Visitor frequencies and attitudes towards urban forests and their management, before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. A mixed methods case study in Bonn, Germany

ABSTRACTUrban forests play a crucial role for the wellbeing of city dwellers, and their importance for people has been emphasised during the COVID-19 pandemic. This exploratory study analyses the visit patterns and visitor attitudes and perceptions in a peri-urban forest nearby Bonn, Germany, as well as the impact of the lockdown. Methodically, we combined automated visitor counting with a total of 345 on-site interviews. Respondents were asked a variety of open-ended and closed questions on various aspects of forest management and recreation. The results show that shortly after the inception of the lockdown the number of forest visitors doubled and the visit pattern changed markedly. In contrast, people’s associations with the forest remained rather stable. The forest visitors interviewed primarily associated the forest with tranquillity, recreation and fresh air, and they were generally positive about forest management. However, these expectations conflicted with the sense of crowdedness experienced during the lockdown, when novel forest uses and new motivations for visiting the forest arose, with an important focus on the forest as a place for social interaction. These were mainly a result of the lockdown restrictions, rather than COVID-19 itself, which left people with more time and flexibility, and less alternative activities. The results highlight the importance of forest management in catering to people’s expectations and ultimately for the role that forests play for people’s wellbeing. This was the case before the lockdown but arguably even more so during, in response to a variety of needs resulting from unprecedented circumstances

Social Aspects of Water Supply Management in Jordan

Countries in the Middle East have been experiencing severe water shortages for several decades. In Jordan this crisis has been aggravated by population increase, climate change and the influx of Syrian refugees. In the process of managing the increasing water demand and its unstable supply some population groups become disadvantaged. It is increasingly recognised that a sustainable solution to the problem should extend beyond its technical dimension and ensure the involvement of various stakeholder groups. But how can an inclusive participatory process be designed that is likely to arrive at sustainable water management system? This is the question addressed by this book. The potential of participation in water management is examined for three exemplary refugee-hosting Jordanian rural communities. The book goes beyond the discussion of advantages of the approach and determines the conditions under which a participatory process will need to be designed. These are rooted, among other things, in the strong informal institutions regulating relationships within Jordanian society. Making explicit the complex web of water-related interests, social rules and power relations among water users and managers as well as actors’ existing problem-solving capacities is the basis for subsequently elaborating design principles for a participatory process that may lead to a more inclusive and sustainable water management system in the region. Results highlight the need to embed interventions in natural resource management - with tech-nical and institutional components - within the overall social system that forms Jordanian society. This study therefore contributes to the small but growing body of literature on social water stud-ies in the MENA region