Summary
British society is changing in many ways. We are becoming more culturally and socially diverse, and we are developing new expectations about our lifestyles, access to the countryside and green spaces, and to the social benefits we wish to enjoy from environmental resources such as woods and forests. The demands placed on trees, woods and forests by society are becoming more complicated, and understanding which sections of society are benefitting to what degree is an increasingly complex issue.
The research in this work area picks up these ideas and is concerned with understanding the patterns of opportunity, engagement and impacts linked to trees, woods and forests (TWF), which are expressed at the level of communities or of wider society.
There is also a focus on understanding more about how social change affects relationships with TWF, as well as how TWF can be used to drive social change. This means understanding more about particular segments of society, how they react to TWF, and what can be done to increase the benefits they enjoy from TWF or their participation in woodland-based activities and enterprises.
The research includes developing methods and datasets that allow generalisations which capture these trends at different spatial and demographic scales. Five broad themes are covered:
- Spatial and demographic analysis and generalisation
- Social differentiation, diversity and the distribution of impacts and benefits from TWF
- Segmentation and behaviour of users/non-users/potential users of woods and forests
- Engagement and understanding ways to improve social equality and equal access to the opportunities and benefits from TWF
- Community enterprise and social development linked to TWF.
Description and summary of research included in this theme (PDF-22K)
Individual research projects
- Accessibility and racial equality
- Assessing the contribution of forestry grants to equal access for disabled people for recreation in Scottish woods
- Benefits and drawbacks of using new media for the Forestry Commission
- Cydcoed evaluation
- Enhancing the forest sector's contribution to equal access for disabled people to recreation in Scottish forests
- Engaging with rivers in a period of uncertainty (PDF-205K)
- Equality and inclusion of social diversity with respect to woods and forests in the UK: an evidence review
- Faith woodlands (PDF-672K)
- Growing places: a study of social change in the National Forest
- Hill Holt Wood social enterprise and community woodland
- Leisure landscapes: exploring the role of forestry in tourism (PDF-1450)
- Peabody Hill Wood social housing and greenspace
- Public engagement in forestry and woodland plans and projects
- Social diversity and employment in the forestry profession
- Social, cultural and economic values of contemporary non-timber forest products: Wild Harvests
- Using social approaches in coal ash remediation (RECOAL)
- Visualisation tools for public participation in managing landscape change (VISULANDS)
- Wildfires in Wales: social drivers and mitigation measures
- Woodland-based social enterprises: enabling factors and barriers to success
Contact
For further information please contact:
Bianca Ambrose-Oji
Forestry Commission Wales Office
Gwydyr Uchaf
Llanrwst
Conwy LL26 0PN
Tel: 0300 068 0162
Email: bianca.ambrose-oji@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
