Is recreation a landscape value?: Exploring underlying values in landscape values mapping

Abstract

Landscape values mapping (LVM) is a participatory process used to gather public input for park and forest management. Respondents assign landscape values or ecosystem benefits to places on a map using a typology that usually includes the value “recreation.” Whereas other landscape values in the typology reflect personal guiding principles and enduring beliefs, recreation represents a diverse set of human behaviors influenced by their values and beliefs. For a more accurate comparison to other mapped values, and to better inform land managers of the underlying factors determining people's preferences, it is important to deconstruct the values that people draw upon when mapping recreation. In this study, we compare maps that included and excluded “recreation” in the values options. In the absence of recreation, other values surfaced variably by individual, providing insight to its complexity and suggesting that LVM exercises that incorporate recreation may not be eliciting underlying, and often conflicting, values.

Citation

Biedenweg, Kelly; Williams, Katherine; Cerveny, Lee; Styers, Diane. 2019. Is recreation a landscape value?: Exploring underlying values in landscape values mapping. Landscape and Urban Planning. 185: 24-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.12.005.