Park Environment Research Articles

Development and evaluatıon of the Turkısh mobıle real-noıse speech dıscrımınatıon test

BackgroundWhile there is a list of monosyllabic words available for use in speaking tests in our country, the list of sentences is limited. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the mobile application we developed by creating a list of 4-word sentences that are frequently encountered in daily life, well-known, and spectrally balanced, to be used in speech tests in children aged 8–12 with normal hearing. A total of 50 participants, 25 girls (mean age 9.56 ± 1.56) and 25 boys (mean age 10.60 ± 1.55) with normal hearing, aged 8–12, were included in the study. Familiarity was evaluated by listening to a list of 200 sentences consisting of 4-word sentences to 70 children in 7 geographical regions of Turkey, and the sentences that 80% of the children did not understand were excluded. A list of 60 balanced sentences was determined by performing spectral and coherence analysis of the sentences. The recording of each sentence at 80 dB, 60 dB, and 40 dB intensity levels, respectively, increased in 5 dB steps between the − 10/ + 10 signal-to-noise ratio value and was combined separately with 3 different environmental noises (classroom, shopping mall, amusement park) and uploaded to the developed mobile application.ResultsFor all participants, speech comprehension scores at 80 dB, 60 dB, and 40 dB sound intensity were lowest in the amusement park environment. Speech comprehension scores are lowest in noise levels of 40 dB in amusement park and shopping mall environments. Speech comprehension scores are lowest in noise levels of 60 dB in the classroom environment. There is a statistically significant difference between ambient noises (p < 0.05). When male and female participants are compared, it is seen that male participants’ comprehension scores in noise in the shopping mall environment are higher than female participants. There is a statistically significant difference between genders (p < 0.05).ConclusionWhen the speech in noise tests developed in the literature are examined, even though the word lists are equalized with the phonemic equalization method, they do not reflect the reality of daily life. The Turkish Mobile Speech Discrimination in Real Noise 4-Word Sentence Test that we have developed will contribute to the literature. It is recommended that future research compare the results by adding different ambient noises.

The Impact of Park Environmental Characteristics and Visitor Perceptions on Visitor Emotions from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Assessing the perception of urban parks and understanding the relationship between environmental characteristics and conflicts in park usage are crucial for the design and management of urban parks. However, quantifying perceptions of parks in large spaces poses challenges, and different regional cultures also exhibit variations in park usage. Therefore, this study aims to explore from a cross-cultural perspective how the environmental characteristics and perceptions of parks affect visitors' emotions. This research collected online comment data from Weibo check-ins in Shanghai and tweets in London between 2022 and 2023. It applied natural language processing (NLP) technology using SnowNLP for sentiment semantic keyword extraction, identifying the sentiment index of each data entry to quantify visitors' sentiments towards urban parks in Shanghai and London. Simultaneously, street view panoramas were obtained for semantic segmentation using the SegNet model and ADE20K to quantify spatial perceptions as independent variables. On this basis, we used nonlinear regression models and MGWR models to explore the relationship between visitors' sentiment values in parks and the park environment. The results showed that walkability in Shanghai was found to more easily bring positive sentiments to visitors, while visitors in London paid more attention to imageability. Walkability, accessibility, and imageability are of the same importance in Shanghai and London, but the correlation and emphasis of visitor perceptions differ, indicating potential conflicts in park usage among different user groups in the two cities' urban parks. Overall, our study offers differentiated planning suggestions that can provide information for urban design decisions, ultimately contributing to the improvement of human well-being.

Perceptual assessment of urban park audio-visual stimuli a comparison between Italian and Chinese groups

Previous research demonstrated a preference for natural auditory stimuli over human-made sounds in urban park environments. However, little attention has been given to the perceived dimensions of these sounds and their consistency across diverse cultural groups. The present study aimed at revealing possible culture differences among visual (Green, Square, Color) and auditory (Nature, Music, Anthropic) elements in urban parks. Eighty participants from both Chinese and Italian groups were administered a questionnaire to emotionally assess the stimuli. The differences in emotional salience were found across both sensory inputs. For the visual inputs, Green parks were perceived as more pleasant than Colorful parks, and the latter were more pleasant than Square parks, indicating the more natural the setting, the more restorative the effects. An important finding refers to the cross-culture consistency of the preferences. For the auditory inputs in urban parks, although both components of emotional salience were cross-culture consistent, some specific differences emerged.

