Walking Publics/Walking Arts: walking, wellbeing and community during Covid-19

Lead Research Organisation: University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Culture & Creative Arts

Abstract

There is a proven evidence base for the benefits of both walking and art on physical health and mental wellbeing. Our project addresses the lacuna between the arts and those working to promote walking well in the wider community. Walking organisations need rapidly to find new ways to support their members during social restrictions, and to diversify membership to support more people to walk well in and beyond a pandemic. COVID-19 poses an unprecedented challenge to cultural organisations with the need to rethink practices due to physical distancing.

Responses to lockdown have created the opportunity to understand how creative walking activities have been and could be used to mitigate isolation and anxiety, maintain health and wellbeing, enhance social connectivity, and facilitate cultural empowerment. This project will deliver a significant contribution to the understanding of, and response to, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts, generate new data about a key activity, and innovate arts resources for rapid implementation to support health, wellbeing, resilience and cultural participation.

Collaborating with partner organisations, artists, cultural workers, and residents, the project will capture:
a) the walking experiences and creative interventions of people during COVID-19 restrictions.
b) the 'lockdown' work of artists using walking activity within conditions of restriction.
c) the potential of the arts to sustain, encourage and more equitably support walking during and recovering from a pandemic.

Key deliverables include: i) a new data set and report on walking experiences and creative approaches to walking well and safely ii) a curated digital gallery of creative walking models, open-access Walking Toolkits and piloted prototypes iii) a Cultural Walking Summit iv) three peer-reviewed articles v) a new cross-sectoral partnership.
 
Title #WalkCreate Digital Gallery 
Description #WalkCreate is a digital gallery showcasing more than 100 original walking artworks created by UK-based artists during COVID-19. Each artwork contains a short description, an image of the work, and a biography of the artists, with links outwards where relevant. The collection is categorised and searchable. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2021 
Impact Artists showcased in the gallery have commented on the positive value this has had, as way to share their work with a wider audience and be part of a collection of related work. 
URL https://walkcreate.gla.ac.uk/walkcreate-gallery/
 
Title A commissioned walking artwork 
Description Artist Henna Aiskinen was commissioned to work with North East Solidarity and Teaching (N.E.S.T.), a student-led charity based at Newcastle University which teaches English as a second language and organises community integration support for people in Newcastle who have experienced forced migration. Henna organised four themed walks in Newcastle and the North East of England, walking with learners from N.E.S.T. who have experienced forced displacement and are seeking asylum in Newcastle. The project aimed to challenge exclusionary cultural practices that impress a sense of homelessness and not belonging - talking and walking to foster engagement, inclusion and positive experiences. Henna's first three walks all explored the city centre of Newcastle-Gateshead - its local history, memorials, cultural institutions and historical sites - landmarks such as the BALTIC, Grey's monument, Gateshead Millenium Bridge. The final walk took place at Earl Grey's Howick House and Gardens (1 hour north of Newcastle in Alnwick, Northumberland). The group walked through the 'United Nations of Trees' Arboretum and ended up at the Grey's old Bathing House on the North East coast. All four walks included a communal meal. 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact "This was so good day! I feel inspired." "So wonderful trips! This was my best experience in the last ten years in Newcastle and I would love to see more places" "Taking part has made me feel happier and better!" 
 
Title Finding a Way 
Description Artist Kate Green was commissioned to work with members of Leominster Meeting Centre to explore ideas around non-linear heritage. Meeting Centres are social spaces which support people with dementia, their friends and families. They have a holistic, community based ethos, providing a range of activities where, as Kate told us "the focus is on collaboration so it's not a staff / member relationship, more about co-existing". People living with dementia experience a range of cognitive, navigational and physical changes. Dementia also impacts perceptions of linearity and these experiences are not generally reflected in traditional heritage trails. Through her WP/WA commission Kate developed a methodology that enabled her to walk with, and be guided by, meeting centre members to explore Leominster in appropriate, supportive and meaningful ways. This built on an idea which emerged during her work with Leominster's Meeting Centre Heritage Pathfinders project. 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact Kate felt the walks strengthened ties between the community at the Meeting Centre and the wider Leominster community. People she encountered often said hello via zoom. The walks themselves were not recorded, unless an individual participant or bystander happened to take a photograph. This was really important to Kate; it was the multisensory experience of the walk that mattered. She felt to try and fix the moment in an image, or produce a map, contradicted the aim of a fluid, participatory, non-linear heritage. Kate also notes the everyday experience of a walk is not generally recorded and says "you've got to let go to allow what is going to happen to happen and that's also what you have to do with dementia you are losing that tight control that we think we have on life, we don't, we think we have cos we impose narratives, dementia is seeing those (narratives) unravel and I think there is a real relationship between improvisation and dementia" Overall, Kate was very positive about the commission, saying "I'm really excited about it, it's really fun, it was really joyful and I really felt it developed on from that original little kernel of an idea. We experimented during this commission with so many different ways of using that methodology." She also said "I learnt how much people living with dementia can offer me they probably gave more to me than I offered, it was truly collaborative, towards the end of this exploration I felt we were achieving a great balance" 
 
