An ecopoetic sound piece produced in response to the Bristol and Bath Railway Path, UK

Prior, J

Walton, S

GeoHumanities

ResearchSPace - Bath Spa University

Prior, J. and Walton, S. (2017) 'The Bristol and Bath Railway Path: an ecopoetic sound collaboration.' GeoHumanities, 3 (1), pp. 246-249.This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in GeoHumanities on 10/02/2017 available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2373566X.2016.1273076  ResearchSPAce http://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/ This pre-published version is made available in accordance with publisher policies.  Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Your access and use of this document is based on your acceptance of the ResearchSPAce Metadata and Data Policies, as well as applicable law:-https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/policies.html  Unless you accept the terms of these Policies in full, you do not have permission to download this document. This cover sheet may not be removed from the document. Please scroll down to view the document. The Bristol and Bath Railway Path: An Ecopoetic Sound Collaboration  Jonathan Prior and Samantha Walton  Since its creation in the mid-1980s as part of the first section of the National Cycle Network, the Bristol and Bath Railway Path has become a successful and accessible sustainable transport route, carrying over 2.4 million trips a year, including leisure cyclists, commuters, walkers, and wheelchair users. i  The pathway offers a fully off-road transect between the two cities, built on the remnants of a former coal rail and Midland Railway commuter line closed as part of the so-called Beeching Axe in 1968. Following advice given by Richard Beeching in two reports, The Reshaping of British Railways (1963) and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes (1965), the government extensively restructured and contracted the railway service, which involved the closure of thousands of miles of lines. The curving Bristol to Bath route, which now makes up the Railway Path, was closed between 1966 and 1971 (a more direct service now connects the cities), and the charity Sustrans took over the line in 1979. Over the course of fifteen miles, it passes through a range of urban and rural landscapes: It crosses the River Avon multiple times as it winds toward the sea, trailing the course that once connected Avon Valley industries to globalized commerce and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.  As questions of sustainability, livability, and green infrastructure now pervade a multitude of UK policy discourses, the Bristol and Bath Railway Path offers an example of how formerly heavily industrialized sites can be transformed to express intercity sustainable transportation goals. It also provides a site for reflection on complex and contradictory constructions of place, not least because management of the path by Sustrans involves conscious acts of placemaking, both through the commissioning of site-specific sculpture, and the coproduction of art projects involving local communities.  Presented here is the outcome of a collaboration between a human geographer and sound recordist, Jonathan Prior, and an English literature scholar and poet, Samantha Walton, that takes the form of an ecopoetic sound piece, created in response to the Bristol and Bath Railway Path. The piece combines an open-form ecopoem written both in situ and in response to specific sites and their entangled human and natural histories, with audio recordings produced while walking the route at various points between January and March 2016. In the collaboration, we have attempted to foreground both the sonic qualities of the human voice and those of the place itself.  Ecopoetics emerged in the late twentieth century as a distinctive theoretical, aesthetic, and political approach to writing. Over the last twenty or so years, many writers have contributed definitions of the term that have been influential in its development.ii  We have chosen to call the piece an ecopoem because through it we have consciously woven environmental concern and critique with reflections on cultural, social, and ecological histories of place. Collaborative and multimedia techniques help further the ecopoetic qualities of the piece. As Arigo (2007) suggested, like an ecotone, an ecopoem exists on the edges of different boundaries and practices: in our case, human geography and literary history, theories of place and innovative poetics, sound, text, and performance.    