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Rural recreation in the industrial world
340
The student will conclude that conservation is a miserly notion, in contrast to the enthusiasm with which British planning students, many of them war veterans, discovered conservation in the 1940s. Their little red b o o k was a Penguin c o p y o f Liliental's TVA. The Tennessee Valley Plan was for them a practical demonstration of the ideas of Patrick Geddes, summed up in the word conservation. There seems to be no mention of the TVA in Human Environments (and no reference to the work in Tennessee and other States of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service). In spite of the denigrating label o f Socialism applied to it in the United States, the TVA has continued to be a source of inspiration to regional planners in many countries; it was a remarkable pioneering demonstration of revitalizing a regional culture from the grassroots. American students should be reminded o f this. JOYCE LYNDON
(Rheinheim, Federal Republic of Germany)
RURAL RECREATION
Rural Recreation in the Industrial World. I.C. Simmons. Edward Arnold, London, 1975, 310 pp., £ 9.95. Since the end of World War II o u t d o o r recreation has gradually b e c o m e a general social need in an ever-increasing number of countries, and a considerable amount of research has been carried o u t on its various aspects in recent years. The contribution of I.C. Simmons deserves particular attention. His b o o k is the first comprehensive a t t e m p t to present man's use of his rural environment. The author describes in his b o o k the whole gamut of problems connected with o u t d o o r recreation. He has t w o objectives: 'firstly to give some idea of magnitude of participation in o u t d o o r recreation in the chosen areas together with the types of activities which are pursued, and secondly to see h o w in particular places the response of b o t h governments and private enterprise has evolved and h o w the land management problems of recreation are being faced'. The b o o k brings together an impressive amount of information on o u t d o o r recreational activities in five highly industrialized countries: the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Denmarl(, the U.S.A., Canada and Japan. Part One discusses the concept of rural recreation and outlines the history of leisure activities in the West. Part Two and Part Three point out the distinction between user-oriented and resource-based recreation. Of particular interest is the last part dealing with the roles of governments and private enterprises, sponsoring a rational use of rural areas for recreational needs. The b o o k ends with a discussion on environmental problems of rural recreation. Although the work is designed primarily for the advanced student in recre-
341 ational land management, it will u n d o u b t e d l y draw the attention of practising environmentalists. As well as Simmons' discussion of availibility of rural recreation in industrial countries, the b o o k assembles a large number of tables with data referring to major recreational activities, participation in rural recreation, government resource management programmes, etc. The volume covers several topics, the complexity of which being such that unless clear presentation is made, the student may find himself floundering in a mass of geographical, economic, sociological and ecological details. Fortunately, all the sections are so clearly and lucidly organized and developed that the b o o k is free of tediousness and scientific jargon. The only point of possible criticism concerns the author's somewhat mild interpretation of some of the dilemmas of rural recreation in this motorized age. Mass car ownership has made rural recreation accessible for millions of people. In the past preservation and recreation scarcely conflicted; in recent years, however, the word recreation has taken a new meaning and in some ways recreational pressure seems to be threatening the very idea of rural recreation. But this is perhaps a subject for another book. ANDRZEJ DINIEJKO (Kielce, Poland )
FARM INTERPRETATION PLANS
Shipley Country Park: Farm Interpretation Plan. Countryside Commission and Derbyshire County Council. CCP 85, H.M.S.O., London, 1975, 65 pp., £ 2.00. In 1965 the second "Countryside in 1 9 7 0 " conference dealt with education and concluded that positive measures were needed to encourage awareness and appreciation of the natural environment, as well as responsibility for its trusteeship. Further, that the educational system had a decisive contribution to make in creating this awareness; and that the countryside could contribute substantially to education at all levels. Such has been the change in public attitude within a decade that, now, it seems remarkable that resolutions like these were ever necessary. But, in the 1960's, it was apparent to many that an increasingly urbanised population and school children in particular were better acquainted with ecology and wildlife in various quarters of the globe than with the workings of the countryside on their own doorstep. The farmyards featured in nursery picture books bore little resemblance to the realities of the situation: flocks of hens scratching in the straw, teams of horses in harness and fields of golden stooks were almost as rare a sight as blue-smocked peasants. They belonged to the imaginary world of the fairy castle and knights in shining armour. Concerned with their own immediate problems, the agricultural in-
