We believe in the power of storytelling and narrative. Do you?
To a skeptic, I might ask: “What is your legacy and who will tell your story?” This is often part of a series of related personal questions that I ask in many of the videos and storytelling approaches we lead at Renaissance. Digging deep to find the core “Why” within the communities we serve helps to make storytelling meaningful and helps reveal rich, hidden, or invisible narratives that can elevate shared visions and align community goals for real projects. These are some of the many reasons storytelling is so important to our work.
My purpose and work with Renaissance – especially in my role as our Storytelling Practice Lead – is all about seeing a place, listening to residents, gathering local stories, and uncovering important place-based and human-centered narratives to help serve planning, engagement, and design goals for the clients and communities that we serve. We recently had the opportunity to share more in-depth about our multimedia storytelling approach and methods for inclusive public engagement at the National American Planning Association conference in Philadelphia this April. Our APA NPC23 session, “Storytelling, not Yelling: Toward More Inclusive Community Engagement” highlights innovative video and storytelling practices that have successfully supported public engagement, stakeholder workshops, and client consensus-building with “Community Vision Stories” from urban and rural contexts.
Our storytelling practice has many layers. Authentic narratives can shape the way we see and form our communities, families, home, self, and how we fit into our “social imaginary” – our shared moral and social existence, coined by philosopher Charles Taylor. When supported by our multidisciplinary team, our thoughtful two-pronged approach – first, story-gathering and then storytelling – helps us better understand the communities we serve, which leads to better visions and actions for future change.
“Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” is a deeply emotional refrain and finale song of the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway musical, Hamilton, about the tragic yet influential life of one of the lesser-known Founding Fathers. Stay with me here. This song (even if you’ve never heard it, notice the story structure from the words alone) exemplifies my confidence that the stories we tell and share about ourselves, our community, our work, or our purpose have the power to harness emotions, drive decision-making, and fuel collective action.
Storytelling, within our modern planning practice and community engagement contexts, builds upon a rigorous foundation of the art and science of narratives that is nearly as old as human evolution itself. Many scientists and paleoanthropologists believe that narratives are the oldest and primary ways humans make sense of the world. As our brains evolved and languages developed (estimated around 100,000 years ago) so did storytelling. Aristotle, in his Poetics from 2,300 years ago, first articulated that a successful narrative arc starts with a mystery, builds tension with conflict, reaches an exciting climax or crisis, and then ends with a satisfying resolution. Many of Shakespeare’s stories have a similar narrative structure. The indefatigable and brilliant Taylor Swift, “one of America’s great storytellers,” has countless songs – including Anti-Hero with an infectious hook and vivid imagery – that harness the power of storytelling in classic yet innovative ways. (See our TikTok for more pop mixed with planning.) Story structures and narrative elements that grab our attention while engaging our brain and emotions with human-centered stories should be inspiration and evidence for planners seeking more meaningful strategies for community-based work.
Another relevant and applicable narrative arc – one that is easy to apply to place-based planning or engagement storytelling – is the “Man in a Hole” story structure. The author Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Nobody ever lost money telling the story of a Man in a Hole.” This structure begins with a comfort zone, then there is a trigger that leads to a crisis. This crisis or low point is where discovery, transformation, and a turning point leads to the recovery and finally a better place or resolution. This is similar to the aforementioned narrative arc. For many of our planning projects, videos, and storytelling products, I use this story structure to help frame and mold the information gathered into a coherent and engaging story.
Storytelling evokes a strong neurological and emotional response. A range of recent neuroscience has shown that this kind of story structure lights up our whole brain and produces a strong emotional response with a cascade of hormones and brain activity. For instance, research based on more than 50,000 brain observations by neuroscientist Paul J. Zak for his 2022 book Immersion (as well as many other articles including the Harvard Business Review) has shown that immersive stories have the power to persuade, shift our opinions or beliefs, build empathy and trust for others, and help us attune to details and other humans. Our brains will produce oxytocin, endorphins, cortisol, dopamine, and other neurotransmitters across brain hemispheres, throughout our body, limbic system, and vagus nerve due to the structure and narrative elements of an immersive story. When done well, and within the appropriate context of the communities we serve, authentic storytelling has a wide range of benefits for inclusive and equitable outcomes.
From Aristotle’s Poetics, Shakespeare, and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking Hamilton, to Taylor Swift and researchers like Paul J. Zak, the power, the art, and the science of storytelling has been well established. The importance of a well-told narrative arc and structure is vital to everything from music, film, Broadway, marketing, and advertising. Yet, why is storytelling not taught in university planning masters programs? Why do most planning, design, or architecture firms not invest nor hire for strong storytelling? Why do most public agencies, procurement departments, capital investment plans, RFPs, or project scope rarely outline storytelling approaches or deliverables?
Of course, storytelling is not a cure-all, and I cannot account for the reasons why storytelling and story production are not well supported by public agency procurement departments, project budgets, or university curriculum. I can only return to the question I might ask a sceptic about our legacy or collective purpose; to the Hamilton refrain of who lives, who dies, and who tells your story – and that storytelling reminds us that there is far more that connects us than separates us.
Many of our storytelling projects and videos can be viewed on our Renaissance YouTube channel here.
This insights post was written by Asa Eslocker. Prior to Renaissance, he worked at ABC News in New York where he was awarded a 2008 National News Emmy Award for “The Multi-Million Dollar Appeal.”