Park Professionals Research Articles

Classifying Rural Parks: A Case Study in Iowa

Many park professionals use classification systems to simplify complex park spaces into efficient and manageable descriptions. In the United States, the most common classification systems use park size and service area as determinants of a park’s class. While those variables are important in urban spaces, they often fail to capture the unique realities of rural parks. This can lead to misunderstandings, as rural parks are frequently evaluated, programmed, and planned using urbanor-mative assumptions. To address that gap, this paper proposes a new Iowa Rural Park Classification System (IRPCS) that focuses on park function, a crucial de-terminant of rural park use due to the distances between rural destinations. The development of the IRPCS involved collecting data from 749 recreation spaces across an eight-county study area in central Iowa. This data was then analyzed us-ing iterative decision trees to identify, test, and refine the variables that differenti-ate each park class. While ultimately abandoned due to limitations in flexibility, these decision trees played a valuable role in shaping the final park classes.The IRPCS differentiates rural parks from their urban counterparts by highlight-ing the unique variables and characteristics that make them essential utilities. This focus will spark further research and discussions dedicated to rural parks. Additionally, the IRPCS establishes a rural-specific park lexicon, enabling park managers and planners to discuss and analyze rural parks with greater precision.

Shifting Baselines: Visualizing Climate Change in America’s National Parks

This visual essay highlights four national parks where the impacts of climate change are well-documented and visually compelling (Everglades, Mesa Verde, Joshua Tree, and Mount Rainier). In drawing attention to these visible climate impacts and effectively interpreting the changes in situ, the park service can play a key role in clarifying the issue of climate change for the American public. Park managers and other park professionals have undoubtedly identified locations in their own management units offering similar opportunities to engage visitors in the science of climate change (either through on-site signage or ranger-led programs). The photographs comprising this visual essay, taken over eight weeks of fieldwork from 2017 to 2024, are intended to spark ideas and move the conversation forward.

Social Context of Performance Appraisals in Public Parks and Recreation: A Statewide Study

Well-designed performance appraisals provide a formal evaluation system to measure employees’ contributions to the agency while motivating staff and enhancing productivity levels. Despite their prominence and popularity, performance appraisal systems are often a contentious activity within public park and recreation agencies. Appraisal literature has indicated that many of these frustrations stem from issues such as (1) criteria that is not job related, (2) unclear or confusing rating levels, and/or (3) poorly designed processes and inconsistent implementation techniques. Recent research has also suggested many of these issues might be linked to the social dimensions surrounding the appraisal system. The purpose of this study was to build upon the previous appraisal research in public parks and recreation by exploring the role of two process proximal social context factors (employee participation and supervisor trust) on the utility of the appraisal system. More specifically, the cumulative effects of employee participation at various stages (job analysis, instrument development, appraisal interview, and training related to the appraisal system) and employees’ perceptions of their supervisor on employees’ reactions to their agency’s appraisal system were examined. Analyses indicated supervisor trust and employee participation significantly contributed to public park and recreation professionals’ satisfaction with their appraisal system, satisfaction with their appraisal interview, and their procedural and distributive justice perceptions with their appraisal system. Study findings and implications for management are discussed.

Information Sharing Among Park Professionals: Facilitating Ecological Restoration

