Walking in to HS2
Walking in to HS2
Leon Sealey-Huggins
17th February 2018
Executive Summary
The project accompanies our Mini-Project module. It is a creative research method module of 80 students taught using the practical case of HS2 rail expansion in the West Midlands. The project would pay for the director of Birmingham’s ‘Still Walking’ festival, Ben Waddington, to create a bespoke sustainability walking tour of the area around Curzon Street in Birmingham where the new HS2 station will be located.
The walking tour would support a day’s activities as part of a practical fieldtrip, which include surveying members of the public, and a visual sociology scavenger hunt. In the words of Ben, the tour will explore the ways in which: ‘The whole city feels like it is scrambling to get ready for the royal visit that is HS2, with two public squares being torn up, tramlines going down, walk ways sealed off, public art removed and put in storage. Public land being sold off to private companies. There are economic factors at work other than HS2 but I feel it’s part of the same story.’ Employing a walking tour from an expert in the city’s urban landscape will allow the students to experience and reflect in a novel and revelatory way upon aspects of an area already impacted by HS2’s implementation.