About the StoryBench Project

Story Bench is a digital storytelling platform to enhance seating areas situated in public spaces

Public benches in small communities around the world have traditionally played a role in strengthening ties a local community by creating a space for serendipitous conversations, sharing stories and create long standing bonds.

In our vision, benches can be coupled up with a microblogging platform to play a new role as a creator of new bonds in a local community.

Story Benches must be designed to stimulate empathetic conversations in a local community

Its physical affordance will be geared towards conversations – allowing people to comfortably face each other, rather than side-by-side.

A micro-blogging platform will augment the bench with stories shared by people within the local community.

The bench design and its content must have an emotional value to the community that must be responsible for preserving it.

Several research studies and scholarly works across disciplines point to the crisis of social cohesion in urban centres and the decline of social communities.

For example, Robert D. Putnam in ‘Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community’ (2000) investigates the decline of social capital in the United States, exploring how changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, and technology have led to a decline in community engagement and social ties.

Ray Oldenburg in ‘The Great Good Place’ discusses the importance of “third places” — inclusive, informal gathering places outside of the home and workplace — for civic engagement and social capital. He argues that the disappearance of these spaces contributes to social isolation in modern urban societies.

Developing digital platforms that complement physical urban spaces can facilitate community engagement and participation. These platforms can help residents share information, organise events, and engage in discussions about local issues.