The piece reflects on the tensions between the official narratives surrounding the Bristol and Bath Railway Path—sustainability, human health, regeneration—and the consequences of reconceptualising a working landscape as “green infrastructure” on working-class and low-income communities. It also considers the relationship between self and landscape, mobility, and the affective qualities of nonhuman and deep time encounters. The multivoice poem incorporates found text derived from archival material and policy documentation, as well as imagery and language—both natural and cultural—prompted by exploratory visits to the path, and by repeated commutes made between the poet’s home in Bristol and their workplace, Bath Spa University. The path, and indeed the cities of Bath and Bristol themselves, might not exist were it not for the presence of the river. For this reason, water flows through the piece, and is brought into focus as a material force that brings human and nonhuman lives and communities into relation and obligation.   Supplemental Material  The ecopoetic sound piece produced in response to the Bristol and Bath Railway Path can be accessed on the publisher’s website.  Acknowledgements  We would like to thank those who gave us feedback on the ecopoem during the 2016 Landscaping Change conference at Bath Spa University, the anonymous GeoHumanities reviewers for their constructive comments, and Tim Cresswell for his handling of the submission.  References  Arigo, C. 2007. Notes towards an ecopoetics. How2 Journal 3 (2). https://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/vol_3_no_2/ecopoetics/essays/arigo.html (last accessed 2 December 2016).  Bate, J. 2001. The song of the earth. London: Macmillan.  Better by Bike. 2015. Cycle flow with census. http://www.betterbybike.info/content/uploads/2015/07/Cycle-Flow-with- Census-TTW_v2.pdf (last accessed 18 August, 2016).  Grimshaw, J. 2008. 23rd January 2008 newsletter, Sustrans. https://web.archive.org/web/20110514181401/http://www.sustrans.org.uk/assets/files/general/letter_23january.pdf (last accessed 18 August 2016).  Office for National Statistics. 2011. Location of usual residence and place of work by method of travel to work. Nomis  Web. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/wu03uk/chart (last accessed 18 August, 2016).  Tarlo, H. 2007. Women and ecopoetics: An introduction in context. How2 Journal 3 (2).https://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/vol_3_no_2/ecopoetics/introstatements/tarlo_intro.html (last accessed 2 December 2016).   JONATHAN PRIOR is a lecturer in human geography in the School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3WA, UK. E-mail:priorj@cardiff.ac.uk. His research interests span environmental and landscape policy, and sonic geography.   SAMANTHA WALTON is a lecturer in English Literature: Writing and Environment, at Bath Spa University, Department of English & Cultural Studies, School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath, BA2 9BN, UK. E-mail: s.walton@bathspa.ac.uk. She is a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award holder, 2015–2017, for the 90 project Landscaping Change, and in 2016 was an Environmental Humanities Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh.                                                             i The 2.4 million trips a year figure was compiled by Sustrans in 2007, with usage increasing at 10 percent a year. If it has, that would amount to 5.7 million trips a year! See Grimshaw (2008). More reliable recent figures come from the Cycle Flow Census of Residents Cycling to Work 2011. This shows that in 2011 around 1,000 journeys were made each day along the Bristol and Bath Railway Path from Bristol suburbs to the city center. Around 200 users commuted from Bath to Bristol, an inflow of 462 commuters came from North Somerset, and an outflow of 2,214 cyclists from South Gloucester (the greater Bristol suburban area through which the path passes). See Office for National Statistics (2011) and Better by Bike (2015). These figures do not take account of short journeys and leisure usage, which is bound to be higher. Sustrans estimated 6,500 trips in 2008. ii See Bate (2001), Skinner’s various writings in the ecopoetics journal and in Jacket2, and Tarlo (2007). 