Title Intertidal 
Description A collaborative commission between Museum of London Archaeology and artist Elspeth Penfold. The commission built on Elspeth's existing relationship with East Kent MENCAP, a charity supporting adults with learning disabilities. During the pandemic she had been working with them online on a remote photography project called Refracted Lens. This commission gave her the opportunity to work face to face with members of East Kent MENCAP for the first time. Intertidal aimed to explore the liminal spaces of Whitstable's Heritage Trail and make it more accessible to them. Elspeth facilitated a series of walkshops. These included arts sessions, map making, rope making, storytelling and walking. Imaginative walking, textiles and maps helped everyone to see their landscape in a different way 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The work created by this commission has been exhibited by MOLA, and featured in a number of different Artist Book exhibitions and other events. Elspeth is planning to build on and extend the work done during her commission. This includes putting on an exhibition of the work made by Mencap members. She is also planning more walks exploring the area, the first will be part of the Whitstable Festival. Lawrence and his colleagues at MOLA intend there to be a digital legacy of their work and are open to the idea of using creating walking in the future, because "seeing that it can be successful is in itself of a motivation to use it again". Creative walking can create a space for a more inclusive approach to public archaeology. 
 
Title Intimate Distance 
Description We commissioned London based Palestinian artist Areej Kaoud. She worked with walking artist mentor Amy Sharrocks on a new live art work, Intimate Distance, exploring diaspora, longing, and notions of home in North West London. Intimate Distance reflected on the experiences of time and isolation during the pandemic, with a focus on creating imaginative and playful connections for the body. Areej drew on her experiences of walking during lockdown, reflecting on the respite and solace provided by her local park (Queen's Park, London) and her desire for connection as a member of the Arab diaspora. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The first public sharing of Intimate Distance took place in April 2022 as part of AWAN festival with a group of approximately 15 people participating. Although the majority had responded to Arts Canteen and Walk Create marketing of the artwork, over the course of the event several passers-by paused and joined in, engaging with the play performances, the audio work and the painting installation. At the Walk Create Gathering the work was adapted slightly to fit with the location, a smaller garden square, with a group of 10 participants. Here, the play performances were extended, with several pairs exploring the possibilities of the tennis ball touch game beyond the palm-to-palm contact that was originally suggested, using their bodies to move through the gardens and experiment with their shared touch. Participants in Intimate Distance said: 'It was so beautiful and spacious.... The games were simple but very powerful - spoke to my heart -especially coming from diaspora myself and hearing her in Arabic and talking about Arabic tenderness.' 'I so appreciated all the invitations to move: it helped me get in touch with my body more and realise how stiff some of my muscles were and attend to that.' 'I enjoyed the opportunity to have boundaries by close proximity and to move together, intersecting with each other.' 
 
Title Plantar 
Description An audio walk created for, by and with residents, visitors and care staff at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, Glasgow. Participants Workshops: 25 participants, including patients, family, volunteers and staff. Audio Walk Testers: 5 participants 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact Visitors and staff commented on how valuable the work was at prompting them to also take time out. Residents/users commented on how immersive the work was, and how it gently prompted them to be in the present moment, in the landscaped garden. The Hospice is considering developing this work further. 
 
