On the distance to recreational forests in Sweden Lisa Ho Èrnsten a,* , Peter Fredman b,1 a Department of Forest Management and Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7060, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden b European Tourism Research Institute, SE-831 25 Ostersund, Sweden Received 15 November 1999; received in revised form 13 June 2000; accepted 16 June 2000 Abstract There is a strong tradition in Sweden of using forested areas for recreation. Earlier research has shown that on average, Swedes visit a forest at least every other week. This study surveyed 1000 randomly chosen individuals about their present distance, and what they considered to be the preferred (ideal) distance, between their residence and the closest recreational forest. Attitudes towards an increase in the present distance are studied together with an economic measure using the contingent valuation method. We found that over 40% of the Swedish population would prefer a shorter distance to the forest, and argue that residential areas should be planned so that most individuals have the closest recreational forest within walking distance (<1 km). In general, we found a shortage of housing possibilities within 1 km from recreational forests in Sweden. Forty-®ve percent of all respondents considered an increased distance to the forest (doubled) as negative. The probability of giving a positive willingness to pay bid to avoid an increase in the distance increases with the respondent's present distance to the forest. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Forest recreation; Distance; Urban planning; Forest planning; Contingent valuation 1. Introduction Forest recreation has a strong tradition in Sweden. The ``Right of Common Access'' and the abundance of forested areas often make access easy. Several studies have shown that Swedes visit forests regularly, with a frequency of 1±2 visits every 2 weeks (Lindha- gen, 1996; Lindhagen and Ho Èrnsten, 2000; Statistics Sweden, 1993a). About 60% of Sweden's total land area is covered by forest. The northern and central parts, outside the mountain region, are covered by up to 80% of forest, while the landscape in the south is a mixture of forests and open agricultural land. In the most southwesterly region (Malmo È hus County), forest cover is only 18% (National Board of Forestry, 1997). Approximately 1% of the total forest area in Sweden is classi®ed as urban forest 2 , and visitor frequency in such areas is estimated to be 250 times higher than in other forested areas (National Board of Forestry, 1991). A majority of the Swedish population, a total of 8.8 million people, live in the southern third of the country (cf. Fig. 1). This is also where most urban areas are located including the major cities of Stock- holm, Gothenburg and Malmo È. Landscape and Urban Planning 51 (2000) 1±10 * Corresponding author. Tel.: 46-0-18-67-38-19; fax:46-0-18-67-38-00. E-mail addresses: lisa.hornsten@sh.slu.se (L. Ho Èrnsten), peter.fredman@etour.mh.se (P. Fredman). 1 Tel.: 46-0-63-19-58-04; fax: 46-0-63-19-58-10. 2 Urban forests are defined by the National Board of Forestry as forest land primarily used for recreation in the relative proximity of urban areas or other recreational facilities. 0169-2046/00/$20.00 # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0169-2046(00)00097-9