Civic Participation through Everyday Storytelling

About Representative Democracy

Recent political events have deepened a sense of disempowerment among many individuals. Public discourse has increasingly turned inward, focusing on conflicts within political institutions and the power dynamics inside the system, rather than on the needs and experiences of the people those systems are meant to serve.

Representative democracy is currently designed in a conflictual and adversarial way, and this project would use architecture as an entry point for a critique of the existing design of representative democracy. 

About Oral Storytelling

During fieldwork in Växjö, Sweden, I encountered a group of storytellers committed to preserving the tradition of oral storytelling. Much of their storytelling centers on the everyday life of their own, childhood memories, family anecdotes, friendships, work, and experiences of living in the community. 

I participated in several of their events, including the Storytelling Café (Berättarkafé). At these gatherings, oral storytelling becomes a medium for self-expression among strangers. 

Oral storytelling is more than simply the sharing of personal everyday stories. Within this space, people connect not to reach consensus, but to embrace plurality, acknowledge difference, and give voice to one another.[1]

[1] Arendt, The Human Condition, 176.

About Växjö Municipality

In Växjö Municipality, Members of the Parliament (MPs) are elected every four years. This electoral structure means that residents’ direct political influence is generally confined to election cycles. 

Similar to many municipalities, political activity is concentrated in the city center. Key political institutions are clustered in the city centre, reinforcing a political landscape that centered only in the inner part of the city.

"The first cultural device was probably a recipient... Many theorists feel that the earliest cultural inventions must have been a container to hold gathered products and some kind of sling or net carrier."

Instead of centering on weapons, an ax, or a knife, it suggests that the first cultural tool was a container, a means to collect and carry. This shift in perspective reframes human nature not as inherently combative, but as collaborative and sustaining. 

Applying this theory to today’s democratic systems reveals how deeply current political participation models and political architectures are shaped by “weapons”, conflict and confrontation.

In response, this project proposes a "collector", a space that gathers lived experiences. 

[Intervention on the Voters' Side] 

4 distinct typologies of storytelling pavilions are designed, each with a spatial quality to accommodate different modes of expression, and types of storytelling. These typologies span a spectrum from intimate, introverted spaces to open, extroverted formats. 

These Storytelling Pavilions serve as decentralized civic storytelling spaces, creating accessible, everyday sites of civic engagement that are woven into the daily rhythms of the municipality, enabling storytelling not as a one-off event but as a daily civic practice.

A real-world workshop was conducted to test how to collect and document stories. 

[Intervention on the Institute's Side]

The Formal City Hall, which was a municipal meeting space, is repurposed as a parliament to allow more room for different types of dialogue, including both debating and storytelling.

[Intervention to Bridge the Divide] 

To further reinforce the connection between the people and institutional politics, a Storytelling Festival will be held every six months. This recurring event serves as both a celebration and a civic ritual, bringing together all the stories, creating a space where both the public and MPs can engage with the collected narratives.