Syfte och frågeställningar Syftet är att undersöka hur naturen påverkar människan, samt på vilket sätt företag kan använda sig av friluftsliv i ett led till ökade ekonomiska och hälsorelaterade vinster. Detta med föresatsen att friluftsliv är en kombination av naturvistelse och fysisk aktivitet. • Vilken inverkan har naturen på människan? • Hur kan en arbetsgivare tjäna på att erbjuda sina anställa friluftslivsaktiviteter? • Hur kan friluftsliv utveckla gruppdynamik? Metod Forskning och litteratur har granskats för att svara på studiens syfte. En hypotetiskt deduktiv metod för sökning av fakta och forskning kring naturens positiva inverkan på hälsan, kopplingen natur och hälsa samt grupper och grupputveckling har använts. Resultatet av en enkätundersökning kring företags intresse av friluftsliv som friskvård, utgör även det en del i bakgrunden i denna kvalitativa litteraturstudie. Sammanfattande diskussion Sverige förlorar varje år stora summor pengar på sjukfrånvaro till följd av fysisk inaktivitet. Fysisk aktivitet är sedan länge även det en välkänd hälsoförbättrare samtidigt som många forskningsresultat visar på att naturen påverkar människans hälsa positivt. I och med dessa fakta vore det bra om ett koncept där fysisk aktivitet kombineras med naturvistelse(friluftsliv) kunde erbjudas för företag, som ett alternativ till traditionell friskvård. En framtida utmaning är att få företag att se vinsterna med att satsa pengar på att få deras personal mer fysiskt aktiv och därmed öka deras hälsa. Positivt är att enkätundersökningen visar att de vinster företagen själva såg som resultat av deltagande i friluftsaktiviteter var; minskad sjukfrånvaro, gladare, piggare personal, mer motiverad personal samt bättre effektivitet. Detta tyder på att viss kunskap kring vikten av en frisk personal redan finns i arbetslivet. / Aim The aim of the study was to investigate how nature affects the human being, and further to examine how companies can benefit, both economically and health wise, by using outdoor recreation as health service. This based on outdoor recreation practised in a nature setting and consisting of physical activity. • How does nature affect the human being? • How can an employer profit from offering his/her employees outdoor recreation? • How can outdoor recreation improve group spirit? Method Research within following areas has been studied; Natures positive effects on the human being, the connection between nature and health, and group development. The result from a questionnaire based survey about company’s interest in outdoor recreation as health service, also stand as part of the background in this qualitative literature study. Conclusions Every year, Sweden looses huge amounts of money due to illness, caused by lack of physical activity. The fact that physical activity has positive effects on human physical and mental health is since far known, and results from scientific studies show that nature also has positive effects on the human body and mind. Considering these facts, it would be good if a combination of physical activity and outdoor activities (=outdoor recreation) could be offered by company health service, as an alternative to traditional health service. A future challenge is to get companies to spend money on outdoor recreations as health service. By showing companies evidence of probable profits from betting money on getting their employees more physical active, and thereby increasing their health status, this challenge will hopefully be attained.

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The vitality of international transborder natural resources is important for the preservation of wildlife corridors, clean water, clean air, and working lands. In particular, not only does the Texas Rio Grande Valley Region in the United States (U.S.), on the U.S.-Mexico border, offer critical habitat important to North American migratory species, the area also provides substantial agricultural goods (i.e., sugarcane, sorghum, melons, onions, citrus, carrots, cabbage, and cattle). Hence, the dilemma between consumptive and non-consumptive uses of natural resources along a large geographic expanse separated by sociopolitical and sociocultural differences, is further complicated. Latinos of Mexican descent along the southwestern U.S. are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S., yet their influence on U.S. natural resource allocation and management has been largely ignored. For this reason, the purpose of my study was threefold: (1) to determine public perceptions toward natural resources, the environment, and conservation; (2) to assess general environmental behaviors; and (3) to determine general recreational behaviors among three student population groups along the U.S.Mexico border region. The student groups were comprised of Texas students (Texas Latino and Texas non-Latino white), and Mexican students from three northern Mexico states, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas. A survey was derived from three of the most frequently used environmental concern, behavior, and recreation indices used for research in the discipline. Predictors of environmental concern, behavior, and outdoor recreation participation for my sample varied across sociodemographic and sociopolitical variables for each student group. A review of environmental attitudes found Mexican students were more environmentally friendly (~ 2.35 odds; P < 0.05) than their U.S. counterparts. Among the three student groups, basic environmental behaviors (environmental conservation contribution; avoiding environmentally harmful products; changing car oil; and lawn responsibility) were influenced (P &lt; 0.05) by environmental orientation, political candidate's environmental position, father and mother's educational attainment, place of origin, sex, and combined parent income. Outdoor recreation participation and constraints to outdoor recreation participation among the student groups were influenced (P &lt; 0.05) by parent income, age, place of origin, and environmental orientation. Examples of constraints were: not enough money, personal health reasons, inadequate transportation, and personal safety reasons. Findings from my study benefit natural resource and environmental organizations pursuing collaborative program development and implementation along the U.S.-Mexico border and other transborder regions.