Title SEM and ROSHNI 
Description Sheffield Environmental Movement (SEM) are a charity based in Sheffield who work with Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, and Refugee (BAMER) communities to promote social and environmental justice. SEM's director Maxwell Ayamba and artist Jenson Grant were commissioned to undertake a sci-art project with Roshni Asian Women's resource centre, exploring natural indicators of air pollution in and around Sheffield. The project began with online presentations about air pollution, including its potential impacts on health. The participants explored this further in a face-to-face workshop introducing the OPAL (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/opal/surveys/airsurvey/) tools for air pollution monitoring using lichen. They took these guides out with them walking both in inner city areas of Sheffield, and outside the city in the Peak District making comparisons between the air quality in different locations. Using digital cameras and audio recorders participants captured their experiences of walking, talking and exploring air quality together, bringing their digital files back indoors to review and edit. Jenson and Maxwell then supported a series of workshop sessions using computers to manipulate, edit, and compile documentation creating a collaborative multi-media record of the project. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact This was the first time that SEM have worked with an artist, and they found that it brought a new dimension to their work. Using creative media to document and record the workshops enabled the participants to share their experiences and communicate beyond words. The project provided opportunity to bring an often-excluded group into work that connects to the environmental movement, exploring their immediate locations as well as travelling to less familiar spaces around Sheffield in the Peak District. They plan to continue working with artists (subject to funding) in the future, seeing it's benefits for instigating connections between people and place, while walking. 
 
Title The Walkbook: Recipes for Walking & Wellbeing 
Description A toolkit to support creative walking practice. The Walkbook contains 30 walking recipes, created by artists, to support people to use creative activities to encourage them to walk. It is a free resource, available to be downloaded. Each of the recipes addresses at least one of the challenges identified by the project - barriers which stop people walking including weather, boredom, and anxiety. 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The Walkbook has been received very positively, with many requests for its use and adaptation by a range of third sector organisations, spanning health, wellbeing and walking organisations. It is now being disseminated further via training for Living Streets staff and volunteers, supported by Impact Accelerator Account funding awarded by the University of Glasgow. 
 
Title To the Moon and Back 
Description A commissioned artist Shonagh Short explored the walk to school as a site of care. The commission built on existing relationships within her community and the school her children go to. They shared a call for participants for Mums to share their experiences. Shonagh walked the school run with them individually and then held a series of weekly workshops to transform these stories into artworks. The workshops were a space for conversation, conviviality, fun and experimentation. Shonagh asked the question "is the school walk really a walk If it only takes 4 min?" She was interested in the contrast between everyday mobility and the sort of heroic, hyper expensive explorations such as the billionaires space race we see on the news. Shonagh was "really interested in working with people who don't identify themselves as walkers which I say would include me we don't go for walks. We don't do that personally as a leisure activity, but we walk every day to take the kids to school, to go to the shops, to do whatever we need to be doing. But it's that distinction between walking with purpose and productivity and walking and ambling and kind of exploring, it's just not necessarily seen as a worthwhile thing to do." She believes the school run is a unique and very important walk, embodying love and care. It gains power through its repetition, and because it is a marker of time and change in children. Over the years distances add up, habits form, and families develop a nuanced understanding of their local environment. Shonagh went on 5 walks with participants on the school run, and held 9 workshop sessions 8 women took part It is anticipated the audio walk will be shared with around 500 families connected to the school. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact Participants were encouraged to attend to their daily walks as acts of love and care. Shonagh aims to develop the work further. 
 
Title WE! 
Description In Newcastle, commissioned writer Guen Murroni worked with facilitators Sarah Lamb and Kiran Khan at West End Women and Girls Centre on an activist project exploring street safety. They were part of Open Clasp's workforce development programme, which included a series of workshops introducing the company's methods, as well as a creative walking workshop led by Clare Qualmann and Maggie O'Neill from the Walk Create project. The team started out working in schools, talking to girls about their experiences when walking, before expanding into walking workshops and a series of sessions from a base at West End Women and Girls Centre in Elswick. The group worked collaboratively on ideas for the play, based on their life experiences and the collective walking and writing workshops that they took part in. Together they built the character of Aliyah, a 20-year-old campaigner for safer streets, whose actions are inspired by her own experience of harassment. Mapping, walking and place-writing fed into the process, along with group and solo walks to collect images, sounds, smells and textures to inform the writing. Guen gathered everything together and wrote a script for the play - a story of Aliyah's campaigning journey, from an incident of street harassment, to an activist group of young women, building up to the instigation of a protest march to block the Tyne bridge. Several of the scenes draw on the walking experiences of the young women, including a particularly powerful night walk experience in the park: A new play was produced, and performed at Open Clasp's AGM. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The Walk Create commission with Open Clasp formed part of a larger work force development project, introducing new writers and facilitators to the company's method and extending their reach through projects across the UK. Although our commission was focused on one project in Newcastle with Guen, Sarah and Kiran, the whole work force development cohort of four writers, five facilitators and one assistant director took part in a Walk Create training session, introducing the use of walking in creative practice with a focus on storytelling, place writing, and participation. 'This has been part of a huge step change in how we create work and bring on new women creatives. We thought that just one of our projects would go walking, but because everyone in the workforce development programme took part in the training we have seen the impact across all of the commissions' Ellie Turner, executive director Open Clasp Facilitators Kiran Khan and Sarah Lamb said 'It's the first time we've used walking in our work, and the artistic side of it was new as well, bringing that into the campaigning work that we do opened up a lot of new ways of working. We will definitely use walking going forward, and are carrying on working with this group of girls on a reclaim the night campaign.' Writer Guen Murroni said 'I will definitely take this forward into my work in the future, I'd like to develop a workshop for schools based on campaigning around harassment and street safety. Walking, including the walk create methods, would form a part of that toolkit'. One of the project's participants said 'I especially loved how I could see the experiences of me and other women that worked on these meetings celebrated and made into a play'. 
 
