Berwick-Barcelona: a case study in creative collaborative approaches to climate change research

Abstract

ABSTRACT The longstanding relationship between art and geography continues to develop through a “creative re/turn” as more geographers apply creative methodologies within their research, and more artists situate their work within geography discourse. This paper presents a case study of a participatory art working session held in collaboration with Newcastle University Institute for Sustainability that models potential applications of the creative re/turn within Higher Education. Taking climate change as an invitation to innovate and reimagine, the working session brought together researchers, educators and administrators from across the university’s natural and social sciences to use an artistic toolkit to design the fictional new town BWK-BCN (read: Berwick-Barcelona), a town merging Berwick-upon-Tweed on the Scottish borders with Barcelona as a radical adaptation to climate change. The case study identifies key benefits and practical challenges of interdisciplinary approaches to climate change teaching and research. Despite some challenges, this paper suggests that collaborations with participatory art practices can provide the critical reflective and imaginative space to support creative research, learning, and engagement processes essential for tackling the unprecedented complexity that climate change presents.