Avon Echoes: An interdisciplinary audio guide for socio-ecological connectivity in Stratford-upon-Avon

Avon Echoes is a mobile-based audio guide addressing the knowledge gap around the River Avon's socio-ecological role in Stratford-upon-Avon. Despite the town's Shakespearean fame, its relationship with the river is largely exploitative, evidenced by persistent sewage pollution and environmental degradation that go largely unrecognised by residents and visitors alike. Drawing on Place-Based Education, Blue Space Theory, and an interdisciplinary framework, the guide turns the town into a living classroom, using location-stamped audio and "Think Water" prompts to shift users from passive listeners into active participants. The aim is to build the emotional connection and civic duty needed to protect the river against ongoing pollution and climate pressures. The route comprises seven stops organised around three interdisciplinary themes exploring where human activity and natural forces collide or align. The Engineered Environment examines the river's history of hydrological control, industrial use, and the infrastructure trade-offs this has produced. Recreation and Ecological Conflict considers the environmental costs of tourism and leisure, from soil compaction to noise disturbance and habitat displacement. Sacred and Sensory Spaces closes the guide by highlighting rarer synergies, sites where heritage and ecology coexist, and the sensory and wellbeing value of the river as a blue space. Together, the three themes move the guide beyond a conventional heritage tour, positioning the river as an active, contested presence shaping, and shaped by, the town around it.