facility provision at the household-level between earlier and newer developed urban areas, which are closely related to geographical factors and gated communities. This is common in Chinese cities, suggesting the cumulative effects of urban development sequences. To alleviate and prevent serious service inequity, we propose the following two strategies to achieve an equally walkable city: increasing landscape services to overcome geographical obstacles and implementing open-gated community strategies. Furthermore, the limitations of relying solely on big data to calculate walking routes were noted. This diagnostic framework for assessing city environments for seniors is straightforward yet comprehensive and potentially promotes cooperation between planning professionals, policymakers, and the public.

Leisure Culture of Urban Residents in Khakassia in the 1930s.

The main types of leisure activities in the region are considered. Leisure culture was based on upbringing a “new Soviet man” and was aimed at acquainting residents with cultural events. The organization of leisure time, based on the ideas of socialism, has affected all segments of the population without age restrictions. The reconstruction of leisure culture in the era of industrialization is an urgent research for further study of the history of Soviet culture and its consequences in the post-Soviet period. The purpose of the article is to consider the process of introducing the Soviet model of leisure culture among the citizens of Khakassia in the 1930s. The principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency, as well as historical-systemic and retrospective methods were used in the work. The primary objectives of successful industrialization were to increase the educational and professional level of the local population. In non-production activities, great importance was attached to political education and indoctrination of citizens. Local authorities have managed to make some progress in organizing and conducting events aimed at the cultural, intellectual and physical development of urban residents. With regard to the younger generation, emphasis was placed on education based on the collectivist principles. Education and physical development became one of the priority forms of youth leisure. For the first time in the region, local authorities began to organize measures to improve the population’s health. Along with the obvious successes, shortcomings in the urban leisure culture were identified. The main difficulties in organizing and conducting cultural events were insufficient funding and lack of material resources. The poor condition of leisure facilities and the quality of their work prevented the successful improvement of urban residents’ cultural level. Initially, cultural events, organized by local authorities took into account the national specifics of the region, but gradually, facing current requirements, collectivist principles and ideas of upbringing a “new Soviet man” began to dominate in urban residents’ leisure culture. Learning from past experience is necessary for the successful implementation of modern state policy in the field of culture.

Post Utilization of the Venues of the 31st World University Summer Games

This study explores the post-game utilization of venues at the 31st Summer Universiade and assesses respondents’ satisfaction with venue services. The study found that although large-scale sports events such as the Summer Universiade are held in China, the issue of venue utilization after the games has become an urgent problem that needs to be solved. Although a lot of manpower and material resources have been invested in the construction of modern sports venues, they often only focus on the requirements during the event and ignore the operation and utilization of the venues after the game. In this context, through a survey and analysis of 278 respondents, this study found that venue infrastructure and recreational and leisure facilities scored higher, but other aspects such as venue facilities, accessibility, service personnel, catering services, etc. scored lower Low. Respondent satisfaction is positively correlated with gender, but not significantly correlated with other demographic characteristics such as age, education, occupation, etc. In social services, product appearance is positively evaluated, but functionality and reliability are not. Finally, the study found that only reliability and transportation accessibility were positively related to satisfaction, emphasizing the important impact of transportation on venue reliability. In summary, this study provides important reference value for solving the post-match utilization issues of large-scale sports event venues. It is recommended that while improving service levels and facility quality, strengthen the function and reliability of social services and pay attention to transportation accessibility, to improve the satisfaction of using the venue after the game.

Исследование взаимосвязи между туристическими потребностями российских путешественников и культурными ресурсами провинции Цзянсу

Stable ties have been formed between Russia and China in the field of tourism. Jiangsu Province in China is characterized by a high level of development in the recreational sector for travelers and is rich in cultural and tourist resources. In 2021, the region set the goal of becoming a “world-renowned tourist destination”, meaning a sought-after destination for travelers from various countries. While developing in this regard, the province has demonstrated significant growth in the number of accepted guests from other countries in recent years, however, Russians among them constitute a minority. The article aims to examine the tourist motivation of Russian travelers when visiting China and identify the cultural and resource advantages of Jiangsu Province that could attract them to the region. Three aspects of Russians’ travel preferences are noted – the unique culture of the destination, budget-friendly shopping and high comfort for vacationers. It is concluded that adapting the tourism industry of Jiangsu Province to cater to the preferences of Russian tourists presents an opportunity to increase tourist arrivals from Russia. Strategies focusing on promoting cultural attractions, enhancing shopping experiences, and improving leisure facilities can contribute to attracting more Russian tourists to the region, thereby bolstering tourism growth and economic development.

