A restorative definition for outdoor recreation

This paper challenges the traditional "re-create" definition of recreation, offering in its place a restorative orientation based on Attention Restoration Theory. It will be argued and demonstrated that we are not in the business of "re-creating" something that has been lost, but rather, in the business of restoring people's mental well-being that has been fatigued. Outdoor recreation researchers and managers should be concerned with restorative environments and experiences, not the "recreating" of lost human properties and benefits. The paper begins with a demonstration to illustrate the difference between restoration and re-creation, follows with a conceptual presentation of Attention Restoration Theory and the components of restorative environments, and ends with some psychophysiological evidence from natural and outdoor recreation environments that support a restoration approach to recreation resource management. The conclusion proposes that we are restoration recreationists, with a philosophical role not much different from restoration ecologists, restoration architects, and restorative psychologists.