Urban Places as Narrative Spaces

Returning IAS Alumni Fellow from the 2023-24 academic year, Dr Yolandi Burger, organises a panel discussion featuring esteemed colleagues Professor Mike Wilson, Dr Robert Harland, Dr Taimaz Larimian, and Melinda Swift.

This panel examines the intricate relationship between urban places and the narratives through which they are experienced, remembered, and reimagined. It explores how cities are not only physical environments but also repositories of collective memory, identity, and meaning. Discussion will focus on the ways in which spatial structures, visual communication, storytelling practices, and data representation contribute to shaping the narratives of urban life. Attention will be given to the intersection of heritage, sustainability, community engagement, and urban morphology, considering how narratives can both reveal and obscure the complexities of metropolitan regions. The panel interrogates how participatory approaches and graphic representations can democratise urban storytelling, fostering more inclusive and dynamic understandings of place. Through critical reflection, it aims to highlight new pathways for connecting urban design, research, and community voices, ultimately rethinking the role of narrative in sustaining and transforming contemporary urban environments.

Panel Biographies - 

Michael Wilson is Professor of Drama at Loughborough University and Director of the Storytelling Academy, a research team in Applied Storytelling. His main scholarly interests lie broadly within the field of popular and vernacular performance and over the past twenty years he has led numerous UK Research Council and European Commission funded projects around the world that explore the application of storytelling to a variety of social and policy contexts, especially around environmental policy, health, education and social justice. During his career he has filled various university senior management roles and has sat on a range of panels and advisory boards for the UK Research Councils and the British Council. He has recently confirmed as the UNESCO Chair in Storytelling Education for Sustainability.

Yolandi Burger is a South African academic and design researcher, currently an Honorary Research Fellow at Loughborough University.  Her research focuses on graphic heritage, exploring how graphic design, urban design, toponymy, tourism, and cultural memory intersect in shaping identity within public spaces. She investigates the role of visual communication and ephemeral design artifacts in documenting local responses to social and environmental change. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, Yolandi works with international teams to examine how design and place-naming practices contribute to spatial justice, community resilience, and inclusive placemaking. Later this year, she will join the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) and University of Johannesburg (UJ) as a postdoctoral research fellow to explore the intersections of graphic heritage and storytelling in the urban environment.

Melinda Swift is an organisational effectiveness and development professional, currently serving as the Operations and Partnerships Manager at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO). The GCRO is a collaboration between the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand, the Gauteng Provincial Government, and SALGA, working towards a more integrated, inclusive, and sustainable city-region. Melinda brings over 20 years of senior public sector experience, including work in the oceans economy, the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, and sustainable land and resource management. She is passionate about securing the rights and inclusion of all young people, especially LGBTIAQ+ children.

Robert Harland is a Reader in Urban Graphic Heritage at Loughborough University. His research examines urban heritage through the lens of graphic design. He has led major projects exploring urban graphic heritage with partners such as the Nelson Mandela Foundation, UNESCO-UK, and UNESCO Creative Cities, collaborating across the UK, Australia, Brazil, China, and South Africa. In 2025 he co-founded the TOWN Observatory, and was appointed the Civic Universities Partnership lead for Arts Culture and Heritage. In 2024, he accepted an invitation to join Loughborough’s renowned Storytelling Academy, and was recognised with a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for International Partnerships.

Taimaz Larimian joined Loughborough University as a Lecturer in Urban Planning in July 2019. She has a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of Otago, New Zealand. Her doctoral research focused on conceptualisation and measurement of urban social sustainability and investigating the relationship between urban form and social sustainability at a neighbourhood scale. Her expertise sits within urban studies and planning with a key interest in social sustainability, sense of community, sustainable urban form and city branding. In addition, she has experience conducting interdisciplinary research with academics in the fields of Management, Social Sciences, and Energy Planning, resulting in publications in these areas.

Arrivals from 11:45 am for a 12:00 noon start. For those joining in-person, lunch will be served after the seminar from 1:00pm.

This event is hybrid format, please use the required booking button at the bottom of the page to choose either in-person or online attendance.
(Please note that in-person spaces are limited and booking is required, so we can manage numbers for catering and also the space in the seminar room)

By booking a place at this event, attendees agree to behave in a respectful manner such that everyone feels comfortable contributing as they wish. The IAS reserves the right to eject anyone who does not abide by this policy.

IAS seminars are typically recorded, minus any Q&A sessions at the end, again to encourage contributions. The recordings are then uploaded to our website on a Fellows bio page and/or Programme page, along with our IAS YouTube Channel. If you are not able to attend a seminar live, please do still register as we will email everyone who registered to let them know once the recordings are made available.