“It’s all about the beach town!” The methodological challenges and creative opportunities of participatory research with young people in coastal environments

Our paper contributes to the broader coastal studies literature, proposing a methodology and methods that can enhance young people’s participation in research and policymaking. Framed by the emerging concept of child-friendly blue urbanism and founded on principles of attentiveness and context-responsiveness it sets out a novel approach that foregrounds young people’s contributions as co-researchers, and their lives as embodied and intimately connected to the social and physical fabric of the coast. Drawing on our original research with young people in a small, English coastal town, we explore how a unique focus on children’s emplaced lives offers creative opportunities that can enhance young people’s participation. Logistical and ethical challenges about how to safely navigate and safeguard children in a spatially remote, seasonally reliant seaside location were particularly salient. We discuss how the resulting walking tours, intergenerational postcard exchange, animation and booklet emerged through this process of co-creation and solution building with young people, enabling them to express their views and influence community dialogue. In setting out our distinctive attentive, context-responsive approach we critically explore the unique challenges and creative opportunities emerging from researching with young people in coastal contexts and their potential to realise the ambitions of child-friendly blue urbanism.