The student will conclude that conservation is a miserly notion, in contrast to the enthusiasm with which British planning students, many of them war veterans, discovered conservation in the 1940s. Their little red b o o k was a Penguin c o p y o f Liliental's TVA. The Tennessee Valley Plan was for them a practical demonstration of the ideas of Patrick Geddes, summed up in the word conservation. There seems to be no mention of the TVA in Human Environments (and no reference to the work in Tennessee and other States of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service). In spite of the denigrating label o f Socialism applied to it in the United States, the TVA has continued to be a source of inspiration to regional planners in many countries; it was a remarkable pioneering demonstration of revitalizing a regional culture from the grassroots. American students should be reminded o f this. JOYCE LYNDON
(Rheinheim, Federal Republic of Germany)
RURAL RECREATION
Rural Recreation in the Industrial World. I.C. Simmons. Edward Arnold, London, 1975, 310 pp., £ 9.95. Since the end of World War II o u t d o o r recreation has gradually b e c o m e a general social need in an ever-increasing number of countries, and a considerable amount of research has been carried o u t on its various aspects in recent years. The contribution of I.C. Simmons deserves particular attention. His b o o k is the first comprehensive a t t e m p t to present man's use of his rural environment. The author describes in his b o o k the whole gamut of problems connected with o u t d o o r recreation. He has t w o objectives: 'firstly to give some idea of magnitude of participation in o u t d o o r recreation in the chosen areas together with the types of activities which are pursued, and secondly to see h o w in particular places the response of b o t h governments and private enterprise has evolved and h o w the land management problems of recreation are being faced'. The b o o k brings together an impressive amount of information on o u t d o o r recreational activities in five highly industrialized countries: the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Denmarl(, the U.S.A., Canada and Japan. Part One discusses the concept of rural recreation and outlines the history of leisure activities in the West. Part Two and Part Three point out the distinction between user-oriented and resource-based recreation. Of particular interest is the last part dealing with the roles of governments and private enterprises, sponsoring a rational use of rural areas for recreational needs. The b o o k ends with a discussion on environmental problems of rural recreation. Although the work is designed primarily for the advanced student in recre-
341 ational land management, it will u n d o u b t e d l y draw the attention of practising environmentalists. As well as Simmons' discussion of availibility of rural recreation in industrial countries, the b o o k assembles a large number of tables with data referring to major recreational activities, participation in rural recreation, government resource management programmes, etc. The volume covers several topics, the complexity of which being such that unless clear presentation is made, the student may find himself floundering in a mass of geographical, economic, sociological and ecological details. Fortunately, all the sections are so clearly and lucidly organized and developed that the b o o k is free of tediousness and scientific jargon. The only point of possible criticism concerns the author's somewhat mild interpretation of some of the dilemmas of rural recreation in this motorized age. Mass car ownership has made rural recreation accessible for millions of people. In the past preservation and recreation scarcely conflicted; in recent years, however, the word recreation has taken a new meaning and in some ways recreational pressure seems to be threatening the very idea of rural recreation. But this is perhaps a subject for another book. ANDRZEJ DINIEJKO (Kielce, Poland )
FARM INTERPRETATION PLANS
Shipley Country Park: Farm Interpretation Plan. Countryside Commission and Derbyshire County Council. CCP 85, H.M.S.O., London, 1975, 65 pp., £ 2.00. In 1965 the second "Countryside in 1 9 7 0 " conference dealt with education and concluded that positive measures were needed to encourage awareness and appreciation of the natural environment, as well as responsibility for its trusteeship. Further, that the educational system had a decisive contribution to make in creating this awareness; and that the countryside could contribute substantially to education at all levels. Such has been the change in public attitude within a decade that, now, it seems remarkable that resolutions like these were ever necessary. But, in the 1960's, it was apparent to many that an increasingly urbanised population and school children in particular were better acquainted with ecology and wildlife in various quarters of the globe than with the workings of the countryside on their own doorstep. The farmyards featured in nursery picture books bore little resemblance to the realities of the situation: flocks of hens scratching in the straw, teams of horses in harness and fields of golden stooks were almost as rare a sight as blue-smocked peasants. They belonged to the imaginary world of the fairy castle and knights in shining armour. Concerned with their own immediate problems, the agricultural in-