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The purpose of this study is to apply the triangle model of technology and the technology readiness index (TRI) in a qualitative study design to explore the geocaching phenomenon in state parks.

A framework was developed to examine the triangular relationships between the park, geocaching and visitors. A total of 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Texas state park officials. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data.

Three types of interactions (i.e. park-visitor, visitor-technology and park-technology) were identified. Although geocaching leads to positive recreational experiences for park visitors, the study also revealed the decreasing popularity of geocaching along with park officials’ apprehension regarding the placement of caches. The findings suggest that Texas state parks fall within the “Avoiders” stage in terms of technology readiness because of a low level of optimism and innovation and a high level of discomfort and insecurity toward geocaching technology.

The study contributes to the extant literature by adding new knowledge regarding geocaching in the context of state parks. This study is one of the first to apply the triangle model of technology to examine the trilateral relationships between parks, geocaching and visitors. The study also innovatively adopts the TRI in a qualitative study to identify the technology readiness stage of state parks.

本研究旨在运用科技三角模型以及科技准备度指数（TRI）以定性研究为方法来探索地理藏宝这一现象。

本研究为探索公园, 地理藏宝以及访客的三角结构关系提出了理论框架。研究对德克萨斯州立公园行政人员进行了12项半结构化访谈。主题分析发进行了访谈数据分析。

研究发现了三种形式的互动：公园访客, 访客科技装备, 和公园的科技装备。尽管地理藏宝活动提高了公园访客的体验, 本研究通过公园人员的视角也发现访客的热情有所降低。研究结果发现德州州立公园在科技准备度意义来说仍处于“回避”阶段, 基于较低的积极度和创新意识, 以及对地理藏宝活动表现较高的不适以及不安。

本研究为已有的文献增添了有关州立公园地理藏宝的新发现。本研究是首次运用科技三角模型来研究公园, 地理藏宝和访客之间的三边关系。本论文也创新性的在定性研究中运用了TRI对州立公园科技准备度进行研究。

The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound in Alaska; the battle over future oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska; oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Texas; medical waste pollution on the beaches of the northeast; and nuclear contamination from the Department of Energy and Department of Defense facilities have all demonstrated how endangered and fragile America's remaining natural places have become. These ecological controversies make our designated parklands even more precious and reinforce the important responsibility given to the National Park System for preserving America's natural areas.

The purpose of the chapter is to study peculiarities of formation of “green economy” in Russia and to substantiate the perspectives of its development by technological parks. The “green economy” is just appearing in Russia, as its volume is 4% of GDP as of now, with a downward trend for the recent 10 years. Favorable conditions for the formation of “green economy” are created in technological parks due to the attraction of the necessary volume of investments and increased state regulation. Technological park ‘Sinarsky’, West-Siberian innovational center (Tyumen technological park), and technological park of high-tech of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug show “green” initiatives. However, their share in the total structure of technological parks of Russia is only 2%. The volume of “green” investments in technological parks of Russia constitutes RUB 0.58 billion, and the volume of “green” production – RUB 9.153 billion, with 3,980 “green” jobs. The developed authors’ concept and the offered practical recommendations allow for the deeper study of the potential of technological parks in the context of the “green economy” in Russia. According to the forecast, their implementation will allow ensuring achievement of the share of “green” technological parks in their structure at the level of 30%, thus increasing the volume of “green” investments in Russia’s technological parks to RUB 7.888 billion: the volume of “green” production to RUB 124.48 billion, and the number of “green” jobs to 54,128. “Green” development of technological parks will allow increasing the volume of “green” economy in Russia by 3.2% until 2025.

This paper aims to examine the economic impact from dark-sky tourism in national parks in the USA on the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is a region encompassing parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah that is known for its dark, star-filled night skies. Tourists in national parks are increasingly interested in observing this natural recreational amenity – especially considering that it is an ecological amenity that is quickly disappearing from the planet. Using a 10-year forecast of visitors to the national parks and using standard input-output modeling, it is observed that, for the first time anywhere, the value of dark skies to tourism in this area. The authors find that non-local tourists who value dark skies will spend $5.8bn over the next 10 years in the Colorado Plateau. These tourist expenditures will generate $2.4bn in higher wages and create over 10,000 additional jobs each year for the region. Furthermore, as dark skies are even more intense natural amenity in the non-summer months, they have the ability to increase visitor counts to national parks year-round and lead to a more efficient use of local community and tourism-related resources throughout the year.

Using a 10-year forecast of visitors to the national parks and using standard input-output modeling, we find that non-local tourists who value dark skies will spend $5.8bn over the next 10 years in the Colorado Plateau.

These tourist expenditures will generate $2.4bn in higher wages and create over 10,000 additional jobs each year for the region. Furthermore, as dark skies are even more intense natural amenity in the non-summer months, they have the ability to increase visitor counts to national parks year-round and lead to a more efficient use of local community and tourism-related resources throughout the year.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study has attempted to value the environmental amenity of dark skies.

