Talk of the Town: The power of place-based storytelling

Carnegie UK Trust, one of our external partners, present their thoughts on the power of storytelling, with key examples and links through the text. For further details of how Carnegie UK Trust can support you, and links to further useful resources, please visit the external partner page.

Vision and strategy are key pillars in the development of Towns Deals. But how are these built from the bottom up? We at the Carnegie UK Trust would suggest storytelling as a powerful way of bringing together communities with diverse experiences of where they live, and to reflect together on the town’s past, present assets, and future potential. Because, as it is often said, you can’t really know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.

The Trust’s international research has demonstrated the power of stories in places around the world – in America, New Zealand, and Australia – to bring communities together in a common purpose, to facilitate a shared understanding of their history, and to form their future. But could the methodology be applied to towns in the UK - as the geography where two in five of us live, but which have traditionally fallen between the policy planes?

To find out, our Talk of the Town project offered professional support to citizens across England and Wales to plan, articulate and present the story of their town. After an open call for applications and extensive interest, we chose to support Scarborough and Treorchy with storytelling expertise. Why these towns? Because supported together, they could generate extensive learning for two different types of towns – large coastal towns in the North of England, and small towns in the Welsh Valleys. Because their difference – economically, socially and geographically, and with different groups at the forefront of developing their stories – could be their strength. Because their stories – the aspiration to become a listening town, and having the title of the best high street in Britain – can tell us much about how to improve community wellbeing by coming together.

So what reflections can we pass on to those preparing a Town Deal, and seeking to bring their communities together to articulate the golden thread from their past experiences, present reality, and future aspirations?

Firstly, the need for treasure – a small pot of funding or the provision of direct support – to unlock capacity to full and active participation; to cover costs; and to deliver creative outputs to continue the conversation. And where support is provided through storytelling expertise, using the skills of an organisation outwith the community can provide the confidence, independence and impartiality that some members of the community crave.

But money can’t buy time. Bringing members of the community together to develop the story of their place is a long-term, iterative process of empowerment, engagement and editing. Using opportunities at which the community is already coming together, routinely or in crisis, can support the process by using pre-existing relationships and networks to full effect.

This is why trust is key. That is, trust between the members of the community involved in crafting the story, and trust between the funder and community. The willingness to co-produce; the convening power to carry the community on the journey; and the use of spaces considered to be safe, neutral and kind, all help to facilitate trust and good working relationships.

And finally securing a diversity of thought – those across different streets, spaces and sectors must be represented in discussions on the town’s story. The absence of full representation of the town’s demographics, of its economic and social structures, will result in the absence of legitimacy. Residents must be able see themselves in the town’s story – in what the story relays as the town’s past, its current conditions, and its future goals. An intergenerational approach ensures that the story does not live in the past; is not owned entirely by those in the present; and takes into account the needs and aspirations of future generations.

We’re living in a moment of historical significance, with changes to how we live and work; how we are seeking to hold on to the new ways we came together during the pandemic; how we are building back better. But these will be chapters in the stories of our places, started long before the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing well into the future. We believe that these stories should be convened, collected and, above all, used, to shape the future of our towns. Because understanding what makes them unique, and who their citizens are, is to understand what they need. And to understand what they need is to help them to flourish.