Visiting Peri-Urban Forestlands and Mountains during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Empirical Analysis on Effects of Land Use and Awareness of Visitors

This research analyzed the status of visiting peri-urban forestlands and mountains during first COVID-19 emergency period in Japan using a large-scale online questionnaire-based survey. We identified examined factors that correlated with visits to such areas, including respondents’ social-economic attributes, environmental conditions (such as land use patterns their residential areas), awareness functions forestlands. The results suggest are major factor encouraging residents visit pandemic. Peri-urban areas have conditions, who visited tended live areas. Residents’ expectations regarding forest were also strong influencing them those places. Those forests expected these mental health educational functions. Especially, female respondents be aware spaces for physical relaxation, one or more children forests. These findings imply policy should consider role awareness, about function mountains, prior interactions nature places could play addressing social disparities exist between different socio-economic statuses access nature. In future research, detailed relationships residents’ expectations/awareness need explored.