Spatial planning and management of recreational infrastructure in the context of social changes in last 30 years

Abstract

The last three decades have been marked by the rapid development of information and communication technology, which has changed work processes, the leisure activity of people and at the same time the use of space for recreational purposes. Due to socio-political changes in Slovenia, the situation, type and accessibility of recreational infrastructure was additionally influenced by the transition process. Transition from the socialistic to market-oriented society transformed the relationship between public and private infrastructure, management and access to infrastructure. There are more and more situations where spatial and other conflicts can be detected, both in the placement of recreational infrastructure and its use, e.g. the placement of cycling routes on agricultural land (Schreyer, 2019).

In line with global societal changes, which include an ageing population, a changed lifestyle, an increasing number of one-person households, telework, people's motives and needs for recreation have also changed (Guthold et al., 2018). In 2020 and beyond, this was further influenced by the pandemic, which in some countries severely restricted citizens' access to recreational infrastructure and their recreational opportunities. As a result of social changes, the popularity of individual types of recreation has also changed, new types of infrastructure have appeared, such as bike parks, pump tracks etc. (Goodman et al., 2013). The development of new recreational infrastructure can also be due to targeted funding, such as EU funding through LEADER, Interreg programmes and other dedicated funding sources that support such investments. All the highlighted spatial aspects of recreation have so far only been addressed partially in the research (Hall and Page, 2014; Dallen and Boyd, 2015), which is why the main purpose of the project "Spatial management, and status of recreational infrastructure and recreational habits in the context of social changes in the last three decades" is to fill the gap in the field of study of recreation in the last 30 years and to provide systematic and interdisciplinary coverage of the topic of recreation, including recreational habits,  infrastructure and its spatial management. In this paper, we will present the results of the work carried out so far relating to spatial management of infrastructure, i.e. recreational infrastructure regulation and stakeholders and their role in its management. We examined both the governance framework at the national level and the municipal one. Interviews were conducted and analyses of policies or other relevant documents was done for the municipal level. The results show that the management of recreational infrastructure is both public and private, and that not only spatial planning but also other sectors are responsible for certain aspects related to the recreational infrastructure management. Certain management challenges have also been identified, such as maintenance financing, ad hoc construction of certain types of infrastructure, etc.