The objective of this study is to improve the balance between the protection of a natural resource base and recreation provision within a national park area. This management objective was accomplished with the integration of data from questionnaire surveys with regression modelling and the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS). A case study on natural resource and recreation planning was carried out in the Chitou Forest Recreation Area (which has national park status) in Taiwan. Data on the recreation preferences and demands of visitors were collected and investigated through questionnaires administered in the Park. Three areas were examined: the overall satisfaction with Park visits, the disincentives associated with crowd intensity and landscape component preferences. Visitor opinions were quantified and the relationship between variables and visitor preferences was investigated. The investigation involved the development of two regression based models, one dealing with overall satisfaction and the other with the impact of crowd intensity on visitor enjoyment. These models were combined with bio-physical and socio-economic data from the Park including recreational recourses, building costs, remoteness preferences and environmental sensitivity factors, and were utilised to plan a new path network system. GIS was used to seek the best development solution which included maximising visitor satisfaction and minimising cost (both financial and ecological). At the GIS analysis stage, IDRISI Multiple Criteria Evaluation (MCE), a decision support tool for multiple objective planning was adopted for three development scenarios designed to meet the different considerations of park management. Having identified the best potential additional viewpoints, a new pathway through these favoured areas was designed from a start point and end point which joined with the current path system. By this methodological approach, recreation preferences were quantified and integrated with GIS, and applied into recreation planning. The new pathway design met the Parks' recreation development objectives of low cost, abundant recreation resources, high satisfaction and ease of access.

No description available.

The aim of the thesis is to introduce the place and Egyptian landscape and its relevance to tourism within the modern Egyptian planning process, and to examine the competence of this process by example, in a study of the development of the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Presentation of the thesis is in Seven Chapters: Chapter One deals with the general features of the Egyptian landscape with relevance to its tourism attraction: Chapter Two is an inventory of the Red Sea region landscape; in Chapter Three the question of defining the "coastal zone" is considered, and followed by a description of the Red Sea coastal ecosystems, their function and how they may be affected by the human activities taking place on the Red Sea coast; Chapter Four discusses aspects of tourism in a broad sense, as well as showing the various impacts of tourism on developing countries, and concludes with a description of the Tourism Development Plan by the government for Egypt in general and the Red Sea coast in particular; the next Chapter deals with the coastal planning process, emphasising international attempts in applying coastal management plans and demonstrating their success and failure in relevance to the Egyptian Red Sea coastal development process; Chapter Six presents a case study examining the impacts of tourism development schemes on the natural environment of the city of Hurghada, on the Red Sea coast. The tourism planning process for the Red Sea Region in general and for Hurghada in particular was shown to be greatly lacking in strategy and principle, as well as in balance with the surrounding natural environment. The final Chapter suggests a set of recommendations for the planning system to overcome its deficiencies, and a draft set of planning and design guidelines aiming to integrate development activities with the surrounding ecosystems, at a regional scale and also at the local scale of tourist centre.

Kerinci Seblat National Park (KSNP) is the largest national park in Indonesia. It surrounds Kerinci District, the biggest enclave inside any comparable national park in the world. For these reasons, the people-park problems are potentially the most complex among all parks in Indonesia. The greatest threat to the integrity of KSNP comes from encroachment which is largely aimed at the cultivation of cinnamon trees. Traditional approaches to park management and enforcement activities to exclude local people from the park have been unable to solve this problem. This study attempts to fill gaps in our knowledge of people-park interactions in KSNP and aimed to incorporate encroachment problems in the park's management plan. The objectives of this study were: (1) to examine characterisation of encroachment systems, people's attitudes towards the Park and encroachment; (2) to measure the degree of people pressure on the park and analyse impacts of encroachment on soil properties; (3) to model historical land use dynamics in an attempt to predict future encroachment; and (4) to provide alternative management options for the Park using a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model, and define the trade-offs that will exist between economic, environmental and social variables associated with alternative options. These results demonstrate that shortage of land and people's perception of cinnamon are significant factors influencing encroachment activities in KSNP. Land use dynamics in the District are strongly influenced by the twin processes of encroachment and forest degradation. The most critical zone for encroachment in the District is the area in the elevation between 500-1500 m with slope less than 40 percent. Due to human encroachment, the Park is now under serious population pressure. Therefore, four scenarios of land allocation for buffer and traditional use zones were produced to lessen the pressure. A model was developed for identifying the area most likely to be encroached in the future. These results were utilised in order to develop eleven alternative management options for resolving conflict between encroachment and sustainable park management.

