Understanding the recreation-conservation nexus in peri-urban landscapes: challenges, opportunities, and knowledge gaps

Peri-urban landscapes are the meeting point of a wide range of human activities, power dynamics, and social-ecological processes in the Anthropocene. Multiple interests, as well as differences in governance regimes and decision-making processes increase the complexity of peri‑urban landscapes. With this complexity as a background, we place our focus on the interactions between two highly desirable human activities in peri‑urban landscapes: outdoor recreation and biodiversity conservation. The multifunctional role peri‑urban landscapes can fulfill to respond to biodiversity conservation and outdoor recreation goals has the capacity to minimize the potential clash between these two functions. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the realization of multifunctionality in peri‑urban landscapes when addressing the recreation-conservation nexus. In this Perspective , we provide a foundation for further inter-disciplinary explorations in this area by identifying knowledge gaps and priorities for future research on the recreation-conservation nexus in peri‑urban landscapes with particular emphasis on the “spatial” dimension. NBS Impacts and Implications ○ We highlight a range of challenges and opportunities at the nexus of outdoor recreation and biodiversity conservation in peri‑urban landscapes. ○ We discuss how multifunctionality in peri‑urban landscapes can act as a solution to make a sustainable balance between recreation and conservation. ○ We argue that public attitudes toward areas of interest for outdoor recreation should be taken into consideration to better understand human-wildlife interactions in peri‑urban landscapes. ○ We suggest three specific research priorities for the future with particular focus on peri‑urban landscapes.