Stories are our Blueprints

Most of the systems we live in right now aren’t designed with connection in mind. They were designed for efficiency, productivity, or profit.

In fact, one could argue that our current systems are designed to reduce connection. Connected people are more contented people – and therefore are less likely to have voids that consumerism will attempt to fill.  

But stories could help us imagine something different …

When people share their stories, they speak of new ways to be together, and they tell people they’re not alone in their experiences, and they show where we need to spark change. When a young person shares their experience of trying to rent their first home, that story doesn’t just describe a problem — it points to what’s broken in our housing system. When an elder shares how they met their neighbours from their front porch, it doesn’t just tell us about the past — it shows us how design has influenced isolation.

At Storywalks, we aim to use narrative to gently disrupt. A StorySite might tell of local fishermen who shared their catch with neighbours, sparking visitors to ask: What would it look like if generosity, not competition, guided our economy?

This is the quiet power of story: it doesn’t shout for revolution, but it does stir us awake. It invites us to imagine. And from imagination, new systems can take root.

The way the world IS has been created with stories, stories of humans as dominant, stories that try to convince us to fear others. But we can use story to change the current narrative, and create a different world. It starts with being aware of what stories we are telling.