Experiences of older adults leisure-time physical activity in aquatic and leisure facilities

ABSTRACT For older adults, being physically active is positively associated with various health benefits. Despite the positive benefits of leisure-time physical activity, most older adults within Australia do not participate in physical activity at a level to generate health benefits. Aquatic and leisure facilities are important infrastructure for supporting leisure-time physical activity with local governments in Australia investing significant public funds into their development and re-development. Little is currently known regarding the experiences of older adults in these facilities. Guided by a socio-ecological approach and drawing on a qualitative methodology, this study aimed to explore the experiences of older adults (n = 20, M = 73 years of age) using aquatic and leisure facilities to better understand how this setting might be more effectively utilized to support older adult leisure-time physical activity. Multilayered analysis revealed that the social cultural environment including social networks and the behaviour setting including location and having multiple leisure-time physical activity options, assisted in supporting participation. While social norms in the perceived environment detracted from older adult’s experience. Among other recommendations, aquatic and leisure facilities could consider implementing a comprehensive word of mouth strategy into the marketing framework and generate awareness of the broad social opportunities available.

Spatio Temporal Variations of Ridehailing Use on Campus Travel in Surabaya City, Indonesia

Surabaya, one of Indonesia’s most densely populated cities, faces the challenge of massive urbanization and heavy traffic congestion. The city’s population of over three million, coupled with high mobility, has led to a surge in motorized vehicles, especially private cars. This is a direct consequence of the growth and development of the city. The prevalence of ride-hailing services in Surabaya has emerged as a common phenomenon, offering a solution to the rising demand for transportation services. By embracing ride-hailing services, the public has transitioned from traditional modes of transportation to digitally enabled, more convenient alternatives. From a spatial perspective, understanding the role of geographical factors is crucial in predicting ride-hailing trends. This research employs the Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR) method to analyze the factors influencing ride-hailing demand for students commuting to and from their campuses during different periods. Primary data collection is conducted through questionnaires to gather information about travel characteristics such as distance, time, cost, and frequency. Secondary data sources include data related to road density (arterial, collector, local roads), density, destination accessibility, diversity (land-use mix entropy), and transit access (bus stops and stations). The findings reveal significant variables influencing variations in ride-hailing demand for student commuters in Surabaya based on periods. These include travel characteristics (cost/time/distance), design (neighborhood road density), destination accessibility (tourist attractions, sports and leisure facilities, cultural and educational services, and commercial, and residential density), as well as transit access at bus stops and stations.

Le Club Alpin Français et les Glénans: Nature Conservation in French Mountaineering and Water Sports Associations, 1950–1990

Sports associations have a special relationship with natural landscapes. In the second half of the twentieth century, a number of organizations positioned themselves as defenders of the natural environment against the development of tourism and sports leisure facilities. They attempted to tackle the problem of over-equipment of natural areas. This research is based on a study of two outdoor institutions, the Centre Nautique des Glénans (CNG) and the Club Alpin Français (CAF). Despite their different pasts and proposed activities, both have been involved in landscape and environmental protection throughout their history. This can be seen in the way both associations integrate their facilities into the landscape, as well as in the work they do to raise their members’ awareness of environmental preservation as part of their sporting activities.

해양·레저 관광지 선택속성의 차이와 행동의도에 있어 지역음식 관여도의 조절효과에 관한 연구

This study was conducted for visitors to Busan and Yeosu to find out what moderating effect and selection attribute the local food's involvement in the selection attribute of marine tourist destinations has on the intention of action. As a result of the study, first, as a result of comparing the difference between the visited areas for the selection attribute of marine tourist destinations in Hypothesis 1, it was found that there were significant differences in leisure facilities, convenience facilities, and food. Second, in the relationship between the selection attribute of marine tourist destinations and the involvement of local foods, convenience facilities and food were found to have an effect, and environment and leisure facilities were rejected. Third, in the relationship between the selection attribute of marine tourist destinations and the intention of action, it was found that environment, leisure facilities, and food had an effect, and convenience facilities were rejected.