LAND: Down by the riverside: Urban public nature-related attitudes and activities as a knowledge base for river restoration and management

The beneficial, restorative effects of activities and experiences in natural environments are well documented. Since a majority of the population live in urban areas, more attention should be given to the establishment, availability, use, and management o f urban natural areas. Such areas usually include an abundance of remains of former human activities, the result being a landscape or environment where nature and culture are integrated in a mosaic being of large importance for the outdoor activities taki ng place there. In this interdisciplinary project the main aim is to identify relations between quality of life, use patterns, attitudes, preferences, and use-inhibiting factors, and restoration and management of the greenway area along the Alna River in Oslo. This research area has a large variety of natural milieus as well as cultural remains from various historical periods. Five main foci constitute this project. First, attitudes, preferences, and out door activities of children and adolescents (10-17 yrs.) will be surveyed. Second, these issues will be analysed targeting a representative sample of the adult population in the area, with the additional aim to relate out door experiences and activities to people’s quality of life. Third, a focus will be on the importance of ethnicity for residential nature-related activities and attitudes, emphasising influences of differential socialisation and culture-specific norms. Fourth, the importance and effects of the information about and existence of historic ally and culturally central sites and events along the river corridor will be measured. Finally, as a synthesis, information collected in these four parts will be related to existing and future landscape planning in the area.