ABSTRACT
The previous two chapters in this section have covered the strategic forest level approaches to planning forests for recreation and nature tourism. These set the context, the goals and often the locations and zones for site level development to take place. Non-intervention should always be considered as an option when planning. However, this chapter assumes some kind of intervention or development for forest recreation or nature tourism will occur and addresses practical procedures for undertaking site planning and design of new facilities or the upgrading of existing site facilities. The chapter includes a philosophy for designing facilities in natural environments, methods of team working to ensure complex environmental issues are addressed from multiple perspectives, and the stages in the design and construction process that need careful attention to ensure that the finished product enhances the visitors’ experience of the forest environment. The content of this chapter is the distillation of practical experience of designers and managers of forest recreation facilities, as well as the working practice of landscape architects, engineers and project managers, which is why there are fewer references than in earlier chapters – this subject has not been the object of much
research and is only covered by a few books. It is therefore set out more like a manual than an analysis of research projects. References will be made to examples from around Europe showing how cultural, geographic and climate differences result in a wide range of recreation infrastructure. As good design and working practice in developing facilities are the key to accomplishing excellence this chapter identifies some successful working practices to achieve this.