Description This award has enabled us to understand how artists used walking in their creative responses to COVID-19:

1. Many artists had their planned and commissioned work cancelled because of COVID-19.
2. Artists who used walking as part of their practice prior to COVID-19 continued to use it during the pandemic, often adapting it in response to
new regulations.
3. Artists who had not used walking prior to COVID-19 turned to it during the pandemic. Most of those artists state a desire to continue to use walking as a creative resource.
4. Artists ability to adapt their practice in response to emerging conditions, demonstrates flexibility, curiosity, and commitment.
5. While the impact of the pandemic on artists' income and wellbeing must not be ignored, many artists noted and took advantage of new opportunities which emerged.
6. Many artists developed new skills and methods during the pandemic, in part to support the adaptation of their plans, but also because there seemed to be more time available to engage with them.
7. A key focus of creative and skills development for many artists was the use of technology to support engagement, particularly to collaborate or to facilitate remote participation.
8. Place-based work became central for many artists, with work created in, for and with local places. This orientation to the local is unsurprising given the restrictions on travel. What is perhaps more surprising is the affective dimension: many people commented on just how much more appreciative they now were of their local spaces
and registered a commitment to staying local post-pandemic.
9. Alongside attention to and new or renewed appreciation of the local, artists also reflected that the pandemic had afforded them more time, and an opportunity to take more time and to slow down.
10. Slowing down and taking time was, for some, accompanied by a desire to scale down their work post-pandemic.
11. Creating walking work during the pandemic was felt by many artists to support their health and wellbeing, particularly mental health. Walking offered a space outside of the home, a space to reflect, and/or an opportunity to engage safely with others. The work itself offered ways to make sense of what was going on during COVID-19.
12. Artists created walking work during the pandemic to support a wide range of communities and individuals. Some of the work served to highlight inequities of access to public space, and to address through the work exclusions and barriers faced by different people and communities.
13. Artists developed models of practices which took account of and responded to diverse needs, ensuring that walking approaches were inclusive, and included indoor and imaginative walking alongside physical, outdoor walking.
14. The number of walking works made by artists across all parts of mainland Britain, much of it in collaboration with other organisations, evidence not just the resilience and adaptability of these artists, but also the extent of the creative practice which took place during the pandemic, and the significant contributions made by these artists, despite extremely challenging conditions.
15. The range of practices engaged with by artists demonstrates how diverse walking art is, extending from audio and video work, to ceramics, guidebooks and graphic art.

The research engaging with public's use of creative walking has shown that
- Lockdown restrictions were the catalyst for some people to explore their local environment in new and creative ways, which they felt were very positive.
- Simple interventions, such as pebble trails or window posters, helped create a sense of community and mitigated against isolation.
- Many people found walking a useful tool for their mental health and wellbeing, and this effect was enhanced through the use of creative methods alongside walking.
- Daily walking helped establish a beneficial routine when working from home and / or feeling overwhelmed by the impact of COVID-19.
- Nature, green space and encounters with wildlife, such as listening to birdsong, provided solace and inspiration; local parks played a vital role in communities.
- Some families found that walking together created a safe space for conversation with their children, and that creative activities encouraged children to walk.
- Photography, and sharing walks online, helped individuals make sense of what was happening and strengthened connections between people who could
not be physically close.
- There are many pre-existing barriers to walking, including material factors (eg poor pavements, lack of public toilets), cultural factors (eg harassment and
safety fears) and personal circumstances (eg lack of time or opportunity). These barriers were magnified during the pandemic but were often experienced differently depending on personal experiences. For example, many people chose to avoid busy locations and reported concerns around social distancing and sharing space, whereas, for others, quieter streets often felt more intimidating and unsafe. For both groups, the perceived threat limited their movement.
Exploitation Route The #WalkCreate Digital Gallery provides an archive that is freely accessible to view. It offers excellent evidence of work created during COVID19, models of walking art, and an insight into people's experiences during COVID19. It is already being used a resource by other researchers and educators.
The Walkbook: Recipes for Walking & Wellbeing is being used by a range of organisations, across the walking, health and wellbeing sectors, to support people to walk, using creative approaches. It is being rolled out across Living Streets volunteer groups and key staff. Discussions are beginning to emerge about developing a Walkbook by young people, for everyone.
The research on artists' use of walking will hopefully be used by arts organisations, and curators, to think about how walking might be part of their programming, and how walking art can be accessible and challenge barriers to participation in arts making and creative engagement.
Organisations who participated in commissioning pilot walking art projects have reflected on the value of this approach for them, and it is hoped that creative walking will be part of their future approaches to diversity participation in their activities.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Creative Economy

