Paying for parks. Ticketed events and the commercialisation of public space

Music festivals, sport events, funfairs, exhibitions and other ticketed events provide a source of income for authorities struggling to pay for parks. Park events are also justified as ways of making city parks more exciting and attracting a more diverse range of users. However, commercial events are often contested as they restrict the availability of public space and compromise the status of parks as accessible, ‘open spaces’ that are free to use. These issues are explored here by analysing Battersea Park in London which has a long track record of hosting ticketed events, including the Festival of Britain Pleasure Gardens and, more recently, Formula E motor races. Historical and contemporary analysis of Battersea Park demonstrates how ticketed events privatise park space, providing precedents for future commercialisation and development. The case study also suggests that the growing pressure to transform parks into event venues is changing the ways our parks are governed and managed. These changes suggest that a process of neoliberalisation is occurring, but the research presented here suggests that this explanation perhaps oversimplifies the nuances of park commercialisation. Ultimately, the paper highlights the conflicts and issues that arise when the exchange value of public parks is prioritised over their use value.     

近10年国外城市休闲研究：特征、比较与启示

休闲是衡量城市社会文明和居民生活质量的标尺,城市的进步伴随着休闲的发展。基于Elsevier Science Direct数据库,对2000～2010年与城市休闲相关的文献进行检索和分类分析,研究发现,国外对城市休闲的研究多采用理论综述、问卷调查、模型设计与定量评价、GIS数据分析、视频跟踪描述、案例比较说明等方法;研究内容包括城市休闲理论、城市休闲价值与影响、城市休闲主体、城市休闲客体和城市休闲管理与保障等5大研究模块;基于地理学对城市休闲的研究占研究论文总量的25％,主要包括对城市公园、绿地、自然保护区、海滨等休闲空间的规划、开发,休闲项目评价管理等研究;国内外学者在城市休闲定位、城市休闲空间建设方向选择、城市休闲主体研究等方面存在研究内容的差异。城市休闲产业建设、自然与人文休闲空间规划及环境可持续问题、休闲旅游等是现阶段城市休闲研究的重要课题。     

国际休闲研究动向与我国休闲研究主要命题刍议

西方关于休闲学的研究已有100多年历史,也已具备相当的理论与实践积累,成果颇丰,当前呈现出多学科综合交叉研究动向.我国休闲研究起步10年,出现了一批理论成果.随着社会经济文化的发展,我国面临诸多与休闲相关的问题,休闲研究显得极为紧迫.本文借鉴国外研究动向与现实课题,尝试性提出我国目前休闲研究的主要命题.     

Meditation as a kind of leisure: the similarities and differences in the United States

Meditation has been shown to be a cost-effective means to help individuals reduce stress, alleviate anxiety and depression. Similarly, leisure has been found to reduce stress, improve mood and contribute to overall health and well-being. The similarities and differences in outcomes between meditation and leisure suggest that a comparative analysis may determine if and how experiences and outcomes of meditation may be similar to and different from those of leisure and provide deeper insights into the ways in which both can contribute to improved quality of life. The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities and differences in meditation and leisure as perceived by a range of individuals engaging in meditation. Results indicate that meditators experience stress reduction, emotional balance and an enhanced quality of life during both their leisure and meditation. Many of the positive experiences and outcomes derived from meditation render it very similar to leisure. Nevertheless, meditation and leisure also differ in several important ways.     

Prediction of leisure participation from behavioral,normative, and control beliefs: An application of the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen 1985, 1987) is offered as a comprehensive framework for understanding of leisure participation. Salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs, theoretically the basic determinants of behavior, were assessed with respect to five leisure activities: spending time at the beach, jogging or running, mountain climbing, boating, and biking. College students completed a questionnaire containing measures of these beliefs and of global expressions of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. One year later the participants reported how often they had performed each behavior in the preceding 12 months. Behavioral beliefs were found to partition into beliefs about affective reactions and beliefs about costs and benefits. Participation in leisure activities was influenced by these affective and instrumental beliefs, as well as by normative beliefs about the expectations of important others and by control beliefs about required resources and other factors that impede or facilitate leisure participation.     