Ecological restoration projects in nature preserves are most likely to be effective when those holding different roles within park agencies share information in a complete and timely manner. However, when the information contains sensitive material the transfer of knowledge can become difficult. Anytime sensitive information on topics such as endangered species or cultural artifacts is shared, there is a risk that the information could be used for unethical activities. With the potential for sensitive information to be used with corrupt intent, some park staff members could feel that sharing information might be outside of the best interest of the agency’s mission to protect the ecological and cultural functioning of the nature preserve. Anytime information sharing occurs it is possible that knowledge could be acquired by corrupt actors potentially putting the material resources with the preserve lands at risk of damage. However, if information is not shared it would be a hindrance to ecological restoration projects. To facilitate the sharing of information related to ecological restoration, park agencies with mandates to both provide for human use and preserve ecological conditions need to invest in both technical and social infrastructures. Park agencies generally accumulate information across time in ways that staff members could access it, usually done in informal and decentralized ways. Organizations regularly utilize technical investments in computers and electronic filing to facilitate sharing information by providing the necessary tools. However, research in park management and ecological restoration has not fully explored the social investments that facilitate sharing information. A conceptual framework is developed to explain the relationship between trust, risk, and information sharing in ecological restoration projects within a public park agency. A complementary mixed-methods approach was applied including nine in-person interviews and a survey (n=49; 96% response rate) distributed to all professional staff members of the Forest Preserves of Cook County, Illinois USA (FPCC). Acknowledging the role of information sharing in public park management, the FPCC developed a management information system to secure, transfer, and catalog relevant information for ecological restoration. The FPCC leadership was also aware of the need to invest in improving the social processes involved in information sharing, which led to the motivation for the study. Empirical evidence from the research supports that perceived material risk influenced trust, perceived individual risk, and willingness to information share. The survey findings indicate that when a respondent perceives a high level of risk, trust and information sharing are diminished; the survey findings are further corroborated by participant interviews. The qualitative evidence also gave reason to believe that participants conceived of risk as both a threat to the park resource they manage (ecological) as well as a threat to their professional development (individual). Results indicate that social factors impact intra-organizational information sharing in the context of park management for ecological restoration. The study supports the need for agencies to invest in both social and technical infrastructures when embarking on ecological restoration projects. Subscribe to JPRA

A Historical Geospatial Analysis of Severe Weather Events in Oklahoma State Parks: A Park Management Perspective

The State of Oklahoma, located in the heart of Tornado Alley, frequently experiences severe weather events such as tornadoes, hail, and damaging wind. Weather events such as these inflict injury and, in some cases, death on park visitors as well as damage park infrastructure, amenities, and other natural resources. Park and recreation professionals, especially those in severe weather-prone areas, must prepare for and respond to such events with the appropriate emergency operations and hazard mitigation procedures (National Park Service, 2006; Whitworth & May, 2006). Following the tourism disaster and crisis management frameworks (Faulkner, 2001; Ritchie, 2008), this study focuses on risk analysis and hazard mitigation strategies and implementations applicable to parks and recreation areas. Additionally, this study seeks to remedy the lack of longitudinal historical research by employing geographic information system (GIS)-based approaches to investigate the spatial interaction between severe weather events and state parks. Using geospatial data of tornado, hail, wind, and lightning events from 1950 to 2015, provided by NOAA’s National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, we quantitatively evaluate the potential risk of severe weather on Oklahoma State Parks. GIS-based kernel density estimation was utilized to create interpolated raster surfaces representing accumulated risk (1950-2015) for each type of severe weather event (similar to Dixon et al., 2011). Results show that tornadoes had the most widespread impact on parks in central to north-central regions of Oklahoma. Conversely, the risk posed by hail is more prevalent in parks located in western Oklahoma while parks in northeastern Oklahoma are most affected by severe winds. Parks located in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma have higher chance of lightning strikes. By combining all types of severe weather as a composite dataset, a ‘severe weather risk’ score was assigned to each state park. Natural hazard mitigation strategies and recommendations include allocate operation and maintenance appropriation to severe weather-prone state parks, strengthen emergency response procedure and training programs, and raise natural hazard awareness through communication and education programs. Although this study emphasizes a state-level administration, these methods are transferable to other scales (i.e., national, local) depending on data availability. Conceptual contributions to the tourism disaster and crisis management framework are also discussed.

