Relationship between Recreation Involvement and Place Attachment ? A Case Study of Bikeways

[[abstract]]At present, the economy has been undergoing an unprecedented economic boom. This has resulted in improved quality of life, as well as increased earnings and disposable income. In addition, the two-day weekend system implemented in 2001 prolonged the people's spare time. The combined effect of these phenomena resulted in increased attention paid to recreation and tourism-related activities. Thus, recreation has become a major part of people's lives given the impact it has made on their activities and attitudes in work. Currently, it is widely considered that outdoor recreational activities are the best ways toward relaxation and stress relief. Specifically, cycling has also become one of the favorite recreational activities. This study investigates cyclists' involvement in this type of recreational activity, their place attachment in bikeways and relevant facilities, as well as their long-term accumulated place identities. In doing so, this study aims to find out whether or not the differences in the degree of involvement will affect these factors. This study also discusses the differences between the involvement degree and the place attachment of tourists, residents, cyclists with different visiting frequencies. Finally, related statistical methods, such as descriptive statistics, t-test,?one-way ANOVA analysis and Pearson product-moment correlation, are used for analysis. The Tong-Fon bikeway has been chosen as the empirical site in this study, through which 441 valid samples have been collected through the questionnaire method. The following research results have been attained: I. There are obvious differences among statistical variables of cyclists, personal background, and participation feature. II. There exist relationships between participation satisfaction and cyclists? personal background, recreational involvement, and place attachment. III. Recreational involvement in the Tong-Fon bikeway has a significant positive relationship with place attachment. Key Words: Recreation Involvement, Place Attachmen