Travel and the travelogue as innovative research methodology: knowledge creation for advancing urban health and health equity in the 21st century

New methodologies and knowledge creation are at the forefront of advancing urban health and health equity in the 21 century (Grant et al. 2017, Grant and Thompson 2018). There is growing interest in new paradigms about mobility and space in social life, characterised as the ‘mobility turn’ and the ‘spatial turn’ (Sheller and Urry 2006, Hein et al. 2008). Cities & Health has been commendably innovative in encouraging articles involving travel around cities, thereby supporting the creation of knowledge outside conventional academic practices. Excellent examples include Gill’s (2019) visits to cities in Europe and Canada to report on child-friendly urban planning, Selamet’s (2022) walking and driving in Kuwait to photograph street views of fast-food displays, and Davey’s (2022) trip around Bangkok to critically reflect on the design of no-smoking signs. These examples break with convention by bringing travel and travel writing by the researcher into the research process. In this editorial, I introduce the travelogue as a new research methodology. I begin by outlining the key features of a travelogue and how they can be put together as a research methodology, by drawing upon a rich history of documented travel dating back to antiquity, and upon the empirical nature of health and social science research. Next, I guide you through the steps involved in conducting a travelogue study from start to finish, illustrated with an example about cities and health to exemplify what it looks like in practice and what can be achieved. Since travel, travel writing, and ‘travel research methods’ are neglected and under-theorised in the literature, this editorial has important theoretical and practical implications.