Karla A. Henderson

Introduction to Recreation Services: Sustainability for a Changing World explores the meanings of leisure for people and the importance of recreation services in society. The focus is on all sectors of the recreation services field, including public, nonprofit, and private business entities. The emphasis is on introducing students to career opportunities in recreation services and the benefits as well as challenges facing recreation professionals in a changing world. The philosophy that is presented in this book is that social, economic, and environmental sustainability concerns should underlie all recreation services. Many perspectives could be taken to provide an introduction to recreation services, but this book targets recreation services embodied in specialties such as parks and recreation, sports, tourism, event management, outdoor leadership and management, and therapeutic recreation.

Sustainability for a Changing World

Introduction to Recreation Services

Barbara Humberstone

Heather Prince

The ‘outdoors’ is a physical and ideological space in which people engage with their environment, but it is also an important vehicle for learning and for leisure. The Routledge Handbook of Outdoor Studies is the first book to attempt to define and survey the multi-disciplinary set of approaches that constitute the broad field of outdoor studies, including outdoor recreation, outdoor education, adventure education, environmental studies, physical culture studies and leisure studies. It reflects upon the often haphazard development of outdoor studies as a discipline, critically assesses current knowledge in outdoor studies, and identifies further opportunities for future research in this area. With a broader sweep than any other book yet published on the topic, this handbook traces the philosophical and conceptual contours of the discipline, as well as exploring key contemporary topics and debates, and identifying important issues in education and professional practice. It examines the cultural, social and political contexts in which people experience the outdoors, including perspectives on outdoor studies from a wide range of countries, providing the perfect foundation for any student, researcher, educator or outdoors practitioner looking to deepen their professional knowledge of the outdoors and our engagement with the world around us.

Karla A. Henderson

Books

Your next favorite book is out there