Social Preferences of Young Adults Regarding Urban Forest Recreation Management in Warsaw, Poland

Abstract

The paper presents results of questionnaire research conducted to determine social preferences regarding leisure in Warsaw municipal forests (WMF) (Poland). The preferences pertained to frequency of visits and willingness to pay for recreational infrastructure in a forest depending on its appearance, level of development, and the respondent’s income. The data were processed using statistical analysis (ANOVA Friedman test, U Mann–Whitney test, logistic regression). The results show that the higher the development level of a forest, the more often young people choose it for leisure. Willingness to pay for a forest depends on its development level, with respondents more willing to fund forests with a higher development level. No such correlation with the respondents’ income was found. Preferences regarding the selection of a specific type of forest for leisure were dependent on per capita income of the respondents only in the case of forests at a lower level of development. A forest’s preference level affected the willingness to pay for it and varied depending on the development level.

Preferences of Young Adult Visitors to Manor Parks in South Poland: A Study on Ecosystem Services and Scenic Quality

“…In manor parks, the level of income influences the awareness of their historical value and the presence of additional tourist attractions in their area. In comparison, in forests in the Warsaw area, it was found that people with a higher income were more likely to visit natural forest areas (e.g., a strict nature reserve or a commercial forest without recreational infrastructure with recreational opportunities such as walking along paths and picking mushrooms and berries) [34]. At the same site, no such relationship was found for forests with refined recreational infrastructures.…”

“…Moreover, they are open to the general public, and accessing them in Poland is usually free. Forests, due to their high level of biodiversity and their numerous ecological, social, protective and economic functions, should be subject to a comprehensive assessment for all the services they provide [33,34]. The authors of studies on manor parks have highlighted the significant role of manor parks in terms of ecological [35][36][37], social and landscape value [15], and there is also a considerable number of publications emphasizing the historical aspect of these sites [13,38].…”

“…The frequency of visits to the forests depends on other factors, which may explain the results obtained in the study. Undoubtedly, it largely depends on the view itself, the nature of the forest or its attractiveness to visitors [34,39]. The results of the literature show that tourists choose recreation facilities with park-like features, and numerous features of small recreational architecture are willingly visited.…”

“…In comparison, research by Mäntymaa at al. [34,51] indicates that, for people with lower incomes, parks that provide many ecosystem services are a frequent recreational destination. They are particularly advantageous to them because of the free entry and proximity to housing [34,52].…”

Evaluation of current landscape architecture approaches in chosen cities in Poland and Slovakia

“…Increasing human development and concentration of population in the urban areas is closely related to the quality of citizens´ lives, safe and clean environment, and adaptation to extreme climate conditions in the cities. During the 20 th -century strategies related to greenways, ecological design, sustainable development of cities have been elaborated (Supuka, 2008;Mandziuk et al, 2021a). Sustainable shaping of green areas in cities is supported by scientifi c research, connected with the current policy of the European Union and supported by the local governments and residents of cities.…”