The promise of a park, recreation, and tourism education in a participatory democracy

We believe the education of future park, recreation, and tourism professionals is incomplete if it does not prepare them for moral leadership in a participatory democracy. We anchor our thinking in Pieper’s Leisure: The Basis of Culture and build our case by revisiting Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind, in which he admonished higher education for not preparing students, regardless of major, for assuming responsibility for their country’s moral character based upon conscientious consideration of civilization’s major philosophical ideas. We then apply Bloom’s criticism to the education of park, recreation, and tourism students. Based on our analysis, we implore educators in our field to live up to their educational promise by embracing service learning and community-engaged learning as critical components of our students’ professional preparation to ready them for civic engagement as well as a career in parks, recreation, and tourism.

Designing and Staging High-Quality Park and Recreation Experiences Using Co-Creation

While the field of park and recreation has long been focused on designing and delivering quality leisure experiences, the concept of experiences has become increasingly salient across almost all industries over the last two decades. From the time that Pine and Gilmore initially proposed the concept of the experience economy in a 1998 Harvard Business Review article, experiences have become a primary driver of the economy (Pine & Gilmore, 1999; 2011). If an organization is not providing experiences perceived by consumers as high quality and desirable, the organization most likely will not survive. A core concept associated with the design of experiences is co-creation—a collaborative process of value creation between participants and providers (Payne, Storbacka, & Frow 2008; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004a). This paper examines the concept of co-creation and its relevance for the field of park and recreation administration. This is accomplished by introducing a three-phased model of co-creation that spans over the three phases of leisure (i.e., anticipation, participation, and reflection) and discussing co-creation’s applicability to park and recreation settings through a descriptive case study. We define co-creation as active participation, dialogue, and collaboration between participants, producers, and a variety of other stakeholders throughout the process of designing, participating in, and reflecting on an experience (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004b; Rossman & Schlatter, 2015). Based on the work of Duerden, Ward, and Freeman (2015), we propose a three-phased model of co-creation, which includes co-design during the anticipation phase of an experience, co-actualization during the participation phase of the experience, and co-curation during the reflection phase of the experience. This paper provides specific examples of the different forms of co-creation during each experience phase. This paper also introduces the DART (dialogue, access, risk assessment, and transparency) model of co-creation (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2002; 2004a; 2004c) and provides examples of its applicability for park and recreation professionals. This paper concludes with a case study exemplifying how co-creation and its associated concepts can be used to design a swim program experience. Although park and recreation professionals have a long history of designing and delivering experiences, they risk seeing their offerings become obsolete if they do not find ways to stay on the forefront of the experience economy. As more organizations come to view themselves as experience providers, the competition for people’s time and resources will increase. We hope the insights in this paper will help park and recreation professionals embrace and apply the concept of co-creation in their experience offerings. Subscribe to JPRA

A Study of Public Park and Recreation Professionals’ Career Bridge Employment Intentions

The number of professionals retiring from public parks and recreation agencies is increasing. This growing number of retirees raises significant challenges (and potential opportunities) for these agencies as they manage this loss of institutional capital. Anecdotal evidence suggests that while some professionals elect to pursue a traditional retirement route by transitioning from full-time employment to full-time retirement, a growing number are choosing to return to the workforce after they retire from their career jobs. Referred to as “bridge” employment experiences, these post-retirement jobs act as transitions between long-term career positions and total retirement. These bridge employment experiences have been found to range from part-time work, self-employment, and temporary employment to full-time employment. Despite these trends, little work has been done to explore the bridge employment phenomenon within the recreation profession. The purpose of this study was to explore possible predictors of public park and recreation professionals’ career bridge employment intentions. Social Cognitive Theory was selected as the theoretical framework for the study to determine the impact of three individual factors (financial preparedness, job satisfaction, physical health) and three environmental factors (social retirement anxiety, career attachment, and professional development opportunities) on career bridge employment intentions. Two hundred and twenty-seven public park and recreation professionals who anticipated retiring within the next 10 years and were currently employed on a full-time basis completed an online survey that was used to measure the variables of interest. Analyses indicated career bridge employment intentions were influenced by professionals’ financial preparedness, social retirement anxiety, career attachment, and professional development opportunities. Interestingly, job satisfaction and physical health perceptions were not found to significantly impact career bridge employment intentions. Overall, the findings suggest that there is a career transition and socialization process that arises as professionals near the retirement phase of their career. The study’s findings identified a few areas of concern and/or opportunities for professionals and their agencies. First, professionals who perceived to be less financially prepared for retirement or who had anxieties about disrupting long-standing friendships and support networks within the workplace were more likely to pursue bridge employment. Secondly, the findings suggest that professionals with stronger career attachment and who were more pleased with the quality and quantity of professional development opportunities were more interested in bridge employment. Subscribe to JPRA

