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At The Nature of Cities, one of our basic principles of engagement is meet people where they are. That sounds obvious, but it has consequences. Scientists, policymakers, artists, farmers, educators, and communicators all have ways of describing the world that make sense inside their own communities. The problem is when we assume everyone else should enter through our door—with our terminology, evidence, or ways of thinking.
Meeting people where they are means asking different questions. What do people care about? What words do they use? What makes them hopeful, angry, proud, anxious, or curious? What stories do they tell about themselves, their futures, and the places they love? Engagement begins with listening.
This applies not only to communities, but to transdisciplinary work itself. Different disciplines need to meet each other where they are. For example, Nature of Cities roundtables bring together 20 or more people from different disciplines, practices, and geographies to respond to the same question. No one has to adopt somebody else’s language first. Richness comes from putting different ways of seeing alongside each other. Art–science collaborations (e.g. comics or theatre) create other doors into complex ideas, making science more accessible, emotional, surprising and—dare I say it—fun.
This idea sits at the heart of HARVEST, a new European Horizon project we started this fall with 15 partners. It explores the attractiveness of farming, especially for young people and new entrants. But we cannot simply decide what should make farming attractive and build a campaign around it. Nor should we assume people hold the “wrong” image of farming and need to be educated into the right one. Instead, we start with the realities people inhabit. We explore the economic, social, cultural, and practical conditions of farming; listen to farmers and potential farmers; and examine narratives circulating through media, communities, education, and agricultural institutions. We seek what truths they contain, what they leave out, and why some resonate more than others.
StoryLabs take this further. They are not places where HARVEST tells better stories to people, but where stories are made with people—with their own language, experiences, contradictions, humour, frustrations, and ambitions. The same philosophy runs through foresight, education, policy, and communications. A policymaker, a teenager, an established farmer, and someone who has never imagined farming as a possible life are not the same. We shouldn’t speak with them as though they are.
HARVEST is trying to create new possibilities for farming. But meaningful change rarely begins by telling people where they should go. First, meet them where they are. Then imagine together where we might go next.
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