Peri-Urban National Parks as Green Spaces for Recreation

Abstract

Little is known regarding the significance for local people of peri-urban national parks as recreational areas. The main goal of the present article is to evaluate the social impact and importance of peri-urban parks for visitors as a green space for outdoor recreation. For this investigation on-site, face-to-face interviews were conducted. The main reason for visiting NP are: “to be near to nature” (64.71%), “to practice sport” (58.09%) and “relaxing” (43.38%). Spending time in NP is considered by most interviewed people to be of crucial importance both for physical (96.32%) and for mental (83.82%) health. It should be noted that high frequency of park visits was reported only by young, employed and well-educated people. Data collected shows that park management plan should encourage low-income groups (unemployed and elderly) to use outdoor recreation as a part of preventive healthcare. The access for older adults, people with disabilities and children to the park should be facilitated. Services like access to clean water, toilets and seating places must be improved. The data from the authors' survey could be useful for the peri-urban national parks development as green spaces for promoting health among all demographic groups of local inhabitants.

Comparative analysis of Nature Park Shumen Plateau and Shumen City Park as green spaces

“…According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, green spaces are "open, undeveloped land with natural vegetation" and include parks, forests, playing fields, and river corridors, for example. Forests close to urban areas provide people with opportunities for recreation [6], [7].…”

Elemental composition of surface soils in Nature Park Shumen Plateau and Shumen City, Bulgaria

“…Nature Park Shumen Plateau (NP) provides important ecosystem services to local residents. Our previous findings illustrate great social benefits of park as a green space for outdoor recreation [1]. Such green areas are perceived as "clean of pollution", but several studies revealed that they can be affected by accumulation of harmful compounds [2], [3].…”

Visitors’ opinions on the environmental protection in Shumen Plateau Nature Park from the negative anthropogenic impact of a nearby city, Bulgaria

“…It is important to have enough quality green spaces within urban and peri-urban areas (Li et al, 2005;Szulczewska et al, 2014). According our results in first part of this survey two main motivations of people to visit Nature Park are to be near to nature and to practice sport (Koynova et al, 2019 (Koynova, 2018). The park quality is considering factor that contribute to park visitation.…”

“…The demographic features of the respondents were reported and discussed in detail in the first part of this study (Koynova et al, 2019). The majority of NP visitors represent a consistent group of inhabitants of the city of Shumen.…”

“…Moreover, they often provide opportunities for tourism and recreation (Rossi et al, 2016). Our previous study shows that Peri-urban Nature Park Shumen Plateau (NP) is a preferred recreational area for local people and have great importance to their physical and mental health (Koynova et al, 2019). We have also found that environmental protection of the park is not enough.…”