In and out of everyday life through film experiences: an analysis of two social spaces as leisure frames

The new information and communication technologies have made it possible to view films in different spaces. Using the symbolic interactionist framework as a frame of analysis, we interpret the meaning of the two experiences of viewing technology-mediated films in the home and in the cinema. We conducted field research during the first half of 2009, digitally recording 16 interviews with research participants living in Barcelona (Spain). The interviews were transcribed verbatim with the help of voice-recognition software. Reports from our research participants indicate that individuals considered only the cinema experience to be a true leisure activity, while the home experience was interpreted as a routine recreational activity. Therefore, the meanings of the film-viewing activity were associated with the symbolic properties of the frames of interpretation. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for the home as a unified centre where shared meanings are co-produced by family members.     

Becoming a belly dancer: gender,the life course and the beginnings of a serious leisure career

Serious leisure careers have a beginning, middle and end, yet few studies examine the beginning stage of leisure careers dominated by women. Drawing from interviews with male and female belly dancers in the USA, this study examines how people join serious leisure activities. Results show that both men and women were interested in dance, arts and history, had personal ties to belly dance, and wanted an enjoyable form of exercise to match their capabilities when they entered the world of belly dance. Unlike men, the women in this study also experienced major life transitions, such as diminishing familial responsibilities, job and school issues, moving and shifting relationships. These findings have implications for the gendered nature of serious leisure.     

Modelling attitudes to nature,tourism and sustainable development in national parks: A survey of visitors in China and the UK

This research undertook a visitor survey in two protected areas in different cultural contexts, namely China and the UK, to explore whether the value a person attaches to the environment influences their attitude towards sustainable tourism development in national parks. Structural equation models were developed with data from 597 and 368 questionnaires collected in Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area, China and the New Forest National Park, UK respectively. The results suggested that anthropocentric or ecocentric values significantly influence people's attitudes to tourism and sustainable development. The same structured causal relationship was found in both samples, between people's attitudes towards the natural environment, conservation and tourism in a national park context.     

Publishing in the primary leisure journals: Insight into the structure and boundaries of our research

Abstract

This study is a systematic empirical analysis of the structure and boundaries of leisure research as reflected by 2,628 citations used in six volumes of Journal of Leisure Research and Leisure Sciences. Four indicators were used to describe the structure of leisure research: the contributions from other fields, the type of citations used, the number of leisure sub‐topical areas, and the age of the citations. Leisure research has extensive ties with at least six fields and intensive attachments to three fields. As a result, citations are diversified by field and by many leisure research specialty areas. Journals and books constitute the majority of citation types, and the accumulation of recreation/leisure literature has shown substantial growth since the late 1950s. The proportion of sources originating in the recreation and parks field is growing but is still at relatively low levels in comparison with other fields of inquiry.     

Knit,purl and upload: new technologies,digital mediations and the experience of leisure

In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in knitting and an accompanying set of leisure practices from ‘stitch n bitch’ groups and pub knitting circles to fibre festivals and knit meets. Alongside this renaissance is a growing presence of ‘crafsters’ and ‘knitsters’ on the web, with blogs and podcasts devoted to the craft and social networking sites connecting a global community of knitters. The leisure experience of knitting now proliferates across multiple media sites and flows through various lifeworlds and circuits of consumption. This technological expression of the craft provides an interesting juxtaposition for exploring meanings and practices of mediated leisure and this article will argue that web 2.0 technologies have given users new ways to think about and engage with their creativity that, in turn, have become an embedded part of their construction and enjoyment of leisure practice. Technology use can be understood as a reciprocal and interconnected aspect of knitting as leisure and the study of techno-cultural change marks a territory where distinctions between leisure and technology are increasingly dissolved. Knitting as a material craft provides a useful example of the way in which virtual networks and environments have reshaped the consumption of leisure in rich and dynamic ways.