PrivacyLens: On-Device PII Removal from RGB Images using Thermally-Enhanced Sensing

Internet-connected cameras support many useful home monitoring and health applications. However, these same cameras indiscriminately capture sensitive and Personally Identifiable Information (PII), limiting their acceptance in certain settings, such as the home. Prior works removed Region of Interest (ROI) to secure images and improve privacy. However, the methods that rely solely on RGB information to find persons are susceptible to environmental and lighting conditions, causing them to fail and leak PII. From our deployment study, nearly half of the images containing persons had a PII leakage when using RGB-only methods. Furthermore, ROI removal is often performed off-device, requiring the server performing these operations to be trustworthy. This work presents the PrivacyLens system, where with the addition of thermal sensing, our system has a significantly enhanced ability to find persons in RGB images and video and efficiently remove them on the device before any data is stored or transmitted, all while staying under typical IoT power constraints. From our aforementioned deployment study in an office-building atrium, family home, and outdoor park environment, the PrivacyLens prototype effectively removes PII with a sanitization rate of 99.1%. Additionally, PrivacyLens can use its embedded GPU to generate on-device features for downstream CV/ML tasks, as shown in three illustrative applications, further reducing the collection and storage of PII.

The Influence of Tourist–Environment Fit on Environmental Responsibility Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model

Urban forest parks have emerged as significant tourist destinations thanks to economic expansion and the rise in free time. These parks offer tourists the opportunity to connect with nature. Existing studies have examined the value and importance of urban forest parks for tourists. However, there is a lack of research on the interaction between tourists and the natural environment and its influence on environmental responsibility. This study used structural equation modeling to explore the impact of tourist–environment fit on environmentally responsible behavior and the mediating role of natural empathy and awe in the impact of the above-mentioned relationship. In addition, the moderating role of tourists’ different cultural backgrounds (nationalities) was also analyzed. In this study, 509 valid questionnaires were collected from field surveys in April and May 2024 at the forest park of Lim City, Seoul, Republic of Korea. The data analysis indicates a notable and favorable impact of tourist–environment fit on visitors’ natural empathy, awe, and environmentally responsible behavior. Natural empathy and awe play a mediating role in the influence of tourist–environment fit on environmentally responsible behavior. It suggests that the fit between tourists and the recreational environment of urban forest parks promotes the emergence of empathy and awe and, thus, stimulates tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior. In addition, tourists’ cultural backgrounds play a moderating role in the influence of natural empathy and awe on environmentally responsible behavior. Compared to Korean tourists, Chinese tourists’ natural empathy and awe strongly influence environmentally responsible behavior compared to Korean tourists. This paper also explores the theoretical progress and practical observations that provide guidance and serve as references for the management and sustainable development of urban forest parks.

Real Environment or Virtual Environment?: Perception Bias Evaluation of Perceived Security in Urban Parks

Urban green spaces, specifically urban parks, contribute to overall human health and well-being. However, physical features of urban green spaces can affect perceived security of its users, ultimately impacting their social life and mental health. Hence, various studies have evaluated perceived security in urban green spaces in virtual and real environment settings. However, studies have not yet evaluated the difference in the perception of perceived security and other physical environmental variables of urban green spaces across virtual and real environment-based methods. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that perception bias can exist across both methodologies. Since Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a well-established framework in the field, this study investigates the difference in perceived security across methods using the virtual and real environment in urban parks, using a CPTED classification. Fifteen urban parks were video graphed during the day and night. The study collected 524 and 930 responses from real and virtual environment settings, respectively. The results show that, regardless of the stimulus type, all CPTED variables are significantly correlated with perceived security; however, surveillance, maintenance, and activity support are strongly correlated with perceived security in virtual rather than real environments. Perceptions of territoriality, access control and target hardening significantly differ across both methods. Regardless of user type, PS levels are higher in a real environment. The number of park users affects perceived security more in virtual environments. However, the relative importance of CPTED variables in predicting perceived security is similar in both methods. Future research scholars can benefit from this study by understanding user perception patterns of urban parks in virtual and real environments. Similarly, the study results will guide them in creating virtual and real spaces catering to users’ perceptions. The study's findings can also support future virtual environment-based projects by accounting for potential perception biases when translating results to real environment settings. Further, landscape architects can leverage this research to enhance the design and development of urban parks. From the methodological perspective, this study is applicable to various perception-based studies that can aim to evaluate virtual and real environment-based differences.