More than “Just Green Enough”: Helping Park Professionals Achieve Equitable Greening and Limit Environmental Gentrification

Cities around the world are increasingly developing iconic parks and greenways in historically marginalized neighborhoods to provide social, health, and environmental benefits to their residents. Yet some iconic green space projects trigger increases in housing prices in nearby areas, resulting in the influx of wealthy newcomers and the displacement of the lowest income residents, in a process referred to as environmental gentrification. In this context, park and recreation managers face a dilemma: How should they integrate green spaces in low-income areas when those efforts might ultimately displace the vulnerable residents they are designed to serve? To resolve this dilemma, scholars have proposed the concept of “just green enough” to describe sustainability-oriented initiatives that seek to promote green space development while keeping low-income residents in place. Yet we know very little about what this “just green enough” approach means for park and recreation management or how it relates to the three key components of environmental justice (distributional, procedural, and interactional). To address this gap, we explore strategies that park and recreation managers are employing to combat environmental gentrification. Using comparative case studies of park projects in Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia, we integrate primary interview and focus group data with information from secondary sources (e.g., recreation management plans, land use plans, housing policies) to search for solutions that can work across a range of diverse contexts. We advance the “just green enough” approach by presenting four sets of strategies that park and recreation professionals can use to achieve environmentally just outcomes when working on new or renovated parks in marginalized communities. First, park agencies need to partner with urban planners to establish or preserve a sufficient number of affordable housing units near new or renovated parks. Second, park agencies need to ensure that their leadership staff and on-the-ground employees reflect the ethnoracial diversity of the communities around new or renovated parks. Third, community outreach activities for new or renovated parks should adequately engage people of different races/ethnicities, ages, and incomes, and prepare the most marginalized people to meaningfully participate. Fourth, new and renovated parks and their recreation programs should welcome and engage longtime residents, and not just wealthier newcomers. Together, these strategies outline a more than “just green enough” approach that helps park professionals achieve equitable greening by (1) ensuring marginalized populations get just as much, if not more, access to quality green space as privileged groups, and (2) protecting longtime local residents’ ability to stay in place and thrive in the face of gentrification. Subscribe to JPRA

We are the political landscape – Governance in European protected areas. Report on the tutorial held at the EUROPARC Conference 2016

EUROPARC Conference is the largest gathering of park professionals in Europe. Every year the EUROPARC Federation members, partners and friends meet to discuss and debate the importance of protected areas and to share news, experiences and ideas. The programme of the EUROPARC Conference 2016 was designed to explore in many different ways the topic We are parks! and examine the role of the people in parks – from fund raising to governance models. The set-up of the conference offered short 2-hour sessions that allowed exploring some detailed aspects of the governance and management of parks. In these sessions inputs from selected case studies were followed by the opportunity to discuss current issues, challenges and opportunities on the selected topics.

