Paul H. Gobster

Title: Research Social Scientist
Unit: People and Their Environments: Social Science Supporting Natural Resource Management and Policy
Previous Unit: Natural Environments for Urban Populations
Address: Northern Research Station
1033 University Place, Suite 360
Evanston, IL 60201-3172
Phone: 847-866-9311; ext. 16
E-mail: Contact Paul H. Gobster

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Education

• University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D. Land Resources, 1987
• University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.S. Landscape Architecture, 1983
• University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, B.S. Regional Analysis, minor Leisure Studies, 1978

Civic & Professional Affiliations

American Society of Landscape Architects, Forest History Society, Human Dimensions Society, Natural Areas Association, Society for Ecological Restoration International

Current Research

My research broadly addresses the question: How can we manage landscapes to provide satisfying experiences for people? The context for much of my work has been park and forest landscapes in urban settings. I am focusing on three interrelated topic areas:

1. Perception and experience of landscapes: how people perceive and experience parks and forests, including issues of aesthetics, psychological restoration, and physical activity.
2. Meanings of nature: how nature is understood and valued by different individuals and stakeholder groups and how these values can be incorporated into landscape restoration and management.
3. Access and equity issues: how to understand the cultural dimensions of landscape to provide better and more equitable access to nature, leisure, and open space opportunities for diverse populations.

Why is This Important

Social issues are increasingly at the forefront of environmental management decisions. Urban populations can be particularly diverse. If we can understand the range of perceptions and values that exist, we will help provide environmental managers the information they need to make decisions that are insightful to all stakeholders concerned.

Future Research

Some areas of future work include:

1. developing a conceptual framework for understanding people's responses to invasive species;
2. understanding people's values in urban nature and from this developing guidelines and knowledge to improve urban natural resource stewardship programs;
3. identifying factors related to how urban green space can encourage people to adopt more active lifestyles; 4) exploring the phenomenological experience of land and water environments.

Featured Publications

Additional Online Publications