COAST Project

Evaluating coastal rural communities’ active and sustainable travel

This NIHR-SPHR funded project looks at how people living in rural coastal communities in County Durham and Cornwall get around in their everyday lives. Through policy analysis, interviews and ethnographic research, we have been investigating what gets people walking, wheeling and cycling – and what constrains their movement practices.

Accompanying research participants on bus journeys, cycle rides and walks highlighted the unequally distributed labour that bodies undertake to be able to move. Not everyone experiences movement as ‘active’ or ‘sustainable’, particularly in the context of health inequalities and transport poverty. Structural inequalities, thin infrastructures and differences in moving bodies shape experiences of movement and comfort, making the promotion of inclusive active and sustainable travel complex.

Project Outputs

Papers

Asker, C., McGuire, L., Pollard, T., Barr, S., Green, J., Phoenix, C., & Guell, C. (2025). Manoeuvring rural mobility policy for active and sustainable travel. Social Science & Medicine, 118074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118074

Conference Presentations

Bosbach, C., Asker, C., Guell, C., Pollard, T., Phoenix, C. (2025). Travelling in and out of comfort zones. Health, Environment and AnThropology (HEAT). Durham University.

Bosbach, C., Asker, C. Pollard, T., Phoenix, C., Guell, C. (2025). COAST: Evaluating coastal rural communities’ active and sustainable travel. Fuse: Physical Activity Group.

Bosbach, C., Asker, C., Pollard, T., Phoenix, C., Guell, C. (2025). Emotional landscapes of net zero travel: Active and sustainable travel in County Durham and Cornwall. Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference.

Policy Briefings

Bosbach, C., and others. (2026). Exploring challenges to coastal rural communities’ active and sustainable travel. NIHR.

Multi-media Outputs

‘The long way round’

A documentary film by Carl Joyce exploring active travel in East Durham.

What moves people on a road graphic with people, bikes and scooters.

‘What moves people‘ by Christina Bosback with Chloe Asker, Tessa Pollard, Cassandra Phoenix and Cornelia Guell. Illustration & design by Elly Jahnz.

A booklet gathering illustrated stories of walking, wheeling, and cycling in County Durham and Cornwall. The stories care fictionalised but based on participants’ experiences.