Purpose – This chapter will examine the role of Central Park in setting in motion certain practices related to park development as well as revolutionizing park financing in the mid-nineteenth century and again in modern times. It will examine the shift from public financing of parks to the development of public–private partnerships to design, build, fund, and administer urban parks.

Design/methodology/approach – The author takes an historical approach to put contemporary park debates vis-à-vis funding and administration in context. Archival materials are used to examine park financing models all over the country.

Findings – Central Park still continues to revolutionize urban park financing. Cities are cutting back on funding for public parks; as a result, there is a greater reliance on private financing options. Not all parks are in a position to rely heavily on private financing, and this raises questions about access to open space in cities.

Originality/value – The chapter raises questions about equity in the shift toward the private financing of urban parks. It extends the environmental justice discourse to examine open space issues. It examines long-term historical trends in helping the reader understand the contemporary state of urban park financing.

This study evaluates an attempt to develop a mediation program within a state environmental agency. A number of concerns arose during the agency's efforts to use mediation, including the neutrality of mediators, the types of cases mediated, the voluntary participation of parties, and acceptance of the mediated agreement. These issues were examined through a case study of a conflict that was mediated by the agency. Based on issues in the case, criteria are suggested which help guard against the problems that arise when government agencies serve a mediating role. These criteria may be useful to any organization that contemplates using mediation to help resolve conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for benchmarking the service quality of amusement parks.

A hybrid approach, which is a combination of AHP (analytic hierarchy process) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), is applied for service quality benchmarking.

Amusement parks are centers of attraction at various tourist destinations across the world. Their service quality is constituted by the attainment of certain quality attributes that varies with different parks. For sustaining in the industry, the managers of the parks need to have a good overview of the practices followed by them and their competitors that necessitate benchmarking of the service quality.

The developed framework using the hybrid methodology of AHP and TOPSIS can be applied for comparing different amusement parks based on quality attributes, which will help the organizers in improving their service quality.

The paper identifies various service quality attributes of amusement parks and an evaluation scheme for those attributes had been developed. Based on these, a framework had been developed for benchmarking of service quality of different amusement parks.

This paper aims to discuss visitor behaviour and net present value (NPV) of the only theme park in Turkmenistan – Turkmenbashi World of Fairytales.

Visitor behaviour, in terms of allocating time and expenditure to different parts of the theme park, is analysed using time and cost blocks. The data from a questionnaire answered by 317 visitors are employed in the descriptive analysis of visitor behaviour. The data on visitor behaviour are also incorporated into an estimation of the theme park’s net present value, as well as its sensitivity and scenario analyses.

The results show that the park is mostly visited by young people, at the time before noon or after 4 p.m. A majority of the visitors do not spend a significant amount in the theme park. Hence, achieving positive NPV may require improved revenue growth.

Turkmenbashi World of Fairytales is one of few publicly owned theme parks in the world. This provides a unique opportunity to test if positive NPV plays any role in construction of a public theme park.

The pricing of parking is a common tool used by governments to facilitate the efficient movement of traffic, raise revenue and, more recently, influence travel behaviour. An important and under-researched by-product of parking pricing schemes is the impact of these schemes on parking supply.

This chapter offers a review of prior research and literature, and explores: who pays the parking levy, the impact of the Congestion Levy on the provision of parking and an overview of the transport impacts of the levy.

The direction of the levy at parking operators and owners rather than the vehicle drivers does not provide a direct link between users and the levy and results in many parking providers not passing the levy onto commuters. The study of parking supply impact shows that, since the introduction of the levy, the supply of commercial off-street parking spaces has declined while the growth in private, non-residential, parking spaces has slowed. Over the same period, there has been a decrease in the number of parking spaces provided for long-stay parking (which attract the parking levy), and an increase in the number of spaces provided for other uses. Understanding these parking supply impacts are important, not only because a reduction in the number of long-stay car parking spaces is an objective of the levy, but also because any such reduction could magnify the travel behaviour impacts that may have occurred solely as a result of an increase in parking price. Investigation of the overall transport impacts of the levy indicate that the parking levy did have an impact on mode choice. However the extent of this impact was not clear due to a large number of associated changes in policy and economic conditions that took place at the same time as the levy.

The chapter shows that the parking levy was positive in its impact on transport use, however there were a number of improvements that could be made to the way the levy was implemented that could improve these. Interestingly, there have been a number of recent changes in the implementation of the levy that address some of these issues. Most importantly, following its own investigation into the impact of the levy, from January 2014 the cost of the levy was increased by 40% to $1,300 per annum, and its coverage extended (Victorian State Revenue Office, 2013). The impact of this change has not been considered in this research.

The uniqueness of the chapter lies in its exploration of how increased prices of parking has influenced supply and how the levy, as a new form of congestion pricing, has influenced the supply of parking in the context of the case study of the Melbourne parking levy in Australia.