Trends in Local Park and Recreation Department Finances and Staffing in the Early Twenty-First Century

This paper is a replication of a 2003 study by Crompton and Kaczynski, analyzing local park and recreation agency financing and staffing trends. Whereas the original analysis examined data from 1964–1965 to 1999–2000, this paper covers financial data from 2000–2001 to 2013–2014, and employment data from 2000–2001 to 2014–2015. In light of the housing crisis, Great Recession, and subsequent economic recovery, the early twenty-first century provides a compelling backdrop for this replication analysis. Although the American economy experienced smaller economic downturns during the original study period, the recession that occurred during the current period was the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s. Utilizing census data, the current analysis monitors four areas identified in the original analysis: i) self-generated revenue, ii) operating expenditures, iii) capital expenditures, and iv) employment. Crompton and Kaczynski (2003) postulated that based on unprecedented annual expenditures, the latter half of the 1990s would eventually be considered the “golden era” of local parks and recreation. Data from the current analysis indicate that high levels of support continued until the Great Recession, which impacted local government spending as a whole, and particularly parks and recreation. In adjusted dollars, total park and recreation agency expenditures fell annually every year in the post-recession period, by more than $6.5 billion from 2007-2008 to 2013-2014. Park and recreation expenditures were reduced by a greater amount relative to competing services, accounting for a smaller proportion of total local government spending. Park capital expenditures were disproportionately cut during this period, falling by more than $5 billion from 2007–2008 to 2013–2014. Self-generated revenue accounted for approximately one-quarter of total, and one-third of operational expenditures by park and recreation agencies, lending support for trends identified in the original analysis. Local park and recreation agencies disproportionately cut full-time positions in response to the economic downturn, with more than 14,000 full-time positions lost in the post-recession period. More than 17,000 part-time positions were added post-recession, indicating an acceleration of the shift away from full-time employment noted by Crompton and Kaczynski (2003). Implications for park professionals and researchers, as well as the need for ongoing trend analysis, are discussed.Subscribe to JPRA

Lessons from the Legends: A Content Analysis of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration’s Legends Videos

This paper reports lessons learned from sampling 68 of 119 videotaped interviews with the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration’s (AAPRA’s) Legends in Parks and Recreation. The videos contain great insight into the history of the organized park and recreation movement in the United States, as well as the administrative, educational, and philosophical positions of its leading administrators and educators. The examination was prompted by our interest in whether there might be patterns of foresight in the videos that could serve present and future park and recreation professionals. We examined each of the 68 videos in teams of two, searching for common themes. Using a three-phase content analysis, we discerned three broad categories within which to discuss the results: becoming extraordinary, being extraordinary, and serving an extraordinary profession. Within each of the three categories, we also discuss several emerging sub-themes. We conclude the paper by directing the reader to a video link that brings the Lessons from the Legends to life, and discussing educational use of the videos.

English

Globally, landfills are being transformed into other uses because land resources are scarce, property values are increasing, and governments seek to reduce urban blight and adaptively reuse space. Park planners and city managers are likely to find that gauging public perceptions of a landfill-to-park transformation and promoting such sites to potential visitors as highly challenging tasks, but important components of sustainability efforts. A landfill-to-park project currently underway is the transformation of the former Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, New York into Freshkills Park. Understanding supporters of and visitors to the park can inform the implementation of the transformation. The present research draws from consumer behavior, urban geography, and park studies to examine how residents’ place attachment, familiarity with, attitude toward, intent to visit, and support for the site varies by proximity to and experience history with the site. A mail survey to a random sample of Staten Island households was implemented to study early adoption of a former landfill as a recreation site. The survey results showed those living close to the site were more familiar with the new park and had stronger intent to visit once opened, compared to those living further away; a finding consistent with past research. As hypothesized, residents with the least history with the site were found to be less familiar with the site and hold less place identification with Staten Island. Longtime residents, going as far back as the pre-landfill era, were most familiar with the area’s parks and the Fresh Kills site and held the highest place identity with Staten Island. Support for the landfill-to-park transformation was generally positive across all respondent subgroups. Overall, this research shows that proximity and experience history were relevant in understanding area residents’ familiarity with, attitudes toward, support for, and intent to visit the park site. This research is helping New York City planners and recreation managers reach local residents and connect them to the site. Urban park professionals can draw from this research by examining distance from park and length of residency to understand how low levels of support or intent to visit may be related to concerns about recreating at former landfill sites.

