The study is concerned with an examination of outdoor recreation at three forest recreation areas situated within and at the periphery of a large and major population region in Peninsular Malaysia. It was undertaken primarily to investigate the features that describe the use of these areas and to estimate the use-demand and quantification of consumers' surplus. Initially, a brief description of forest recreation in Peninsular Malaysia is presented. This is followed by a review of techniques for estimating consumers' surplus, after which it was concluded that an application of the travel cost method was appropriate for this study. An on-site questionnaire survey was used to gather a reasonable amount of user information. The questionnaire surveys carried out were found to be valuable; the information gathered facilitated the description and analysis of the areas' consumption, travel and use patterns and the behaviour of the users. Thus the surveys also provided information which was appropriate for the application of the travel cost technique. Subsequently, a detailed description of user behaviour is presented. Difficulties of the travel cost approach, were identified and addressed through the use of appropriate sample and extra-sample data. Particular attention was paid to the problems of multi-purpose trips, travel time bias and the influence of alternative sites on participation. Problems with functional forms and the weighting of points for the trip demand model were also given considerable attention. It is believed that the model selected in this study is an improvement on previously known models. The resulting estimates of consumers' surplus for the three areas are reasonably acceptable and conform to a priori expectations. Finally, the main conclusions of the thesis are highlighted and some aspects that have a bearing on planning and management issues are discussed along with brief recommendations for further and future research efforts.

This thesis is a theonsed history of skateboarding. It aims to make a contribution to the methodology of architectural and urban history, positing a general conception that architecture and the city are best understood neither as objects nor as the sole province of architects and urban managers, but better as flows of time and space produced through particular social activities. The first part is theoretical, and investigates the need for a re-consideration of space, principally through an investigation of the writings of Edward Soja (Chapter 2) and Henri Lefebvre (Chapter 3). Time, space and social being are found to be interdependent constituents of social processes, and - together with ideas concerning the political objectives of the author, the body, everyday life, architecture and activities - necessary subjects for historical writing about architecture and the city. The second part undertakes a detailed study of a specific urban practice - that of skateboarding - with particular reference to the usA and UK. The ideas of Henri Lefebvre in particular are used to provide methodological direction and interpretive tools. Chapter 4, focused mainly on the late 1950s through to the mid 1 970s, explores themes of technology, emulation of surfing and initial appropnations and colonisations of space by skateboarding. Chapter 5 explores the constructed spabe of the purpose built skateparks of the 1970s and the ramps of the 1980s, and also the body space of skateboarders and their engagement with these terrains. Considerations of representation and the lived nature of images are also introduced. Chapter 6 explores the subculture of skateboarding. Themes of gender, race, class, age, sexuality and the family are investigated with reference to the clothes, board design, music, language and other cultural aspects of skateboarding. Chapter 7, focusing on the streetstyle skateboarding of the 1980s and 1990s, explores skateboarding as a critique of architecture. the city, capitalism and socio-spatial censorship. The performative nature of skateboarding as an urban activity is found to be an essential part of its historical importance. Chaper 8 provides a summary conclusion of the thesis, and also suggests some tentative directions of future work regarding the further development of a materialist history of the experience of architecture.

Judo has developed in Britain over a period of approximately sixty years, during which time the scale of activity, the organisational form, the nature of pedagogic processes and the content of rules have changed considerably. The study initially locates Kodokan Judo in its original social context, Japan, relating its specific initial form to forces within Japanese society in the late nineteenth century. Chapter 2 gives an account of early Judo activity in Britain, before World War Two, giving detailed attention to the social composition of the practising group at the time. The central empirical focus of the study, in Chapters 3 to 6, is on Judo activity in Britain since 1945, examining authority and organisation, relations with Japan, approaches to training and contest participation, approaches to teaching, rules and refereeing activity. The material presented here indicates that Judo has become more bureaucratic, contestoriented and concerned with spectator-appeal, losing elements of 'moral/philosophical' orientation which were important in Judo's original conception and which remained so in British Judo up to the early 1960s. The final chapter provides a sociological explanation of the changes previously detailed, analysing them in the light of certain themes In the original conception of Kodokan Judo, the changing social composition of the Judo population In Britain, the nature of Judo leadership at different times and the focus of Judo activity in different periods. The overall conclusion on changes in British Judo is that Judo has moved into the 'field of sport', becoming an Olympic sport, with certain of its 'star' exponents achieving high sporting status. It is concluded that these developments are In line with certain possibilities inherent In the original formulation of Kodokan Judo, which combined traditional Japanese and modern Western elements, reflecting tensions in Japanese society in the Meiji period.

