Enhancing Social Cohesion through the Design of Narrative Environments in the Public Realm

The article in the section 'Playful City' discussses designers of narrative environments as story listeners, story tellers, and how they also enable others to tell and exchange stories in physical spaces. It exlpians how the design of spatial narratives offers distinctive kinds of immersive storytelling experiences that differ from watching a narrative on screen, reading a book or watching a play because audiences literally enter and participate in the spatial storyworld transforming the public realm by nurturing social interaction and community cohesion. Four case studies demonstrate that the active, physical participation of audiences in a narrative can lead to novel and resilient forms of co-creation and social innovation in the public realm.