The Bristol and Bath Railway Path: an ecopoetic sound collaboration

Jonathan Prior

Samantha Walton

Crossref

The Bristol and Bath Railway Path: An Ecopoetic Sound Collaboration

Prior, Jonathan

Walton, Samantha

Online Research @ Cardiff

This is a n  Op e n  Acces s  doc u m e n t  dow nloa d e d  fro m  ORCA, Ca r diff U nive r si ty 'sins ti t u tion al r e posi to ry: h t t p s://o rc a .c a r diff.ac.uk/id/e p rin t/97 4 9 0/This  is t h e  a u t ho r’s ve r sion  of a  wo rk  t h a t  w as  s u b mi t t e d  to  / a c c e p t e d  forp u blica tion.Cit a tion  for  final p u blish e d  ve r sion:P rior, Jon a t h a n  ORCID: h t t p s://o rcid.o r g/00 0 0-0 0 0 1-7 0 8 1-8 0 2 5  a n d  Walton,S a m a n t h a  2 0 1 7.  The  Bris tol a n d  Ba t h  r ailw ay p a t h:  a n  e copoe tic  sou n dcollabo r a tion.  GeoH u m a ni ti es  3  (1) , p p.  2 4 6-2 4 9.1 0.10 8 0/23 7 3 5 6 6X.201 6.12 7 3 0 7 6  file P u blish e r s  p a g e:  h t t p://dx.doi.or g/10.10 8 0/237 3 5 6 6X.20 1 6.12 7 3 0 7 6< h t t p://dx.doi.o rg/10.10 8 0/23 7 3 5 6 6X.201 6.1 27 3 0 7 6 >Ple a s e  no t e:  Ch a n g e s  m a d e  a s  a  r e s ul t  of p u blishing  p roc e s s e s  s uc h  a s  copy-e di ting,for m a t ting  a n d  p a g e  n u m b e r s  m ay no t  b e  r eflec t e d  in t his  ve r sion.  For  t h ed efini tive  ve r sion  of t his  p u blica tion,  ple a s e  r ef e r  to  t h e  p u blish e d  sou rc e.  Youa r e  a dvise d  to  cons ul t  t h e  p u blish e r’s ve r sion  if you  wish  to  ci t e  t his  p a p er.This ve r sion  is b ein g  m a d e  av ailable  in  a cco r d a n c e  wit h  p u blish e r  policie s.S e e  h t t p://o rc a .cf.ac.uk/policies.h t ml for  u s a g e  policies.  Copyrigh t  a n d  m o r al  r i gh t sfor  p u blica tions  m a d e  available  in ORCA a r e  r e t ain e d  by t h e  copyrig h thold e r s .	   1	  This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted following peer review for publication in GeoHumanities.  The Bristol and Bath Railway Path: An ecopoetic sound collaboration  Jonathan Prior, Cardiff University Samantha Walton, Bath Spa University  Since its creation in the mid-1980s as part of the first section of the National Cycle Network, the Bristol and Bath Railway Path has become a successful and accessible sustainable transport route, carrying over 2.4 million trips a year, including leisure cyclists, commuters, walkers and wheelchair users.1 The pathway offers a fully off-road transect between the two cities, built on the remnants of a former coal rail and Midland Railway commuter line closed as part of the so-called Beeching Axe in 1968. Following advice given by Richard Beeching in two reports, The Reshaping of British Railways (1963) and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes (1965), the Government extensively restructured and contracted the railway service, which involved the closure of thousands of miles of lines. The curving Bristol to Bath route which now makes up the Railway Path was closed between 1966 and 1971 (a more direct service now connects the cities), and Sustrans took over the line in 1979. Over the course of 15 miles, it passes through a range of urban and rural landscapes: it crosses the Avon multiple times as it winds towards the sea, trailing the course that connected Avon Valley industries to globalised commerce and the Transatlantic slave trade.  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  1 The 2.4 million trips a year figure was compiled by Sustrans in 2007, with usage increasing at 10% a year. If it has, that would amount to 5.7 million trips a year! See John Grimshaw, ‘23rd January 2008 Newsletter’. Sustrans.	  https://web.archive.org/web/20110514181401/http://www.sustrans.org.uk/assets/files/general/letter_23january.pdf. [Accessed 18.08.16]. Web. More reliable recent figures come from the Cycle Flow Census of Residents Cycling to Work 2011. This shows that in 2011 around 1,000 journeys were made each day along the BBRP from Bristol suburbs to the city centre. Around 200 users commuted from Bath to Bristol, an inflow of 462 commuters came from North Somerset and an outflow of 2,214 cyclists from South Gloucester (the greater Bristol suburban area through which the path passes). See: Office for National Statistics. ‘Location of usual residence and place of work by method of travel to work’. Nomis Web. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/wu03uk/chart. [Accessed 18.08.16]. Web; ‘Cycle Flow with Census’, Better by Bike. http://www.betterbybike.info/content/uploads/2015/07/Cycle-Flow-with-Census-TTW_v2.pdf [Accessed 18.08.16] Web. These figures do not take account of short journeys and leisure usage, which is bound to be higher. Sustrans estimated 6,500 trips in 2008 (see previous citation). Results of a 2016 census are due in the Autumn. 	   