Predicting the impact of integrated audio-visual environments on perceived restorative benefits across different park types: A field study based on seven parks in Hangzhou, China

The human perception of environments is a complex mechanism, influenced not only by visual and auditory stimuli and their perceptual outcomes, but also by personal characteristics, site types, and other factors that affect people's restorative experiences. However, there is little research that treats it as a complete systemic phenomenon to reveal its integrated impact. We surveyed 1161 visitors in seven urban parks in Hangzhou, China, and collected information on audio-visual stimuli. Using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis, we initially examined the comprehensive impact of acoustic factors, non-acoustic factors, and individual characteristic variables on perceived restorativeness. Subsequently, we studied the effects of different park types on the constructed multivariate comprehensive model. The results confirm that the presence of different types of sound sources within landscape features can impact the auditory affective quality dimension, which in turn affects visitors' perceived restorative experiences. In addition, the reported mediating pathways revealed that visual elements related to nature, by providing high-quality visual landscapes, enhance the pleasantness of soundscapes and yield greater restorative benefits in park environments. A new finding of the study was that, although the eventfulness of the soundscape negatively affects perceived restorativeness, the presence of high-quality visual landscapes in the environment can compensate for this deficiency. Further multi-group analysis results show that landscape features and visual perceptual quality indirectly influence perceived restorativeness through the auditory affective quality dimension, resulting in varied correlations across two types of park. Moreover, the pleasantness of soundscapes consistently has a significant effect on perceived restorativeness in both types of parks; however, in parks oriented towards activity, the eventfulness dimension of soundscapes does not significantly affect perceived restorativeness. Lastly, the influence of landscape features on perceived restorativeness, mediated by types of sound sources, is both direct and indirect, leading to diverse correlations across different park environments. These detailed findings and guidelines for audio-visual interaction design will aid in the planning and development of urban soundscapes.

Research on Carbon Dioxide Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Urban Green Spaces under Different Vegetation Spatial Layout Morphologies

Urban green spaces (UGSs) are considered an important natural approach for improving urban climatic conditions, promoting sustainable urban development, and advancing the global “Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality” targets. Previous studies have found that different vegetation spatial morphologies significantly impact the capacity to obstruct and absorb CO2, but it is not yet well understood which morphology can retain and absorb more CO2. This study takes Nantong Central Park as an example and conducts a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) carbon flow simulation for CO2 under different vegetation spatial morphologies to identify their CO2 retention and absorption effects. First, the carbon sink benefits of elements such as “vegetation, soil, and wetlands” within the park were calculated, and the elements with the highest carbon sink benefits were identified. Then, the park was divided into carbon welcoming zones, carbon flow zones, and carbon shadow zones for carbon flow simulation with the highest carbon sink benefits. The results show that in the carbon welcome area, the one-block long fan-shaped plant community with a spatial density of 40 m thickness can best meet the requirements of absorption and induction of a small amount of carbon dioxide, with the smallest air vortex and uniform distribution of carbon dioxide in the surrounding area. In the carbon flow area, combined with the visual effect, the planting pattern of 6 m spacing herringbone combined with natural structure was adopted, which has a good carbon dioxide blocking and absorption capacity. In the carbon-shaded area, a herringbone planting pattern with a total width of 40 m and a base angle of 60° was chosen, which had the strongest hindrance and absorption capacity. Urban park environment optimization can use Fluent simulation to analyze the flow of carbon dioxide between different elements affected by wind dynamics at the same time. Based on the results, the form, layout, and spatial distance are adjusted and optimized. This study can better guide the spatial layout of vegetation and contribute to the realization of the goal of “carbon peak and carbon neutrality”.