This dissertation engages with the proposition that one of the reasons current efforts at improving sustainability are failing is because solutions are sought from within the same paradigm of thought that threatens sustainability in the first place, and that what is needed is a new 'ecological' worldview or paradigm. Using a transdisciplinary philosophy, and building on the idea of partial validities of knowledge, the dissertation explores the roots and attributes of the emerging new worldview and its relationship with the sustainability discourse through a series of narratives. Historical narratives of the concepts of sustainable development and urban sustainability highlight the flaws in current approaches to studying sustainability, and illustrate that the understanding of sustainability is not based on a fixed set of laws, but continuously evolves in response to larger system drivers, including individual and social worldviews. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that an ecological worldview would spawn its own version of sustainability. However, this worldview has not yet been coherently defined or structured. Differentiating between 'worldview' as the descriptive narrative of the world and behaviour within this world, and 'paradigm' as the practices for organizing and studying the world, the study attempts to map the ecological worldview onto a pre-existing worldview framework developed by the Centre Leo Apostel. This worldview was developed from common patterns found in new developments in the different branches of science, wisdom traditions ranging from indigenous knowledge sources to the great religious traditions, and ancient schools of philosophy. The result presents a coherent and internally consistent conceptual narrative of the ecological worldview, including theories of value, action and knowledge, which is then used to describe the associated social and scientific paradigms. The resultant worldview complex is then used to frame an exploration of the changes this worldview would bring to the practices of studying urban sustainability and future research agendas.

Multinational hotel companies (MHCs) have played a significant role in the development and continuity of the travel and tourism industry in the world. The presence of these companies in the accommodation sector continues to increase. In some countries, MHCs represent 70% of the total number of hotel companies. However, the presence of MHCs in Libya is less than 1% out of the total number of Libyan hotel companies. This study aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the requirements and needs of MHCs in order to encourage them to expand their activities into Libya and also aims to look at the main benefits that Libya may obtain from the involvement of these companies. The face-to-face semi-structured interview was adopted as a data collection method. The data came from seven hotel managers (informants) from the top ten MHCs in the world. These were the Hilton Hotels Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Golden Tulip Hospitality Group, Accor, Marriott International, Hyatt International Corporation and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The interviewees were key decision-makers in their various hotel companies and had participated in the management of hotel businesses in the Middle East and some North Africa countries. The study findings generally confirmed that the Government of Libya should adopt a clear policy towards MHCs which should be transformed into a comprehensive plan. Such a policy should clarify how MHCs could be attracted to the country, taking into account the requests and needs of these companies. Additionally, there are many benefits that Libya could obtain from the involvement of MHCs in the country. Therefore, significant recommendations to the decision-makers, both within the Libyan government and within other countries' authorities who would also wish to encourage MHCs are made. These recommendations could be used as guidelines in formulating the right policies in order to encourage MHCs to expand their activities into developing countries and into Libya in particular.

Green spaces provide numerous environmental, economic and social benefits to residents of urban areas. One particular notion is that green spaces contribute to social cohesion of urban communities. However, the extant evidence for this contribution is patchy and the mechanisms connecting social cohesion to green spaces are not well recognised. The aim of this thesis is to provide a conceptual framework linking urban green spaces and social cohesion. The critical literature review identified three hypothetical mechanisms that link green spaces to social cohesion: their role as free and accessible amenities; as social arenas enabling interactions between people; and as places relieving stress and aggression by providing contact with nature. These functions were investigated in a multi-method manner with the use of Geographical Information Systems, ecological surveys, questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions and statistical analysis of secondary data. Greater Manchester, UK, was used as a case study area. The results suggest that while green spaces were abundant in the area investigated, their accessibility was limited by unequal geographic distribution, problems with physical access and perceptions of their usability. They functioned as social arenas but this role was dependant on the presence of recreational facilities, qualities of the neighbouring area and personal characteristics of visitors. While contact with nature was valued by users, it was not seen as a priority and intensely managed settings were preferred by respondents. In conclusion, the research identified that a number of criteria need to be met for urban green spaces to contribute to social cohesion. The results have been combined into a conceptual framework of interrelated social and environmental factors affecting the potential of green spaces to provide this contribution. The thesis includes suggestions for further investigations into the socio-ecological functioning of urban green spaces and provides recommendations for green space planning and management.

