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While community quality-of-life indicators are gaining much needed attention in both scholarly work and practice, their application in the areas of parks, recreation and tourism management are not as well known. The applicability of indicator systems for natural resource and natural resource area management within the parks and recreation arena is very high, including urban parks and recreation programs and their influence on quality of life.
Tourism is also an area that needs much more work in terms of assessing impacts as well as developing indicators for gauging progress in the long term. All three areas are an integrated discipline and most programs throughout the developed world are housed co-jointly. There are several researchers across the globe who are conducting innovative work in these areas. The editors feel that a volume on the topic will spur additional interests as well as serve to lead the research efforts.
List of contents
Acknowledgements. Contributing Authors. Introduction. Part I: The Context of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management and Quality of Life. Part II: Quality of Life, Indicators and Parks and Recreation. Part III: Quality of Life and Tourism. Summary. Index.
About the author
Megha Budruk is an Assistant Professor in the Parks and Recreation Program at the School of Community Resources & Development, Arizona State University. Her primary interests include community involvement in natural resource planning on public lands. Other research interest include indicator based social carrying capacity of visitor experience, as well as visitor impacts, education and management at parks, cultural monuments, natural history museums, and zoos.
Rhonda Phillips, Ph.D, AICP, CEcD.
Community investment and well-being comprise the focus of Rhonda`s research and outreach activities. With public, private and non-profit experience, she offers both practice and academic perspectives. As a professor in the School of Community Resources Development at Arizona State University, Rhonda works with faculty, staff, students and organizations to expand the reach of community-based education and research initiatives for enhancing quality of life. Her focus is community planning, development, and tourism planning as well as community indicator and evaluation systems for monitoring progress towards community development and economic development revitalization goals.
Prior to joining ASU, she served nine years on the faculty at the University of Florida`s Urban and Regional Planning Department where she was founding director of the Center for Building Better Communities. This outreach center provided community and economic development revitalization services throughout Florida. Her work before joining academe was in community and economic development at the state, local and regional levels; she holds dual professional certifications in urban and regional planning (American Institute of Certified Planners) and economic and community development (Certified Economic and Community Developer with the International Economic Development Council).
Rhonda`s honors include serving as the 2006 Fulbright Scholar in Northern Ireland at the University of Ulster, focusing on heritage and cultural based tourism as community and economic development strategies via The Heritage Initiative. Her work in tourism has included arts-based development as well as developing community indicator systems for tourist-based economies.
Summary
While community quality-of-life indicators are gaining much needed attention in both scholarly work and practice, their application in the areas of parks, recreation and tourism management are not as well known. The applicability of indicator systems for natural resource and natural resource area management within the parks and recreation arena is very high, including urban parks and recreation programs and their influence on quality of life.
Tourism is also an area that needs much more work in terms of assessing impacts as well as developing indicators for gauging progress in the long term. All three areas are an integrated discipline and most programs throughout the developed world are housed co-jointly. There are several researchers across the globe who are conducting innovative work in these areas. The editors feel that a volume on the topic will spur additional interests as well as serve to lead the research efforts.
