How can we tell a new story?

New Narratives of Place

New Narratives of Place
Context

Barriers in the System

Right now, the prevailing narrative of our economic system is one of consumption, growth, individualism and extraction at all costs. We are told – via the media, advertisers, politicians and the various institutions we depend upon – that all growth is good; that profits matter more than people; and that the environment is primarily a resource to be used and discarded. Human and environmental health and wellbeing are not centred in this narrative, and it is failing us on a catastrophic scale.

Our Response

What We're Doing

Through New Narratives of Place, our Systems Lab is working to redefine these stories. Our focus here is to find new approaches to the social, economic and political narratives of our time – and to present new stories that empower our communities, make change possible, and nourish the soil that makes regeneration possible. 

Starting in Melbourne, we are focused on the new narratives that can emerge from our Earthshots: stories that centre wellbeing of our waterways, connection to our streets and abundance in our food system. We are knitting these stories together to build new possibilities for the holistic regeneration of our city.

Looking beyond Melbourne, we are engaging with broader discussions about the narratives defining our economic system, exploring how we can tell a story of the economy serving us, instead of the other way around.

What we're asking

To guide our learning, we are asking questions about what is in our current system, what could be in the future and how to generate change towards that aspiration.

In New Narratives of Place, our overarching learning questions are:

WHAT IS

To what extent do prevailing narratives serve the wellbeing of people and place?

WHAT COULD BE

What could it look like for social, political and economic narratives to orient towards a regenerative future in and beyond Greater Melbourne?

HOW TO

How might we use new forms of narrative and narrative-building as tools for change?

learning portfolio

Narrative-building Practices

Storytelling as a practice is as old as time; participating in shaping narratives continues to hold enormous potential to enable people and communities to build agency and collective identity. This theme focuses on how we can use the creation of stories as a change-making tool at local and city-wide scales. Our learning questions within this theme include:

  • How might we apply narrative-building as an approach to increase community agency and connection in urban transformation?
  • How might storytelling surface new understandings of place and our relationship to it?

Narratives & Change

The stories we tell, and are told, shape our beliefs and values, and in turn our relationships with each other and our environments. This theme focuses on developing and disseminating new stories of regeneration within our Earthshots, across Melbourne and in relation to our economic system. Our learning questions within this theme include:

  • What new narratives can describe and orient us towards a future where people and planet thrive in balance?
  • How might we use narrative and storytelling as foundations for systemic change?
Large crowd at the City Portrait for Greater Melbourne launch in a heritage brick venue with purple lighting
The Doughnut in Practice

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Regen Melbourne's transitional infrastructure and Doughnut Economics

Sharing stories of the river

Strategic Public Relations and narrative to change the story of Greater Melbourne through the lens of the Birrarung
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Conversations with the Birrarung | Yarra River
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School Streets

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Tomorrow's River

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Reimagining our connection with the Birrarung Yarra River
Birrarung Riverfest

Birrarung Riverfest

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Telling the Story of the Streets

Telling the Story of the Streets

Catalysing narrative change by sharing stories of urban transformation