About GCNE

One third of people in England do not have access to good quality green and blue space within 15 minutes of their home. Green corridors could offer many of them the opportunity to walk, uninterrupted, from city streets to places where nature, history and culture converge. 

The Green Corridors North East project is a pioneering, interdisciplinary, multi-sector initiative that will help to transform 25 miles of urban, suburban and rural landscapes across South Teesside, Durham and Gateshead. One of the most ambitious programmes of its kind in the UK, it aims to connect people in cities and towns with nature, heritage and culture while enhancing biodiversity and promoting wellbeing. 

Green corridors are linear networks of green space, including riverside paths that connect fragmented habitats and communities. Functioning simultaneously as ecological corridors, recreational routes and cultural landscapes, they enable species movement, increase habitat resilience, facilitate active travel and provide accessible places for people to experience local nature and history. 

Operating across the project’s three routes, the project’s arts- and humanities-led research that foregrounds co-production. Researchers from Newcastle, Durham and Teesside universities are working in partnership with the National Trust, local authorities, and community organisations to conceive and deliver more than 25 collaborative projects along the three routes.  

Our research is organised around four central themes: heritage and history; culture and creativity; nature and natural heritage; and active evaluation for learning. A distinctive strand of the programme is its commitment to redefining how research teams operate, inspired by the Thrive team convening principles. This project will foster knowledge exchange between local groups and researchers, generating new practices of environmental and cultural stewardship and creating fresh narratives of place rooted in shared experience.  

Green Corridors North East offers a transformative model for urban and rural regeneration in the UK and beyond, positioning the North East as a leader in interdisciplinary, co-created approaches to environmental and cultural renewal.