Since Tuan's seminal work on sense of place (Tuan 1990 [first ed. 1974]), there has been increased focus on place-based approaches and place-related values. While understanding the complex origins of such value in places remains a challenging issue, there is now widespread acceptance of the idea that recreational sites are not just about functional (either natural or man-made) attributes, but are also made up of unique socio-spatial recreational qualities. In the broad field of social sciences, there has been significant work done in disciplines such as environmental psychology, environmental philosophy, sociology or geography (Farnum, Hall et al. 2005). In comparisons, economics seems at a distance. In this paper, we take a first step towards the introduction of more place-based perspectives into the field of outdoor recreation economics. To do so, we look at the possibilities of coupling two conceptual traditions, as synthesized by a dual definition of "proximity".