In this study, the long-term impact on family groups of the interactive science exhibits in Launch Pad (Science Museum, London) has been investigated and described both qualitatively and quantitatively. Having reviewed the literature, and sought the views of professionals working in interactive science centres, a series of research questions was evolved. It is argued that it is reasonable to use visitors' recollections of their visits in order to assess this long-term impact. Altogether, 20 subjects were observed in Launch Pad, 396 were given an interview immediately after their visit, 208 responded to a follow-up questionnaire, and 79 were given an in-depth interview about 6 months later. Various indicators have been defined in order to quantify the differences that exist between interactive exhibits, and the concept of exhibit profiles has been introduced as a way of graphically representing these differences. The exhibits were found to hold the attention of visitors, and there was little evidence of museum fatigue. Subjects reported almost unanimously that they had enjoyed their visit and that Launch Pad had made a large positive impact the effects of which lasted for at least six months. Visitors were able to recall in vivid and clear detail their experiences in Launch Pad six months later. A new method of analysing their diverse and scattered recollections was evolved by the development of a network and coding strategies. Although 59% of the elaborated memory comments were found to be descriptive, there were nearly twice as many thoughts as feelings. Also, the data showed that visitors had reflected on their experiences and related them to existing knowledge or, for example, to programmes they saw on television. Evidence of subsequent cognitive processing suggests that a visitor embarks on a process of learning and understanding following an enjoyable, inspiring and thought-provoking visit.

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The objectives of this research are twofold; firstly, to provide a more complete appraisal of leisure participation than hitherto available, and secondly, to see whether or not leisure lifestyles can be identified on the basis of people's behaviour. Leisure life styles of individuals are poorly understood. Research to date has concentrated on specific activities or the use of facilities. It has been almost wholly descriptive in nature. This thesis aims to examine individual leisure behaviour with particular reference to the neglected sphere of informal and home based leisure.

At the outset, the purpose of this research was to establish a framework that, once in place, could identify and monitor changes in residents' opinions of tourism development in the cities of York, Bath and Chester in England. As well as establishing a framework, it was also anticipated that comparative analysis might well establish a basis for theory development regarding the social impacts of tourism on residents of historic cities in England. As the research developed, it became increasingly apparent that although the studies were providing an interesting benchmark of the social impacts of tourism in historic cities, they said little about residents' opinions regarding the planning actions taken by local government to manage tourism development. The three social impact studies proved interesting in that similarities and differences were found within and between the resident populations. Their most important contribution however is that they: 1) provided a response to the established need for more extensive longitudinal and comparative urban tourism research; 2) documented residents' opinions of tourism in three historic cities; 3) established a reliable sampling methodology for use in urban environments; 4) contributed a most important basis for the subsequent redirection of this doctoral research in that they led to the recognition that the social impacts of tourism should be investigated at the planning action level and not purely on a general level. In recognition of this observation, this research sought to develop a second framework that would enable residents to evaluate the specific tourism planning objectives and actions undertaken by local government. In order to achieve this, three further research phases were designed. The objectives of these phases were: 1) to establish the strategic tourism planning objectives and actions of local government in England (research phase II); 2) to develop a conceptual model which established a valid association of distinct planning actions with specific objectives (research phase II); 3) to investigate the commitment of local government to conducting resident tourism surveys (research phase III); 4) to utilise the information attained in the earlier research phases to develop a new methodology which is operationalised through the development of a computer model (research phase IV); 5) to involve the tourism officers in historic cities in the evaluation of this new methodology in terms of its potential to capture residents' opinions and improve the potential for more meaningful public consultation in the tourism environment (research phase IV).

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