What We Talk about When We Talk about Recreation Outdoor Experience, Access to the Coast, and Relationship with Nature

摘要

Access to the water, whether a river, lake, or ocean, has been through history and continues to be a challenge across the United States, with various user groups competing for space. Communication about human interaction with natural places employs the term 'recreation' to describe certain outdoor activities, yet definitions and meanings of the word remain elusive. The history of usage and meanings of 'recreation,' including within a legal context, illuminate more recent struggles over rights to public space, especially coastal areas. The importance of recreation to individual and collective health and wellbeing justifies efforts to protect and increase recreational space. An interdisciplinary perspective on these issues is offered as a way to redefine recreation and revalue the human-nature relationship.