Education

Environment

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections
URL http://www.walkcreate.org
 
Description Findings have been used to gather, categorise and share artistic work created during COVID19. This has made visible the way in which walking offered opportunities for artists to create work during restrictions, and how they adapted existing work to new conditions. Findings have been used to create and publish two open access Reports, one sharing findings on how public used creative walking during COVID19 restrictions, the other on how artists used creative walking during COVID19. These findings are intended to support the use of creative walking in and beyond the conditions of a pandemic, to understand and appreciate the value of creating walking to support more people to engage with walking activity, despite a range of barriers. The findings have fed into the creation of a new toolkit, The Walkbook: Recipes for Walking & Wellbeing. This is comprised of 30 recipes created by artists which address at least one barrier to walking identified by our research. This toolkit is being used by a range of walking and health and wellbeing organisations, including Living Streets. It is an open access resource and feedback on it has been overwhelmingly positive. Organisations are embedding creative walking in their practice, both using The Walkbook and creating their own version of it.
First Year Of Impact 2023
Sector Creative Economy,Education,Environment,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

Societal

Policy & public services
 
Description Use of creative walking by walking related organisations
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
Impact Organisations have reported that using creative walking has facilitated them to reach participants in new ways, and to be and explore local places in new ways. They have also reported that staff feel more confident in using creative walking, and that there are health and wellbeing benefits to this approach to walking activity.
URL https://sway.cloud.microsoft/IcskXqDKmdYsTykY?ref=Link
 
Description AHRC Impact Accelerator Account
Amount £5,700 (GBP)
Organisation University of Glasgow 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2023 
End 12/2023
 
Description Knowledge Exchange/Impact
Amount £5,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of Liverpool 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2023 
End 07/2023
 
Description Glasgow Life 
Organisation Glasgow Life
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Glasgow Life are interested in learning more about how walking can be used as a cultural activity to engage more diverse audiences, especially during periods of lockdown.
Collaborator Contribution Glasgow Life supported the funding application, attend Advisory Board meetings, review draft outputs, and disseminate the research project.
Impact None yet
Start Year 2021
 
Description Living Streets 
Organisation Living Streets
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Living Streets wish to understand more about creative walking activity and how it could be used to support their organisation's aims.
Collaborator Contribution Living Streets supported the application, and now attend Advisory Board Meetings. They have invited us to share our research at their annual Summit event in March 2022. They will support us with our final event in May 2022, to distribute our research findings across their networks
Impact None yet
Start Year 2021
 
Description Paths for All 
Organisation Paths For All
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution To support Paths for All to learn more about how people used creative walking during COVID19 to stay active, and how creative walking can be used to support more people to walk well.
Collaborator Contribution Paths for All contributed to the funding application, attend and contribute to Adivisory Board meetings, review draft documents, contribute via staff to the research process (interviews), support the research by publicising it via their Walks for Health walk leaders and groups.
Impact None yet
Start Year 2021
 
Description BBC R4 Ramblings 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The PI of the project featured on BBC R4 Ramblings, talking about the project, research findings and creative walking more generally.
The PI received some positive emails/tweet responses following the programme's broadcast, including examples of their own walking work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zmj6
 
Description Interview for AHRC blog 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A blog post by AHRC covering the project's remit.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ukri.org/our-work/tackling-the-impact-of-covid-19/researching-the-impact-of-coronavirus/...
 
