Urban growth is often related to the use of peripheral hilly woodlands. The latter serve as resources suppliers of water, firewood, minerals, and other life necessities. following economic growth and urbanization, the hilly woodlands often change their role to become leisure and recreation areas for the urban residents. Through a case study of Hills of Four-Animals in Taipei, this research attempt: 1,to examine how residents in Taipei changed their utilization of this area's resources during the last one hundred years, 2, to propose the best use of this green area in future as the demand for leisure activities is ever increasing. This study was accomplished after one-year fieldwork of interviewing local residents, weekend visitors from the City, and certain officials in charge of management and planning. In addition, two kinds of questionnaires surveys were conducted with 405 returns analyzed. The findings are as follows: On the characteristics of visitor: 1.Tey are mainly from near by areas wiht an average one way travel distance of only 2-3 kilometers; 2.Most of them are of age above 40 years old; 3.The major daily activities are strolling, sight-seeing, mild sports, and gymnastics, but the weekend activities increase to include picnic, singing, and tea-drinking, etc.. Sustainable use of the land is possible if planning is carefully made to cater for visitors of all ages by integrating services and management to the land-use development. That is, preservation and utilization of this area of green resources should be balanced. Sponsorship and participation by ecological concerned organizations or schools are needed to reach such a goal.