Ecosystem Services and Public Perception of Green Infrastructure from the Perspective of Urban Parks: A Case Study of Luoyang City, China

As one form of urban green infrastructure, city parks provide essential ecosystem services and serve as a vital link connecting citizens with natural ecosystems. The public, as the primary beneficiaries of urban park ecosystem services, plays a crucial role in guiding the improvement and development trends of urban park planning. Most existing studies assess the comprehensive value of green spaces from a macro scale, with few focusing on the cultural and regulatory ecosystem services of urban parks and public perception of these services at the park level. This study targets 11 typical urban parks in Luoyang City, collecting 771 samples through field mapping and surveys. It analyzes users’ socio-demographic characteristics, perception abilities, usage preferences, and service satisfaction, linking these subjective factors with objective elements of the park environment, such as fitness and recreational facilities. The results indicate that respondents with knowledge of ecosystem services are better able to evaluate and understand services such as air pollution reduction and noise reduction in parks, while those without such knowledge tend to focus more on services that they can intuitively perceive, such as biodiversity conservation and microclimate regulation. Additionally, the middle-income group exhibits a higher level of awareness of park ecosystem services, which depends on their active social participation. The findings of this study suggest that enhancing public understanding of ecosystem services through environmental education is key to improving the quality of urban ecosystems.

Occurrence, distribution and risk assessment of phthalate esters in dust deposited in the outdoor environment of Yazd industrial park using Monte Carlo simulation

In this study, the distribution of eight phthalate esters (PAEs), namely (dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP)) were examined across fifteen sampling stations in Yazd industrial Park. All the PAEs in dust deposited in the outdoor environment were analyzed using a Gas-mass chromatography (GC-MS/MS) device. Both probabilistic and deterministic approaches were utilized to assess the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks for adult occupational population groups. These risks were associated with three exposure pathways: inhalation, ingestion, and dermal exposure to six phthalates in the dust samples. The findings revealed, among the fifteen sampling stations, highest and lowest concentrations of the PAEs in dust deposited in the outdoor environment were observed in S8 and S6, with BEHP (326.21 ± 4.35) μg/g and DMP (0.00 ± 0.02) μg/g, respectively. The total hazard index (HI) values were below one in all samples, indicating that the combined non-carcinogenic health risk from exposure to phthalates via inhalation, ingestion, and dermal pathways is within acceptable levels in each studied area. The total cancer risk (CR) values for BBP across all exposure routes were consistently low, with magnitudes ranging from 10- x 10−15to 10 x 10−11. The order of cancer risk from phthalate exposure in outdoor environments was ingestion > dermal > inhalation. The sensitivity analysis (SA) results indicated that the influential parameters in the carcinogenic risk in adult occupational population groups were concentration for inhalation and dermal pathways, as well as ingestion rate for the ingestion pathway. The result of this study provides new insight in to PAEs pollution and risk assessments related to the dust deposited in the outdoor environment of industrial Park. Furthermore, this finding is beneficial to the controlling the exposure and promoting steps to reduce PAEs contamination and manage health in the industrial area.

Assessing the relationship between urban park spatial features and physical activity levels in Residents: A spatial analysis Utilizing drone remote sensing

The park environment is crucial for promoting physical activity (PA). While numerous studies show that park environments influence PA behavior, inconsistencies remain, likely due to varing research methods and parks types. This study employs a fixed spatial grid method to systematically sample four representative parks in Tianjin, China. High-precision orthophoto map (DOM) data from drones provided detailed environmental attributes (like tree canopy area, lawn area, and paved area) and PA characteristics (number of participants, intensity, diversity). The results show: 1) Cluster analysis grouped 1839 park grids into 12 environmental attribute integrations, each correlating with different PA characteristics. “Tree-lined jogging corridors” and “Large sports field areas” exhibit the highest PA intensity, while “Entrance plazas”, “Central plazas,” and “Open sports spaces” have the highest number of participants and PA diversity. 2) Correlation analysis shows that various environmental attributes, including Lawn Area, and Paved Area, are significantly correlated with PA characteristics. 3）Random Forest analysis indicates the key attributes are the paved area for the number of PA participants and PA diversity, and specialized sports facilities area for PA intensity. These findings support urban green space planning and highlight the importance of better park environments for public health.

