A day of free public talks, guided walks and workshops exploring the city and our place within it

Drawing on interdisciplinary research across the arts, humanities and social sciences, this free public event celebrates walking as a way of encountering, learning, and thinking differently about the world around us.

Cardiff University will lead a day of interactive walks and short talks in and around Cardiff and its parks to explore familiar places and discover new ones.

Cross time and space to learn how Cardiff’s Victorian inner-city has evolved, experience where film and television productions come to life in Cathays Park, share your stories about Bute Park, the River Taff, and the park’s visitors, animals and plants. Learn about the art of being a pedestrian, explore digital mobility through smartphones, experience a weather walk, create a memory map, or take part in an autobiographical workshop. There’s something for everyone!

Participants will leave with a new way of thinking about walking, reflection, expression and experiences of the city.

Suitable for all ages. All events will be accessible and welcoming to all participants. The booking link will allow you to choose one or multiple walks, talks or workshops from the programme.

Please come prepared for weather conditions.

Access info: Bute Park - Visitor Centre

Programme:

10.00-11.00 Screen walks: Reel Cathays Park (meet outside the Glamorgan Building, Cathays Park, CF10 3WT)

With Professor Jon Anderson

Explore Cathays Park where a familiar place is transformed through the magic of screen productions. Walk through the ‘Fourth Wall’ and see where and why iconic television productions such as Doctor Who, Discovery of Witches, and His Dark Materials, used Cathays Park as a stage set.

10:00-11:00 The art of walking (Bute Park Visitor Centre)

With Professor Robin Smith

This talk will uncover walking as an artful practice. The talk will illuminate practices of walking and pedestrianism, and show how these practices are obscured by their familiarity. It ecourages people to reflect on the work they do while walking (or wheeling) together in public space.

11:00-13:00 Walking with your head in the cloud: Exploring digital mobility (Bute Park Visitor Centre)

With Dr Mathilde Dissing Christensen

This guided walk explores our relationship with smartphones and how they influence our physical movement. Through a range of practical exercises in the park and the city centre, we will discuss how digital technologies shape our everyday mobility.

Please bring a fully charged smartphone.

11:30-13:00 Tracing the curriculum of our lives: Walking and thinking together (Bute Park Visitor Centre)

With Dr Kevin Smith

A participatory workshop to explore how our educational experiences contribute to who we are, who we want to be and how we understand ourselves, others and the world. After talking and thinking together, participants will explore Bute Park independently with an activity pack before returning to share what they noticed and where their thinking led.

12:30-13:00 Stories from the River Thames (Bute Park Visitor Centre)

With Safia Bailey

This talk will transport you through a 232-mile walk along the River Thames to share stories of its communities, both human and more-than-human, from source to sea.

13:00-14:30 Being more-than-human: Reimagining hidden stories within Bute Park (Bute Park Visitor Centre)

With Safi Bailey and Peter Teuten

Come and share your stories and help make new ones about Bute Park and the River Taff on a sensory walk featuring the park’s visitors, animals and plants, with the opportunity to create a personal memory map.

14:00-15:30 Walking with victorian urbanism (Bute Park Visitor Centre)

With Dr Aled Singleton and Marega Palser

Cross time and space to find out how Cardiff's Victorian inner-city has evolved. Walking through Riverside and Canton, we will explore how the 1960/70s and later developments relate to forms from the late nineteenth-century.

14:30-15:30 Weather walk (Bute Park Visitor Centre)

With Dr Charlotte Bates and Dr Katherine Quinn

A slow-paced weather walk around Bute Park to share memories of weather and place, experience the weather conditions, and think about climate futures. Guided activities will include observational drawing exercises and writing prompts.

Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of the humanities, takes place 5 to 14 November 2026. Being Human is led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information, visit the festival's website, beinghumanfestival.org.

Location

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• Bute Park Visitor Centre
• 35 North Road
• Cardiff
• CF10 3DX

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