INCREASING OF RECREATIONAL POTENTIAL HAND IN HAND WITH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF CADASTRAL AREA OF SMALL TOWN Andrea Lešková Department of Applied and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zem ědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic Abstract Nature lovers have long argued that natural environment play an important role if not the key role in human health. This paper studies landscape with a focuse on recreational potential of cadastral area of small town Lipany, east Slovakia. Together with the construction of aquapark and other recreational facilities, the town seeks to increase the recreational potential of the area. However, raising tourist offer should go hand in hand with the sustainable development of the area defined by its three pillars: economical, social and environmental. The work assesses the current recreational potential of the place according to two methodologies and it defines values and problems of the landscape based on a comprehensive analysis of the area. Next, there are proposed changes in the study landscape taking into account recreation as well as sustainable development of the area. The proposed changes are polyfunctional, they do not only increase the recreational potential of the area and thus the tourists increase, but they also increase ecological stability, production potential of the landscape, potential well- being and health of its inhabitants and they protect and revitalize the values and eliminate identified problems in the area. Key words: recreation, health, sustainability, landscape proposal, landscape planning Introduction Nature advocates and nature lovers have long argued that parks and other natural environment play an important, if not a key, role in human health. In their time, popular writers, leaders such as Thoreau, Muir, and Olmsted, have argued that contact with nature is important for psychological, physical and spiritual health (Kuo 2010). These views are also confirmed today by many scientific studies (Kuo 2010, Maas 2008, Li 2010). When people's attention is easily and effortlessly held by natural scenes, reffered as “soft fascination”, pessimistic ideas are blocked and negative emotions are replaced by positive ones, which is assumed to play an important role in the restorative quality of nature (Maas 2008). Maller et al. (2005) present study at hospital patients in a room with nature-oriented windows who were recovered more quickly than those with brick-oriented windows. There are also evidences of therapeutic benefits that a person gains by being physically in the wild. Jur ča (1983) considers walking and hiking in the most changeable atmosphere on the most changeable terrain as one of the most effective, the most varied and the most healthy types of movement, or ways of recreating and maintaining a healthy human being, as it can be done without any great preparation and without substantial material costs, and which employs all organs and leads to reinforcing them and increasing their adaptability to change and resilience. Kuo (2010) proposes to increase the intake of vitamin G (G refers to green environment as a necessary ingredient in a healthy life) by people to provide as much nature, in as many forms, as possible, to bring nature to people and to bring people to nature by encouraging and recommending people to spend a considerable - 212 - amount of time in nature, creating a program for people in nature teaching them new ways of connecting with nature, providing more multifunctional facilities and furniture in nature and others. This work deals with the cadastral area of the small town of Lipany in eastern Slovakia, where, along with the geothermal well, a few years ago appeared an interest in increasing the recreational potential of the area connected with the construction of aquapark and other recreational facilities. In order to achieve the higher recreational potential of the area and the physical and mental well-being of both visitors and domestic inhabitants, the development of the area should meet the requirements of sustainable development in terms of its three pillars, economic, social and last but not least, environmental. Material and methods The material for this research was the analysis of the primary, secondary and tertiary landscape structure of the cadastral area of the small town Lipany, sources of information about the area, as well as interviews with the competent persons in the area. The landscape consists of the valley of the river Torysa on sensitive fertile fluvisols, where predominantly settlement is situated, passing through rugged hill on a typical Carpathian flysh with cambisols where grassland prevails up to highly rugged highlands in the north of the area with rendzinas where forest predominates. Historically, the legend of old Slavic lime grove is connected with the area, of which the last seven limes have remained, but today there is only one old lime, which is protected. In the first half of the 20th century, the area was significantly cultivated with a lot of fruit alleys and orchards, as shown by the aerial mapping from 1950. The population has been growing in the town for several decades and the population trends are related to the building of houses and dwelling homes. Methods of the research are other analysis of the area, such as definition of landscape types, ecological zonation of the area, identification of perceptual relations in the area, vulnerability of the area and evaluation of landscape character. Subsequently, from these analyses, values as well as problems of this area were summed up, and the recreational potential of the area was evaluated according to two chosen methodologies: Bina´s method (2010) and Carbol´s method (2010). Both methodologies indicate the final potential on the five-point scale. On the basis of these analyzes, there were proposed changes in the country in order to increase the recreational potential of the area so that the proposed elements in the country operate multifunctionally and meet the requirements of sustainable development defined in three pillars. Results The basic summary of the results of the research includes the identification of values and problems in the area and evaluation of the recreational potential. Hydrological and terrestrial biocorridors are natural values of the area, among cultural and historical values there are churches, chapels, wooden crosses, protected lime tree, alleys, old orchards, and view horizons, sightseeing spots, and mirroring water surface of lakes are aesthetic values. In the area, there are problems with ecological stability, related to the insufficient function of the biocorridors of supraregional significance, problems with preservation of cultural and historical values, such as incomplete and unsupervised alleys of fruit trees, inappropriate woody vegetation in sacral land, problems from the point of view of the residential function of environment, problems of negative visual dominants, problems of urban plans and landscape character protection and problems in terms of degradation of local food - 213 - production. The area also has a very low recreational potential at present, according to Bina (2010), the potential is at level 2 - limited, with a low level of activity and according to Carbol (2010) the potential is also at level 2 - according to him at the basic, sufficient level. For the proposed status, a new recreational potential was re-evaluated, indicating an increase in Bina´s method (2010) from level 2 to level 3 - moderate potential and in Carbol´s method (2010) from level 2 to level 3 - potential at an elevated level. The proposed elements in the country include, in addition to the aquapark, a sensory garden, which aims to give people space on a small area where the effect of nature on their senses would be increased and in this way to build a relationship people with nature but also to heal, to teach and to provide a space for creating social connections. There are also proposed walking trails surrounded by alleys of fruit trees in the countryside on the ridges of grassland hills, from which unique remote views can be found. The goal is to give this place an identity, to make these areas more attractive and to encourage visitors, both locals and tourists, to walk through this area. Alleys also defeat some negative visual effects in the territory, as high transmitter on the hill, they support biodiversity on large grasslands and enhance country's productive potential. In addition to the walking trails, the educational route, cycling routes, cross-country skiing tracks and bicycle and cross-country skiing rentals are proposed. On the basis of the analysis of perceptions, a specific place was clearly identified, where a view suddenly opens across the valley to remote castle on the cliff. At this place, it is proposed to create a symbolic recreational element, a lime grove, the effectiveness of this view would be intensified by looking from a space enclosed to a space widely open through the crowns of lime trees. Next, on one of the valuable identified sightseeing sites, building of an observation tower is proposed. The axis of the hydrologic biocorridor of the river Torysa, formed by natural vegetation of predominant skeletal species Salix sp. and Alnus glutinosa is not maintained especially in the part where it passes through the town and the industrial zone. There is proposed to complement the tree structure, which would at the same time defeat negative effect of visually ungainly industrial area and high chimneys. Another proposed element for enhancing the ecological stability of the area is to create part of the forest as forest with supported recreational function, where the management of these sites would be strictly directed, as well as the species and spatial structure of the forest would more respond to potential biota. In three identified recreational areas located at the contact points of the settlement with the countryside along the valley of the rivers, vegetation and facilities supporting recreation are also proposed.