Outdoor recreation and ethnicity in Europe—A review

Despite the fact that Europe is becoming more ethnically diverse, little is known about the outdoor recreation habits of non-Western immigrants in Europe. North American research has shown that there are major differences in the use, preferences and motivation for outdoor recreation of immigrants and their descendants compared to the mainstream white population in North America. Knowledge about the use and needs for outdoor recreation among different user groups can provide useful information for managers, planners and policy-makers in the field of landscape management and integration, because they have to meet the needs of an increasingly multicultural citizenry. This article reviews the literature in the field of outdoor recreation and ethnicity in Europe, identifies research gaps, and discusses implications for future research. We can identify an emerging field of study on ethnicity and outdoor recreation in Europe: the vast majority of the studies have focused on ethnic minorities in parks and urban forests in European cities, while there are few studies of ethnic minority recreational behaviour in areas outside cities. Topics such as leisure activities, outdoor recreation patterns, access and distance to green space, and non-Western immigrants’ perception of nature have been investigated. However, the results are difficult to compare, because the researchers have employed different methods and have used differing categories to distinguish ethnic affiliation. Therefore, this study has several implications for future research: (1) European scholars need to become more sensitive towards ethnic affiliation; the in-group heterogeneity of the ethnic minorities has to be taken into account. (2) Future research should examine areas other than urban areas, and we need to take more account of the motives for participating in outdoor recreation. (3) Furthermore, investigation of the influence of acculturation on ethnic minorities’ outdoor recreation pattern would provide a more comprehensive picture.