ABSTRACT
Public green spaces provide physical and mental respite, which have become essential and elevated services during the COVID-19 pandemic. As visitation to public parks and recreation areas increased during the pandemic, the challenge of maintaining visitor safety and protecting environmental resources was exacerbated. A key visitor safety practice during the COVID-19 onset was maintaining a physical distance of six feet (1.8 m) between groups. A novel data set documented and compared physical distancing compliance and off-trail behavior on multiple-use trails across multiple states and within select U.S. communities, attending to the impact of select environmental factors. Nearly 6000 observations revealed physical distancing compliance varied and the environmental factors of trail width, density, and signage influenced its variability. Similarly, off-trail movement was related to trail width and density. Clearly the environment matters as people negotiate the 'new normal' of physical distancing during physical activity and outdoor recreation participation. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and likelihood of future health crises, this project provides important information and insight for trail and other public green space management, monitoring, and modelling moving forward.
ABSTRACT
The Xitou Nature Education Area has attracted a huge tourist crowd due to its convenient transportation, perfect catering and accommodation conditions, welfare measures such as transportation and subsidies from the local government, as well as the electric vehicle service provided by the park for the disabled. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were about 1.5 million visits each year, resulting in the trails and facilities nearly saturated, causing potential damage and stress to the environment. The impact of the epidemic has reduced the number of tourists in the forest recreation area, which just to provide the park with a chance to breathe. In addition to the diversion measures, online virtual reality tours can be used to relieve the tourist crowd. This research cooperates with the existing server of the National Taiwan University Experimental Forest Management Office to complete the construction of the functions of the 720 panoramic tour platform, including visitor number statistics, settings, VR glasses, viewing angle, hot spots, map sand table, and tour guide. We also finished 22 aerial panoramas, 54 ground panoramas, and 13 indoor panoramas. The panoramic images shot in the air and on the ground of the park are linked and presented by the mobile digital panoramic virtual reality navigation platform developed by this research. The various sceneries in the park can therefore be presented through the internet and can be combined with the content of the tour guide to provide tourists and disabled people who cannot visit the scene in person the immersive experience. Moreover, when the manpower or budget for interpreting tours is insufficient in the future, in addition to reducing the workload of the interpretation in the park, an interactive interface can also be added through the platform to provide detailed interpretation information on the scenery, animals, and plants of each base, thereby improving the interpretation effect and tourism quality.
ABSTRACT
We investigated how the perceived quality of natural spaces influenced levels of visitation and felt benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia via a nationally representative online and telephone survey conducted on 12-26 October (Social Research Centre's Life in AustraliaTM panel aged > 18 years, 78.8% response, n=3043). Our sample was restricted to those with complete information (n=2940). Likert scale responses to 18 statements regarding the quality of local natural spaces that participants preferred to visit were classified into eight quality domains: access;aesthetics;amenities;facilities;incivilities;potential usage;safety;and social. These domains were then summed into an overall nature quality score (mean=5.8, range=0-16). Associations between these quality variables and a range of nature visitation and felt benefits were tested using weighted multilevel models, adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic confounders. Compared with participants in the lowest perceived nature quality quintile, those in the highest quality quintile had higher odds of spending at least 2 h in their preferred local nature space in the past week (Odds Ratio [OR]=3.40;95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]=2.38-4.86), of visiting their preferred nature space almost every day in the past four weeks (OR=3.90;2.77-5.47), and of reporting increased levels of nature visitation in comparison with before the COVID-19 pandemic (OR=3.90;2.54-6.00). Participants in the highest versus lowest perceived nature quality quintile also reported higher odds of feeling their visits to nature enabled them to take solace and respite during the pandemic (OR=9.49;6.73-13.39), to keep connected with their communities (OR=5.30;3.46-8.11), and to exercise more often than they did before the pandemic (OR=3.88;2.57-5.86). Further analyses of each quality domain indicated time in and frequency of visiting nature spaces were most affected by potential usage and safety (time in nature was also influenced by the level of amenity). Feelings of connection and solace were most affected by potential usage and social domains. Exercise was most influenced by potential usage, social and access domains. In conclusion, evidence reported in this study indicates that visits to nature and various health-related benefits associated with it during the COVID-19 pandemic were highly contingent upon numerous qualities of green and blue spaces.