Speaker
Description
The research discusses storytelling as an effective method for strategy development in hybrid landscapes. These areas often involve diverse actors, conflicting interests, and differing perspectives. By integrating narrative methods, storytelling can promote a shared understanding, strengthen strategic visions, and foster creative thinking to imagine alternative futures. It simplifies complex issues while preserving the diversity of opinions, creating a common ground by addressing both emotional and rational dimensions.
Sub- and Periurbanisation led the last decades to a highly fragmented landscape. Hybrid urban landscapes are shaped by the interplay of multiple sectoral decisions and their interdependencies. They reflect a juxtaposition of diverse uses and spatial structures, often resulting in tensions and discontinuities. Signs of devaluation and renewal coexist, reflecting the simultaneity of contrasts — a juxtaposition of diverse uses and spatial structures. Due to the diversity of development possibilities, a predefined vision or a linear development pattern would limit the potential inherent in the multitude of stakeholders and their ideas for development. Transforming the urban fringe into a liveable and sustainable part of the metropolitan-region demands innovative approaches.
Narratives play a key role in strategy development by providing future-oriented illustrations of potential developments. They make abstract strategies tangible and relatable, encouraging active participation from all stakeholders. Narratives capture long-term visions and align stakeholders around shared goals. By embedding strategies in compelling stories, they bridge gaps between experts and laypersons, facilitate conflict resolution, and provide actionable frameworks. This research raises several guiding questions for the future:
How can storytelling methods be adapted to hybrid landscapes? How narratives are most effective to bridge gaps between diverse stakeholders? What are the limitations of storytelling in complex planning processes?
By exploring these questions, the research contributes to understanding how innovative approaches, like storytelling, can address the challenges of hybrid urban landscapes and foster sustainable regional development. Showcased by the case study “sub>urban. Reinventing the fringe” from Austria, Vienna. Within an action-planning network under the URBACT III programme eight European cities collaborated to revitalize and transform complex urban peripheries into sustainable environments. Suburbanization led to a fragmented landscape. Additionally, differing legal systems and governance structures between Vienna and Vösendorf, which belongs to Lower Austria with its own spatial planning law, added complexity to the strategy-making process. The reinvention of the urban fringe could not be achieved through conventional methods; it calls for experimentation and new ways of imagery. This lead the partners to adopt a storytelling-approach. An initial story was enriched and further developed in diverse formats and settings with various groups of stakeholders. They developed four “Stories from the Fringe”—Think Big, (Re-)Construct Marktviertel, The Walk- and Rideable City and Green Networks—to highlight opportunities and guide implementation projects.
I will present approaches how storytelling can be used to involve diverse actors, conflicting interests, and differing perspectives in strategic planning processes. By integrating narrative methods, storytelling can promote a shared understanding, strengthens strategic visions and fosters creative thinking to imagine alternative futures. It simplifies complex issues while preserving the diversity of opinions, creating a common ground by addressing emotional and rational dimensions. It´s a main task of stories to make abstract strategies tangible and relatable, encouraging active participation from all stakeholders. Narratives capture long-term visions and align stakeholders around shared goals. In the Vienna-Vösendorf project, storytelling highlighted potential pathways and embedded opportunities in a local action plan. It bridges gaps between experts and laypersons, facilitates conflict resolution, and provides actionable frameworks. By embedding strategies in compelling narratives, storytelling enhances implementation potential and motivates stakeholders to actively engage in planning processes.
References
Belmans M. et al (2018) Are you working on your fringe? [Online] available at: https://urbact.eu/sites/default/files/2023-03/20180315_fringe_200x267_small_0.pdf
Piorr A. et al (2011) Peri-urbanisation in Europe. Towards European policies to sustain urban–rural futures. Synthesis report. [Online] available at: https://www.openspace.eca.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Peri_Urbanisation_in_Europe_printversion.pdf
| Keywords | Narrative Transformation; Storytelling in Planning; Hybrid Urban Landscapes |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
