#WalkCreate: Understanding Walking and Creativity during COVID-19

This report shares some of the findings from the research project, Walking Publics / Walking Arts: Walking, Wellbeing and Community during COVID-19. The research was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and was led by Principal Investigator Dee Heddon (University of Glasgow), in collaboration with Co-Investigators Maggie O’Neill (University College Cork), Clare Qualmann (University of East London), Morag Rose (University of Liverpool) and Research Associate Harry Wilson (University of Glasgow) with Project Assistant Eleanor Capaldi (University of Glasgow). The team worked in partnership with a range of walking and cultural organisations. The project aimed to understand the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic changed how, why, where and when people walked, and whether they engaged in any creative activities while they walked. It also explored how artists used walking in their creative practice. One of the research methods this project used was a public survey, which is the main focus of this report. 1221 people completed our questionnaire and our findings support and supplement existing research on the value of walking for health and wellbeing. We also asked about creative walking; by ‘creative walking’ we mean: Activities that people or groups may undertake whilst walking, which have some kind of imaginative, playful or task-based framework. This could include, for example, looking for rainbow posters or red cars, drawing shapes to follow on maps or hunting for treasure using digital apps, or taking photographs to share online. It also includes creative interventions, made by others, that you may encounter on a walk (eg chalk messages, art trails, fairy trails, knitted decorations or similar).

ISBN: 978-0-9554379-9-1