Local Variation in Soundscape Perception Across Trails and Recreational Clearings in an Urban Forest: Implications for Sustainable Nature-Based Recreation

Urban forests support everyday nature-based recreation, yet recreation planning commonly classifies spaces by function while paying less attention to local acoustic conditions. This study examined whether soundscape evaluations varied primarily among individual recreational settings or between two broad types of space within one urban forest. Fifty-six participants visited four locations in a repeated-measures field design: two walking trails and two stationary recreation areas. After 20 min of ordinary walking or seated recreation at each location, participants evaluated perceived sound level, soundscape attributes, noise annoyance, and interference with recreation. Indicative sound-level observations were also conducted to provide contextual information on the acoustic conditions at the study sites. The riverside trail was rated as the most pleasant, calm, and natural, whereas the trail near an expressway received the least favorable ratings and the highest continuous-noise annoyance. Differences between the pooled categories of walking trails and resting areas were considerably smaller, indicating that aggregating heterogeneous locations into broad spatial types averages out fine-grained, location-specific acoustic nuances. The findings indicate that broad functional classifications alone provide limited guidance for recreational planning. Site-specific acoustic context should therefore be considered when locating and managing facilities for sustainable nature-based recreation. Because several environmental attributes varied simultaneously, the results describe integrated place conditions rather than causal effects of individual acoustic parameters.