'Not enjoying our wilderness would be a great loss': Aligning discourses of well-being and environmental disturbance in protected landscapes

This event has ended.

Protected areas have a role in supporting a range of recreational activities that ultimately are linked to wellbeing benefits.

This presentation reports on research conducted in two separate off-road running events held in UK and NZ protected areas. The analysis shows how discourses associated with off-road running reflect an individualised, commodified and instrumental approach to nature, where nature is used simply as a resource for health.

The paper proposes a revised account of the wellbeing-in-nature discourse based on a multifaceted view of agency. It considers how this approach might more effectively link wellbeing to broader conservation and socio-political processes.