Attitudes about urban nature parks: A case study of users and nonusers in Portland, Oregon

Facing shrinking budgets and increasing urban development pressures, natural resource professionals are challenged to ensure urban green spaces remain a planning priority for decision makers. Urban green spaces like nature parks contribute to quality of life by providing physical and psychological benefits, as well as ecosystem services. Urban nature parks that are responsive to public needs will be valued by the public, who will ultimately express their interests through voting. In order for management to be responsive to the public, park professionals need to understand public attitudes about urban nature spaces.This case study used an attitude model developed in social psychology to examine Portland, Oregon users’ and nonusers’ attitudes about city nature parks. Few studies have attempted to capture information from nonusers and users simultaneously. Results from our sample, obtained from a randomly distributed mailback questionnaire, revealed significant attitude differences between users and nonusers.Urban park professionals in Portland can use our results to differentially guide management and outreach for each group. Watching urban wildlife influenced nonuser attitudes, for example, so targeted outreach to nonusers might highlight this activity. Nonusers are especially important to reach given that they represent potential growth in constituency and advocacy. To ensure continued positive experiences among users, management and outreach could appeal to their biocentricism. If Portland's park professionals demonstrate that they are responding to public attitudes, Portland's citizens will feel that they matter to park managers, and can be expected to respond in kind.

Leisure Ethic, Money Ethic, and Occupational Commitment among Recreation and Park Professionals: Does Gender Make a Difference?

We developed a model and investigated the relationship between (1) leisure ethic, money ethic and (2) occupational commitment. We collected data from 397 professionals in the public sector using a stratified random sample of National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) professionals in the USA. Results suggested that females had high leisure ethic, low money ethic, and low continuance commitment. Career tenure was associated with high leisure ethic and all three components of commitment. After controlling for gender and tenure, leisure ethic was positively related to affective commitment; but money ethic was negatively related to affective commitment. Moreover, for males, leisure ethic was positively related to affective commitment; whereas money ethic was negatively related to affective commitment, but positively related to continuance commitment. Males with affective occupational commitment had high leisure ethic and low love of money; those with continuance occupational commitment had high love of money. For females, these results failed to exist. Females do not stay in the profession due to their values and interests in leisure activities. Managers need to develop different strategies to attract, retain, and motivate male and female professionals in the public sector.

Measuring a professional conservation education training program for zoos and wildlife parks in China

Designed and implemented in 2006, the Academy for Conservation Training (ACT) is a conservation education academy modeled after the Association for Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) professional conservation education course. ACT incorporates conservation education best practices utilized by AZA-accredited institutions to provide zoo and wildlife park professionals in China with the skills, knowledge, and tools needed to design, implement, and evaluate effective conservation education programs at their facilities. Initial findings indicate that the ACT model is an effective approach to connect these emerging educators with conservation education best practices. The strongest satisfaction responses in this study were in perceptions of the program preparing the individual for work and in personal development. In terms of the longitudinal survey conducted with ACT graduates after the training, the lowest scoring items were the opportunities to meet other zoo educators in China and the quantity of information provided. The most revealing trend in regards to preparedness in becoming zoo educators was that specific pedagogical skills were those where perceived gain was consistent and strong across all three academies.

Exploring Potential Visitor Response to Climate-Induced Environmental Changes in Canada's Rocky Mountain National Parks

The scientific community and park professionals recognize that climate change could have a substantial impact on the natural landscape of mountain parks worldwide, with important implications for conservation policy and park planning. Little is known however about how tourists may respond to these projected environmental changes. To explore this question in the context of Canada's Rocky Mountain national parks, a visitor survey was administered (n = 809) in two national parks: Banff and Waterton Lakes. The environmental change scenarios constructed for the early and mid-decades of the 21st century were found to have minimal influence on intention to visit. The environmental change scenario for the latter decades, under a high emission climate change scenario, was found to have a negative effect on intention to visit, as 36% of respondents indicated they would visit the parks less often and 25% not at all. Visitors most likely to be negatively affected by climate-induced environmental change were nature-based tourists from overseas, motivated by the opportunity to view mountain landscapes and wildlife. The hitherto largely overlooked conceptual and methodological challenges of understanding how tourists may respond to multidecadal environmental changes induced by global climate change in any tourism setting is also discussed.

