Walk on the Wild Side: Using Walking Interviews and Focusing to Assess Cultural Ecosystem Services

Abstract

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) include recreational, spiritual, cultural and cognitive services that people receive from nature. They are inherently difficult to assess due to their largely intangible nature. We first review the main methodologies currently used for CES assessment, such as monetary evaluation (earnings or willingness to pay), GIS mapping, surveys, interviews and focus groups, and describe their respective advantages and limitations (Orenstein, Zimroni & Eisenberg 2015).

We then present the current study, in which we implement a novel methodology that combines walking interviews in natural landscapes and the technique of Focusing. Walking interviews have been found to produce more valuable place-related data, more natural and less inhibited interviews, and information involving all senses (Anderson 2004). Focusing was developed by Eugene Gendlin for therapeutic applications (1996). It encourages focusers to be attentive to the "felt sense" their bodies provide, including information often perceived as irrelevant "background". Focusing interviews thus provide insight into human experiences rather than into opinions or preferences.

In the pilot study, we conducted 30 walking-focusing interviews in the Negev Desert, asking subjects to focus on various aspects of their experience. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. Main themes included a sense of detachment from everyday life, obtaining a new point of view, enhanced imagination, reminiscing, feelings of love and longing, fear, boredom, finding the landscape reminiscent of biblical times or other planets, scientific curiosity and appreciating long-term geological processes and sophisticated biological mechanisms.

Results indicate that this methodology can enable scientists to better understand the holistic experience of subjects and that the advantageous combination of walking in nature and focusing gives access to myriad types of information, including physical, emotional and cognitive experiences, often intertwined. It also has the potential to supply data that is closer to the authentic human experience of nature. This is due to the nature of this technique, which includes very little guidance on the part of the interviewer and mostly follows up on the subject's previous responses.

Finally, we suggest that this methodology was particularly suitable for the study of CES in drylands. As drylands often have less conspicuous fauna and flora, focusing enabled participants to notice and address them more clearly.

Anderson, J. (2004). Talking whilst walking: a geographical archaeology of knowledge. Area 36:254-261. Gendlin, E.T. (1996). Focusing-oriented psychotherapy. A manual of the experiential method. New York: Guilford. Orenstein, D. E., Zimroni, H., & Eizenberg, E. (2015). The immersive visualization theater: A new tool for ecosystem assessment and landscape planning. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 54, 347-355.‏