2	  As questions of sustainability, livability, and green infrastructure now pervade a multitude of UK policy discourses, the Bristol and Bath Railway Path offers an example of how formerly heavily industrialised sites may be transformed to express inter-city sustainable transportation goals. It also provides a site for reflection on complex and contradictory constructions of place, not least because management of the path by the charity Sustrans involves conscious acts of placemaking, both through the commissioning of site-specific sculpture, and co-production art projects involving local communities.  Presented here is the outcome of a collaboration between a human geographer and sound recordist, Jonathan Prior, and a English literature scholar and poet, Samantha Walton, that takes the form of an ecopoetic sound piece, produced in response to the Bristol and Bath Railway Path. The piece combines an open-form ecopoem written both in situ and in response to specific sites and their entangled human and natural histories, with audio recordings produced while walking the route at various points between January and March 2016. In the collaboration, we have attempted to foreground both the sonic qualities of the human voice and those of the place itself. Ecopoetics emerged in the late twentieth century as a distinctive theoretical, aesthetic and political approach to writing. Over the last twenty or so years, many writers have contributed definitions of the term which have been influential in its development.2 We have chosen to call the piece an ecopoem because through it we have consciously woven environmental concern and critique with reflections on cultural, social and ecological histories of place. Collaborative and multi-media techniques help further the ecopoetic qualities of the piece. As Christopher Arigo suggests, like an ecotone, an ecopoem exists on the edges of different boundaries and practices: in our case, human geography and literary history, theories of place and innovative poetics, sound, text and performance.3  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  2 See Jonathan Bate, (2001) The Song of the Earth, London: Macmillan; Jonathan Skinner, various writings in the ecopoetics journal and in Jacket2; Harriet Tarlo, (2007). ‘Women and ecopoetics: an introduction’ in Women and Ecopoetics, How2 Journal. 3:2. Web. <https://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/vol_3_no_2/ecopoetics/introstatements/tarlo_intro.html> [Accessed 2.12.16] 3 Christopher Arigo. ‘Notes Towards an Ecopoetics’ in Women and Ecopoetics, How2 Journal. 3:2. Web. <https://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/vol_3_no_2/ecopoetics/essays/arigo.html> [Accessed 2.12.16] 	   3	  The piece reflects upon the tensions between the official narratives surrounding the Bristol and Bath Railway Path – sustainability, human health, regeneration – and the consequences of re-conceptualising a working landscape as ‘green infrastructure’ on working-class and low-income communities. It also considers the relationship between self and landscape, mobility, and the affective qualities of nonhuman and deep time encounters. The multivoice poem incorporates found text derived from archival material and policy documentation, as well as imagery and language – both ‘natural’ and ‘cultural’ – prompted by exploratory visits to the path, and by repeated commutes made between the poet’s home in Bristol and their workplace, Bath Spa University. The path, and indeed the cities of Bath and Bristol themselves, may not exist were it not for the presence of the river. For this reason, water flows through the piece, and is brought into focus as a material agency that brings human and non-human lives and communities into relation and obligation.     SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL The ecopoetic sound piece produced in response to the Bristol and Bath Railway Path can be accessed on the publisher’s website.   	   4	  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  We would like to thank those who gave us feedback on the ecopoem during the 2016 Landscaping Change conference at Bath Spa University, the anonymous GeoHumanities reviewers for their constructive comments, and Tim Cresswell for his handling of the submission. 

The Bristol and Bath railway path: an ecopoetic sound collaboration

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The Bristol and Bath Railway Path: an ecopoetic sound collaboration

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