Rekreationsvärden i landskapet - vilka är dessa och var finns dom?

Sammanfattning: We are daily moving in different landscapes for various reasons; sometimes we are looking for specific activities and sometimes just to move from one place to another. Common for this is the affect the landscape can have on us and how it gives us different experiences. In this essay I seek answers to what is important for people when they visit the nature for recreational purposes. What factors do these sites include making them more peaceful and calm than other places? With the help of focus groups, I want to find possible similarities and differences between the opinions in the focus groups and the existing research about recreation in nature landscape. The theories in this thesis are based on the idea of the cognitive impact, (Roger S. Ulrich) and the emotional impact, (Steven and Rachel Kaplan), that makes persons appreciate a place for recreation in the nature landscape. Along with established research about different park characters for recreation (Patrik Grahn) this is the theoretical ground. Using qualitative focus group discussions the established research about environmental psychology is studied to see which values for recreation in the nature landscape that is most important. The focus groups also intended to examine the extent to which their views were consistent with Grahn’s park characters. The material is based on focus group discussions and established research about environmental psychology, and results are compared with each other. The result and similarities between the referred research and the focus groups were very similar. One can deduce factors greatly appreciated and factors that are most appreciated and one can see the general preferences. You can also understand that preferences can be very personal since individuals have different perceptions of nature. Grahn’s park characters correspond largely with the focus groups. There are also characters that are not at all appreciated for recreation and maybe outdated.