Local authorities exist to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing of communities. Parks provide a means of achieving this purpose. This study investigates community preferences for Christchurch parks using the Beneficial Outcomes Approach. Outcomes desired by the community are identified, together with the park settings required to achieve them. Different attitudes and preferences of three socio-economic areas are compared. Information was gathered from a household survey of 600 residents from three diverse socioeconomic areas of Christchurch selected by using the New Zealand Deprivation Index. Results show that the overwhelming majority of Christchurch residents regularly use Christchurch parks for a diverse range of activities. Parks fill many different roles associated with the activity, aesthetic and environmental values ascribed to parks by the Christchurch community. The Christchurch community perceives and wants a diverse range of personal, social/cultural, environmental, and economic benefits from parks. Differences were found between the three socio-economic areas in the way they valued and used parks. Respondents from the low socio-economic area were more inclined to use parks as a special place to visit for weekend outings and relaxation in contrast to respondents from the high socio-economic area who were more likely to use parks for daily exercise. Respondents from the medium socio-economic area had mixed use patterns. The study concludes that a city-wide network approach to park provision is required to cater for the diverse range of experiences, settings and activities preferred by the Christchurch community and to optimise the beneficial outcomes of Christchurch parks. The BOA provides a useful method of prioritising outcomes and guiding management actions to be more responsive to community needs.

Outdoor recreation and heritage resources have the potential to provide a wide range of benefits to individuals, groups of individuals and the economy. An increased knowledge of these benefits can give recreation managers and planners a better understanding of how their actions and decisions regarding a resource may impact upon the visitors and communities that they serve. Placed within a climate of increasing public sector accountability, this information might also prove useful in justifying the allocation of scarce resources to recreation and heritage preservation. Justifying the value that recreation adds to society is an issue recognised by Benefits Based Management (BBM), a recreation management and planning framework that seeks to identify and target the positive outcomes realised by individuals, groups, local businesses and communities that result from participation in recreation and leisure. To date, recreation planners and managers have not been presented with a BBM research effort that seeks to describe and understand the visitor and community benefits associated with a rail to trail conversion. This study aimed to identify and describe benefits gained by visitors and neighbouring communities, with specific reference to the Otago Central Rail Trail (OCRT), Central Otago, New Zealand. Information was gathered from seventy-seven semi-structured interviews with visiting users of the OCRT, residents of neighbouring communities and trail managers. The results of the study indicated that community stakeholders reported benefits such as local economic development linked to visitor expenditure, heightened sense of community identity and solidarity and social contact with people from outside the local area. An additional finding was that the perceived benefits of the OCRT have reportedly had a positive influence on local people's attitudes towards the rail trail. Visitor interviews revealed that personal and social well-being benefits such as physical activity, aesthetic appreciation, sense of achievement, psychological refreshment, family togetherness and social interaction with friends and local people were outcomes of an OCRT visit. Reported visitor benefits were further linked to physical fitness and health, enhanced mood and positive mental state, leading a balanced lifestyle and stronger relationships within families and between friends. Visitors also perceived that an OCRT visit had forged a greater knowledge and awareness of railway heritage through gaining insight into railway and Central Otago history and appreciation of the engineering skills and craftsmanship associated with 19th century railway construction. Following the benefit chain of causality (Driver, 1994; Driver & Bruns, 1999; McIntosh, 1999), interview responses were linked to potential community and visitor benefits that could be realised off-site such as enhanced quality of life, community satisfaction and a greater connection with and appreciation of New Zealand's historic and cultural heritage.