Formes de marche et immersions dans la nature : ressourcements et dépaysements dans les forêts urbaines

Many recreational practices consist of symbolically and physically breaking away from the city and responding to a need for renewal and/or a change of scenery. This article discusses specific immersions arising from different kinds of walking practices in urban forests. It describes this type of environment before presenting the experimental site used for the research (a metropolis with 500,000 inhabitants and its green belt) and the corresponding methodology. The multiscale analysis describes how three different groups (urban residents, urban residents living at the edge of the forest, and recreational walkers) perceive and visit the forest. As common as they are, recreational walks show that certain territories such as forests involve deep immersion which is not available to everyone. A territorial description of outdoor recreational practices is essential to show the differences between kinds of walks and forms of well-being.