Storytelling as Method in Spatial Planning

Drawing on the case of the Wageningse Eng in the Netherlands, this paper considers the role of storytelling within spatial planning practices. It moves away, though, from seeing it as merely a model of spatial planning, where storytelling is sometimes used to justify planners' ideals for the landscape, or a model for spatial planning, which pushes for a normative use of storytelling as a means of encapsulating local knowledge and the views of those who live in, and use, the landscape. Rather, the paper engages storytelling as a method for revealing how formal planning practices may be destabilized by more vernacular narratives seeking to subvert dominant discourses and processes. In doing so, it seeks to not only show the contested nature of participatory planning within the Netherlands, but also the ways in which narrativesas revealed via such a methodconstruct specific positionalities with real implications for notions of inclusivity within planning practices.