The goal of this project is to create an outdoor environment that responds to the social, physical and emotional needs of older adults.The main objective of this project is to provide quality outdoor spaces associated with a housing facility. To meet this objective, the project stresses three major objectives: (1) to integrate the older adults' housing facility with the neighborhood in order to eliminate segregation and loneliness; (2) to determine the aspects of nature that are beneficial to the older adults' physical and mental health; and (3) to create an appropriate outdoor environment that will increase social contact and enhance active and passive recreational spaces to improve physical and emotional health.The literature section of this project focuses on setting up criteria for the questionnaire. The Literature review also helps to identify guidelines for design and design principles. Criteria for the final conceptual design was set using the data from the survey and the case studies. Finally a conceptual design was created to meet the objectives. / Department of Landscape Architecture

This creative project presents guidelines for Rail to Trail Conversion. A preliminary plan for conversion of the CSX running from Richmond County through Delaware County, and ending in Marion County, Indiana, is presented as a case study. The line, which connects several communities and several points of interest along the railroad right-of-way, has been requested for abandonment.To keep the line for interim public use, one of the possibilities is to convert the line to trail use. The trail corridor might create a good linkage between several adjacent places, because it provides various recreational zones along the former railroad right-ofway. There will be two different kinds of trail corridor-urban and rural trail. The distinction between the two will be one of use, urban trails will be used for daily activities and rural trails usually used primarily during weekends, holidays, and vacation time.The development of trail corridor will also encourage movement of people foreither cycling or walking. Campgrounds, wildlife watching stations, scenic overlook areas, trailheads, and outdoor fitness centers are the most common auxiliary components associated with trail development. Wherever the improvement passes through communities, the communities will benefit from the improvement of retailing activities. Each improvement requires certain criteria of location and land surface.Rail to trail conversion is a costly project. In order to make the project easier and economically feasible, the project should encourage more individuals, private organizations, and public agencies to get involved with the conservation. Local newspapers, broadcast on local radio and television, and interest group workshops are the most effective means of developing support. Time is critical in developing succesful rail to trail conversion. The project should be implemented as soon as the railroad has been abandoned, in order to prevent the tracks reverting to adjacent landowners. / Department of Urban Planning

Studies of outdoor recreation and the social construction of wilderness have shown how urban consumption of wilderness areas dispossessed rural residents from traditional land uses. Though essential for understanding power struggles over land use, these studies pay little attention to rural involvement in creating recreational areas. In contrast, this dissertation focuses on how rural non-indigenous people used, enjoyed and constructed their own recreational hinterland. Set in twentieth-century British Columbia, where wilderness adventure is popular and where mountains, oceans and lakes lend themselves to romantic and sublime aesthetics, the case studies here examine rural recreation by considering the forms that “rural” has taken in British Columbia, the relationship of civil society to government, conceptions of Crown and private land as a commons, the production and consumption of recreational spaces, and ethics such as woodcraft, “leave-no-trace,” the “good life” and postmaterialism. The sources include interviews with participants in these activities and archival sources such as diaries, newspapers, government records on parks, forestry and transportation, and letters that citizens wrote to government. This material is set within the context of historical studies of outdoor recreation, the social construction of wilderness, automobiles and parks, the informal economy, and the contested commons. The first two case studies involve the imaginative transformation of mountain landscapes into parks and playgrounds to attract tourists at Mt. Revelstoke and on Vancouver Island’s Forbidden Plateau. During the Second World War, the province was reluctant to create parks for local recreation, but at Darke Lake in the Okanagan, the Fish and Game Club lobbied successfully for a small park, challenging the supremacy of logging as an essential war industry. After the war, the state’s view of parks shifted. The provincial government promoted recreational democracy, and offered parks as part of the “good life” to working families from booming single-industry towns, sometimes responding to local demands as in the case of the Champion Lakes. Inspired by the American Wilderness Act of 1964, some British Columbians sought to preserve large tracts of roadless, forested land. The Purcell Wilderness Conservancy (1974) in the Kootenay region resulted from a local trail-building effort and a letter-writing campaign. Beginning in the late 1980s, retirees in Powell River started building trails on the edges of town. This group is still active in ensuring that their forested hinterland remains an accessible commons for recreational use. The rural British Columbians discussed in these case studies consistently engaged with the backcountry as their recreational commons where they could combine work and leisure, harvest non-timber forest products, and promote tourism. Rural residents who were willing to volunteer and enjoyed some leisure time forged networks among tourism promoters and applied for government funding to create access to recreational space, and protect it from uses inconsistent with recreation, such as logging. British Columbians have claimed the right to access Crown land as a commons for recreation in a variety of ways over the twentieth century and these case studies show how rural agency has played a significant role in creating recreational space.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Montana, 2008. / Title from author supplied metadata. Description based on contents viewed on July 6, 2009. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Stockholm Institute of Education, 1982? / Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-255).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.