This thesis examines the impact of tourism development on Langkawi island. It explores the way in which the people of Langkawi have developed several strategies to deal with the various changes brought by tourism development. I suggest that tourism has been viewed as a ‘gateway’ for the development of Langkawi and has become a catalyst for the arrival of modernity in this local setting. This thesis primarily discusses how Langkawi people have dealt with the demands of the tourist industry, confronting modernity and mass consumption, negotiating their ‘old’ values/perception to absorb new values. It also shows the increase in distinction not only between outsiders and insiders but also among villagers in the local community, and the formation of the middle class. This process of negotiation was inevitable for them not only to fulfil their aspirations to become <i>modern</i> but also to fit in with the local tourist industry. I describe how the islanders have shown their eagerness to become <i>modern</i> but at the same time have made great efforts to maintain their identity as village people and as Muslims. Exploring their everyday experiences gives a deeper understanding of how tourism, either directly or indirectly, has impacted on their lives and how this has influenced their perception of tourism development. The different strategies adopted by local people show that they should not be seen as passive but as capable of accepting tourism and setting appropriate boundaries for their involvement with it. This exploration of their everyday lives contributes to the ongoing debates on the changes that tourism brings in the host country. I use tourism as a tool to address anthropological issues concerning modernity, consumption and changes in attitude, which contribute to a different ‘platform of thinking’ in the anthropology of tourism.

The Republic of Chile is a middle-income South American country. In recent decades, Chile has faced a “new immigration” pattern, described as young immigrants, coming mostly from Latin American countries to work. This thesis is the first quantitative population-based study exploring the living conditions and health status of international immigrants in Chile. Secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional population-based survey carried out in 2006 is used (the CASEN survey 2006; 268,873 participants from 73,720 households). This study encompasses a large set of Social Determinants of Health (SDH) and analyses their relationship to several health outcomes among immigrants and the Chilean-born population. Those sets of SDH are the following: demographic, socioeconomic, material living standards, access to health care and migration related determinants. A wide range of statistical methods are used throughout this thesis in order to account for the great variability found in this dataset, as well as the complexity and co-linearity involved in most of its variables. Results show 1% of the sample report as international immigrants, coming mainly from Peru (28%), Argentina (26%), Bolivia (6%) and Ecuador (5%). An additional 0.7% chose not to report their migration-status (migration status missing values) and this group is more likely to live in socioeconomic derivation than immigrants. International immigrants are a heterogeneous group, with wide variation in socioeconomic status (SES). The "healthy migrant" effect appears within the total international immigrant population: this group has a lower prevalence of all health problems compared to the Chilean-born. However, when analyzing prevalence by SES, significant differences are found. Immigrants show clear gradients of health by SES, with different patterns according to the nature of the problem considered. Immigrants with low-SES show no "healthy migrant" effect and they have similar disease prevalence to the average Chilean-born, despite being younger. The “healthy migrant” effect also disappears among those living longer than 20 years in Chile. These key findings have direct policy implications for Chile and suggest relevant future research in this topic in the Latin American region.

This thesis explores the spatial nature of road collisions within London, UK. There is continuing debate amongst academics and road safety professionals alike as to the most appropriate method of identifying high density locations of road collisions and also of identifying the appropriate data and variables that represent population risk in road environments. This thesis adopts a three stage approach in order to create a typology of collision hotspots and the persons most likely to be involved in incidents at them. The first method links the postcodes of drivers and casualties to geodemographic types in order to understand the types of people in London that are more likely to be involved in a collision and to identify where they are likely to reside. The second method concentrates on defining collision hotspots using kernel density smoothing. The selected hotspots and associated variables are then clustered in order to create a typology of hotspots, using five groups and fifteen clusters. The third and final stage links these two spatial locations together, by ascertaining the geodemographic types which are more likely to be over represented in each of the five groups and fifteen clusters. This makes it possible to develop a clearer and crisper analysis of the road collision risk of the population in London, to classify the capacities in which people are likely to be involved in a collision and to identify where the collision is likely to take place. The outcome is fifteen distinctive types which highlight risk groups across London, suggest the types of collision that they are likely to encounter and identifies where they might occur. This has the potential to be a very useful tool in assisting in road safety policy and initiatives across London.