RGS-IBG 2020 : Marginalised participation: Experiences and barriers in the borderlands of active travel

Session organisers: Dr Juliet Jain and Dr William Clayton, Centre for Transport and Society, UWE.

It is well established that increasing levels of walking and cycling will benefit people’s health and wellbeing, and their broader quality of life (Curl and Clarke 2019). Thus policy interventions, medical trials, and emergent digital innovations have sought different ways to promote and engage adults and children with walking and cycling, especially in response to the consequences of an inactive population.

The link between increasing physical activity and improvements in health in general focuses on the able majority, but for many people the initial hurdle is being able to walk a few metres rather than kilometres. People, therefore, may find themselves on the margins of participation with active mobility simply because there are more barriers and fewer opportunities for those with a disability and/or complex health needs (physical and/or emotional). For some, access to specialist equipment (e.g. adapted cycles) or additional support is limited. The transition to active travel will not be easy for all, as the barriers are multiple and varied. Yet despite health and disability presenting barriers, there are other individual narratives of extreme levels of walking or cycling as a response to (or in spite of) physical or mental health conditions. Thus narratives around active mobility and health and wellbeing are likely to be varied and complex, and may require new theoretical or methodological approaches for interpreting or generating insights of what active mobility represents, as well as health or wellbeing, in the borderlands.

This session encourages submission of papers either empirically or theoretically based that offers new insights to the topic of walking or cycling for health. This may include, but is not limited to:

· Disability and cycling/walking

· Walking/cycling with health conditions

· Novel methodologies for researching walking/cycling and health

· Digital technology and walking/cycling for health

· Place and therapeutic landscapes in the context of walking and cycling

Informations pratiques :

Please email your abstract for an oral presentation to Juliet.Jain@uwe.ac.uk and William2.Clayton@uwe.ac.uk by 12:00 (midday) GMT Thursday 6th February 2020. The abstract should be between 200-250 words.

Abstracts should include a title, and the names, affiliations and email addresses of all authors.

Timeline:

• Deadline for submission of abstracts: Thursday 6th February 2020 12:00 (midday) GMT

• Responses from session convenors by: Monday 10th February 2020

• The session convenors will communicate the RGS response as soon as informed by the organisers after the 14th February session proposal deadline

• Deadline for reduced rate ('early-bird') registrations: 12th June 2020

• RGS-IBG International conference: Tuesday 1st- Friday 4th September 2020