Review: Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons without Tragedy by Robert E. Manning

Review: Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons without Tragedy By Robert E. Manning Reviewed by Elery Hamilton-Smith Charles Sturt University, Australia Manning, Robert E. Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons without Tragedy Washington: Island Press, 2007 313pp. pbk. ISBN 13 978-1-55963-105-1. Robert Manning continues to deliver clarity and readability in his excellent review volumes dealing with aspects of outdoor recreation and site management. This volume is well focused upon issues and practices relating to improving or maintaining quality of visitor experience in major parks. It is timely given the current worldwide rise in mass tourism coupled with a declining respect for the environment by tourism managers (Tourtellot 2006). This is certainly the most comprehensive review of theoretical frameworks and supportive research to date. It does justice to the various competing paradigms that have been developed and the extent to which they have been tested through both practical experience and evaluative research. Park managers in the United States and similar park systems will find it invaluable. Little more needs be said of its great quality for this audience. However, it will be of very limited value in many other cultures where park managers and rangers must deal with complex power-sharing systems and cannot simply impose their values and standards upon other stakeholders. In fact, the clarity of Manning's work serves to further highlight the domination of park professionals and the persistence of the Yellowstone Model . In fact, there is much more power sharing developing in traditional park systems today than is recognised in the professional literature. Some managers have been able to respond to this in very creative and positive ways - others neglect or even actively discourage it! It is high time that a review should be undertaken of this dispersed movement towards more effective power sharing.

Measuring Physical Environments of Parks and Playgrounds: EAPRS Instrument Development and Inter-Rater Reliability.

Reliable and comprehensive measurement of physical activity settings is needed to examine environment-behavior relations. Surveyed park professionals (n = 34) and users (n = 29) identified park and playground elements (e.g., trail) and qualities (e.g., condition). Responses guided observational instrument development for environmental assessment of public recreation spaces (EAPRS). Item inter-rater reliability was evaluated following observations in 92 parks and playgrounds. Instrument revision and further reliability testing were conducted with observations in 21 parks and 20 playgrounds. EAPRS evaluates trail/path, specific use (e.g., picnic), water-related, amenity (e.g., benches), and play elements, and their qualities. Most EAPRS items had good-excellent reliability, particularly presence/number items. Reliability improved from the original (n = 1088 items) to revised (n = 646 items) instrument for condition, coverage/shade, and openness/visibility items. Reliability was especially good for play features, but cleanliness items were generally unreliable. The EAPRS instrument provides comprehensive assessment of parks' and playgrounds' physical environment, with generally high reliability.

The Visual Quality of Urban Park Scenes of Kowloon Park, Hong Kong: Likeability, Affective Appraisal, and Cross-Cultural Perspectives

The urban park is a place where urbanites can escape from the stresses of everyday life. Using a set of fifteen photographs as visual stimuli, we attempted to identify those scenes that are liked by visitors to Kowloon Park, Hong Kong. The visual quality of an urban park scene is measured by its likeability, referring to the probability that the scene will evoke a strong and positive response among the users of the park. Because Hong Kong is an international metropolis, the respondent sample included both Hong Kong residents and tourists. The principal component analysis revealed the three underlying ‘dimensions’ of the appraisal aspects of the data: the ‘affective’ component, the ‘management status’, and the ‘naturalness’ of the scene. The results replicated the affective responses of park visitors toward the scenic aspects of urban park spaces, in which scenic beauty can be used as a proxy for acceptable management. Overall, the study has yielded useful information for park professionals to provide enjoyable urban park spaces in metropolitan areas to meet the needs of their citizens and visitors.