New grant awarded to evaluate active and sustainable travel practices in structurally disempowered rural communities.

Physical activity is important for keeping healthy. Changing our environments in ways that help people to move their bodies (e.g by making it easier to walk or cycle) can be important for public health and wellbeing.  In addition, when people travel by walking or cycling instead of driving, we can also protect the health of the planet by reducing climate-changing carbon emissions from cars.

National and local sustainable travel policies that aim to target both health and climate change through promoting active travel often do not consider the challenges of living in rural areas, where schools, shops and other services may be too far away to reach by cycling or walking, and public transport may be limited. In addition, access to private cars is not equal. Promoting active travel as a solution can make inequalities worse if some people cannot benefit and the solutions that are commonly offered (e.g. on-demand bus services, electric cars, e-bike schemes), may also have unexpected negative impacts.

Professor Tessa Pollard (Primary Investigator) (Department of Anthropology) and Professor Cassie Phoenix (Co-Applicant) (Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, lead of the Moving Bodies Lab in the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities) have been awarded a grant from the NIHR School of Public Health Research to evaluate active and sustainable travel policies and practices in structurally disempowered rural communities. They form part of a wider academic team involving University of Exeter (Lead) and Cambridge University, along with a range practice collaborators including County Durham Sport, Durham County Council, East Durham Trust, Cornwall Council, Sustrans. Working together with those involved in these schemes Tessa and Cassie will lead on the part of the project that aims to understand communities’ experiences to learn what works for them and who might be left behind.

This research will benefit from Tessa’s expertise in the use of ethnographic methods to explore and improve the impact of interventions to promote walking for leisure and travel, and ongoing research interest in the role of spending time outdoors in social prescribing. Similarly, Cassie’s experience in the development of qualitative methods to research moving bodies, nature encounters and experiences of health and wellbeing across time and space.