Estimating the predictability of physical activities in urban parks based on landscape morphology—empirical analysis based on 10 urban parks in Nanjing, China

As the urban population continues growing and residents prioritise the green and healthy aspects of cities, urban parks are facing unprecedented pressure in terms of usage. Through physical activity survey and landscape morphology qualifying from urban parks in Nanjing, China, this study conducted predictive analysis on 5 activity classification patterns and 14 specific physical activities, by employing random forest and gradient-boosting tree classification models. Our findings indicate that classification based on gender and outdoor activity items exhibited superior average prediction accuracy. Moreover, among the 14 activities, better prediction results were obtained for activities such as rest, collective, female, children, and intimate activities. This research explores the potential for extending studies from the correlation between activity and environment to prediction, offering valuable insights to enhance the interactive analysis between park landscape design and environmental behaviour. Ultimately, it aims to promote the efficient utilisation of urban park environments.

Metagenomics reveals the potential transmission risk of resistomes from urban park environment to human

Urban parks play a significant role in urban ecosystems and are strongly associated with human health. Nevertheless, the biological contamination of urban parks – opportunistic pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) – has been poorly reported. Here, metagenomic and 16 S rRNA sequencing methods were used to study the distribution and assembly of opportunistic pathogens and ARGs in soil and water from nine parks in Lanzhou city, and further compared them with local human gut microbiomes to investigate the potential transmission risk. Our results revealed that the most important type of drug resistance in urban parks was multidrug resistance, with various resistance mechanisms. Approximately half of ARGs were shared between human gut and park environment, and it was noteworthy that cross-species transmission might exist among some high-risk ARGs, such as mepA and mdtE, with a significant enrichment in human gut. Metagenomic binning uncovered several bacterial genomes carrying adjacent ARGs, MGEs, and virulence genes, indicating a possibility that these genes may jointly transfer among different environments, particularly from park environment to human. Our results provided a reference point for the management of environmental pollutants in urban parks.

The Influence of Perceptions of the Park Environment on the Health of the Elderly: The Mediating Role of Social Interaction

The aging population has brought increased attention to the urgent need to address social isolation and health risks among the elderly. While previous research has established the positive effects of parks in promoting social interaction and health among older adults, further investigation is required to understand the complex relationships between perceptions of the park environment, social interaction, and elderly health. In this study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine these relationships, using nine parks in Wuhan as a case study. The findings indicate that social interaction serves as a complete mediator between perceptions of the park environment and elderly health (path coefficients: park environment on social interaction = 0.45, social interaction on health = 0.46, and indirect effect = 0.182). Furthermore, the results of the multi-group SEM analysis revealed that the mediating effect was moderated by the pattern of social interaction (the difference test: the friend companionship group vs. the family companionship group (Z = 1.965 &gt; 1.96)). Notably, family companionship had a significantly stronger positive impact on the health of older adults compared to friend companionship. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms through which urban parks support the physical and mental well-being of the elderly and provide a scientific foundation for optimizing urban park environments.

Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance for Mobile Robots Based on 2D Differential Euclidean Signed Distance Field Maps in Park Environment

In this paper, a novel and complete navigation system is proposed for mobile robots in a park environment, which can achieve safe and stable navigation as well as robust dynamic obstacle avoidance. The navigation system includes a global planning layer and a local planning layer. The global planner plans a series of way-points using the A* algorithm based on an offline stored occupancy grid map and sends them to the local planner. The local planner incorporates a dynamic obstacle avoidance mechanism. In contrast to existing dynamic obstacle avoidance algorithms based on trajectory tracking, we innovatively construct a two-dimensional Difference ESDF (Euclidean Signed Distance Field) map to represent obstacle motion information. The local planner outputs control actions by scoring candidate paths. A series of simulation experiments and real-world tests are conducted to verify that the navigation system can safely and robustly accomplish navigation tasks. The safety distance of the simulation experiment group with the dynamic obstacle avoidance scoring item added increased by 1.223 compared to the group without the dynamic obstacle avoidance scoring item.

MODIS fPAR products do not reflect in-situ conditions in a tropical dry forest based on wavelet and cross-wavelet transforms

The fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fPAR) plays a pivotal role in determining the carbon flux in ecosystems. Although the MODIS fPAR product has demonstrated effectiveness in the Northern Hemisphere, its validity still needs to be verified in the context of Tropical Dry Forests (TDFs), which constitute 40% of all tropical forests. This study utilized a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) to generate an in-situ Green fPAR dataset at the Santa Rosa National Park Environmental Monitoring Supersite, aiming to validate MODIS fPAR products from 2013 to 2017. This study employs a 2-flux fPAR estimation approach for the in-situ dataset, followed by Savitzky–Golay derivative-based smoothing, univariate-wavelet transforms, and cross-wavelet analysis to compare phenological variables between the in-situ and MODIS fPAR datasets. Our findings reveal a significant temporal disparity between the MODIS fPAR products and ground-based data, with MODIS consistently lagging in detecting the onset of green-up or senescence in TDFs by 18–55 days. However, the annual and inter-seasonal patterns were statistically significant (p < 0.05) and replicated in the MODIS and in-situ datasets. Notably, these patterns deviate during extreme water conditions (droughts and hurricanes), with MODIS underestimating the effects of drought and failing to represent hurricane impact. Furthermore, MODIS fPAR products do not effectively capture small-scale fPAR variations and intra-seasonal differences. Therefore, this study underscores the limited accuracy of MODIS fPAR observations in the context of TDFs. Consequently, caution is warranted when relying on MODIS fPAR products to monitor rapid phenological changes in Tropical Dry Forests.

Developing the age-friendly community parks survey for older adults: Assessing aging environment

Many scholars have developed tools to assess the public green environment and examine the impact of parks on people's health and recreational activities. However, environmental reviews often overlook the vulnerability of older adults, and an age-friendly community parks survey (AF-CPS) is lacking. This study developed a comprehensive assessment system, the AF-CPS. The research process was divided into three phases covering eight dimensions: a. humanistic environment (e.g., participation in the green space environment and in cultural exchange); b. infrastructure (e.g., edutainment, medical, and sports facilities); c. recreation comfort (e.g., atmospheric conditions, noise environment, trail comfortableness); d. site planning (e.g., spatial layout, activity space diversity); e. environmental quality (e.g., plant richness, latitude of vision); f. barrier-free environment (e.g., barrier-free site identification，barrier-free service facilities and barrier-free functional facilities); g. environmental maintenance (e.g., participation in building policy decisions, landscape maintenance management); and h. security management. The establishment of the evaluation system was based on a literature review. During the verification and modification of the model, an on-site investigation and questionnaire survey were conducted with elderly individuals (60+) in a community park to identify an evaluation system that can be used as a research tool to promote the construction and renewal of an aging-friendly environment in community parks.

Perception of park environment and its impact on aesthetic evaluation

Abstract The synthesis of scientific works highlighted a fundamental difference in the methods and approaches used to investigate the aesthetic qualities of park environments involving respondents. A pivotal methodological question in studying the aesthetic qualities of park environments and their human perception lies in determining the research approach - whether natural or using substitutes such as photographs or virtual simulators. In the context of this study, an analysis was conducted to ascertain the correspondence between the perception of the park environment and the assessment of its aesthetic qualities under different survey conditions. The research established that the influence of park environment features on the aesthetic evaluation of landscapes significantly differs depending on the season and the method of research. Characteristics of the park environment noted by respondents, which are closely related to aesthetic evaluation, are positive associative features defining the overall psycho-emotional impression of the landscape. Seasonal changes in the park environment notably affect the perception of compositional characteristics, especially enhancing aesthetic evaluation during summer surveys conducted directly within the park boundaries. Substantial decrease in aesthetic evaluation is observed due to the mismatch between basic features and respondent preferences, a phenomenon independent of the research method employed.

Evaluation of geological sites in a park environment for the needs of the Bulgarian geoparks, nature parks, and national parks

Evaluation of geological sites in a park environment for the needs of the Bulgarian geoparks, nature parks, and national parks

Exploring the benefits of outdoor activity participation in national parks: a case study of the Peak District National Park, England

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore the role that regular outdoor activity participation in national parks plays in subjective wellbeing (SWB). It also considers the influences on SWB, including the national park environment, resilience-building, coping skills, mental health and stress alleviation. There is a wealth of research on the benefits of outdoor recreation in natural settings, yet studies which specifically examine the impacts of regular activity engagement in national parks are scarcer. Using the Peak District National Park (England) as a case study, fifteen online stakeholder interviews were conducted, probing participants about their outdoor recreation experiences both during and before the onset of the pandemic. Findings suggest that frequent outdoor activity participation in the Park positively influences coping, resilience and subjective wellbeing, and, relatedly, helps to improve mental health, and alleviate stress. These outcomes are valuable for dealing with the vicissitudes of everyday life and in facilitating long term SWB.