Description Launch of digital gallery 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The project launched a Digital Gallery featuring more than 100 artworks which showcased the walking work made by artists during COVID19. Many of the artists who shared their work attended. A keynote was given by Canadian scholar Dr Stephanie Springgay. Feedback after the event demonstrated how valuable artists felt it was to have their work collected and showcased online in this way
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://walkcreate.gla.ac.uk/walkcreate-gallery/
 
Description Living Streets Scotland presentation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A short presentation to Living Street Scotland to share research findings of WalkCreate research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Living Streets Summit Presentation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The project team presented their research at Living Streets national Summit, sharing findings on the use of creative walking activities during COVID-19. Contributors to the presentation included one of our partners - Sheffield Environmental Movement - and one of our commissioned artists.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.narrowcastmedia.co.uk/living-streets-2022/1757/
 
Description Participation in a new student-focused activity at the University of Glasgow, intended to support new PhD students, particularly international students arriving in Glasgow for the firest time. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The Walkbook: Recipes for Walking & Wellbeing has been used to establish an ongoing walking and wellbeing group for new PhD students across the University of Glasgow. The aim is to support students to create a sense of belonging, and to develop new networks. The work is also extending to a collaboration with University of East London, where The Walkbook has been centred as part of the Sports activity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023,2024
URL https://sway.cloud.microsoft/IcskXqDKmdYsTykY?ref=Link
 
Description Presentation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A presentation of the research findings at the 4th World Congress of Psychogeography.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation and workshop for SPARC 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A presentation of project research findings at the Scottish Physical Research conference, followed by a short virtual workshop to test out creative walking methods.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://actify.org.uk/module/2112
 
Description Presentation on research 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A presentation on the women artist's use of creative walking during COVID-19, for the festival, Women Walking: Histories, Movement and Mobilities, curated by Culture Capital Exchange
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://tcce.co.uk/2022/03/02/women-walking-untold-stories-and-hidden-histories-walking-to-understan...
 
Description Presentation to Glasgow Ramblers AGM 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation to Glasgow Ramblers on research findings of WalkCreate
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Public Presentation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact We presented research findings at the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Tea & Chat Summer Festival, August 2021.
This was an online, virtual event, with approx 65 people in attendance. Many of them were interested in the use of walking during covid19 and creative walking activity. The discussion was lively and engaged.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tea-talk-walking-and-creativity-during-covid-19-tickets-163467454557#
 
Description Research Summit: #WalkCreate Gathering 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The #WalkCreate Gathering was a 2-day, free hybrid event, produced in collaboration with two partners - Living Streets and London Museum of Archaeology. Day 1 comprised the launch of the project's Public Report, 8 walkshops, and discussions. This was in-person, and was sold out (80 attendees). Day 2 was hybrid, and shared the full research findings of the project, with a number of presentations led by the research team, and presentations by a number of the commissioned artists (4 in total). Day 2 also say the formal launch of The Walkbook: Recipes for Walking & Wellbeing. Approx 120 people attended, with some from outside of the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Scotland Outdoors Podcast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I took the presenters of Scotland Outdoors on a long walk to discuss walking during covid19, creative walking activities, including the walking library.
Feedback via email suggested an engaged listening public.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0b5y9v3
 
Description Sunday Feature 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Sunday on Scotland features editor walked and interviewed PI for Sunday feature.
Lots of tweet activity followed, very positive response.
Feature was a 3-page spread, summarising the project, and PI's views on walking and creativity
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/insight-walking-back-to-happiness-after-covid-lockdown-3255286
 
Description Workshop for Volunteers of Living Streets 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact An Introduction to Creative Walking for Living Streets Volunteers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Workshop with Open Clasp Theatre 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Two of the research team delivered creating walking workshops for Open Clasp Theatre workers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Workshops - online and in person - in partnership with Living Streets. 4 online workshops, and in person workshops in Glasgow, London, Trafford, Liverpool, Bristol, Leeds, and Birmingham. Approx 25 participants at each. In person workshop were full days. Additional workshop for Northumbria Council, online. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Workshops on Creative Walking as a resource to support people to walk more and well were held across various cities of the UK, in partnership with Living Streets, and drawing on their extensive networks. This brought in other organisations, including Sustrans and Ramblers Scotland. The research team presented a summary overview of the research findings - how people used creative walking the pandemic - and how organisations (practitioners and volunteers) can use it post-pandemic as a way to engage with wider and more diverse communities. At the centre of the workshop was The Walkbook: Recipes for Walking & Wellbeing, which was used by participants to engage in creative walking activity, and to create their own creative walking activities for specific groups.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023