Human-Centered Storytelling as Critical Infrastructure

Planning doesn’t just communicate – it helps construct public reality

When we say “pedestrian,” what do we actually mean? 

A number in a traffic model? A unit of movement through space? Or a parent walking his or her child to school?

In planning, that distinction matters. It shapes not only how we design cities, but how we understand the people who live in them. As an urban planner with a background in communication, I’ve come to see the gap between abstract concepts and lived experience as central to the future of planning. It’s a gap that media theorist Marshall McLuhan helps us better understand.

McLuhan’s famous phrase, “The medium is the message,” is more relevant than ever in our hyper-online and ever-automated world. When he writes that “we shape our tools, and then our tools shape us,” he points to an inextricable link between communication and the planning practice. McLuhan viewed urban planning not as merely the physical arrangement of buildings and infrastructure, but as the design of environments that extend human perception through media and technology. We are, in many ways, shaped by what we consume, and each breakthrough in communication technology changes how we understand and interact with our surroundings. 

Today’s media environment builds always-on connectivity, viral spread, and algorithmic amplification into everyday life. With this in mind, it is important to consider the planner’s role in a rapidly changing world. In an era defined by acceleration, automation, and uncertainty, the responsibility to improve planning knowledge and increase public understanding of planning activities becomes even more urgent. This moment provides an opportunity to step back and reconnect with people on a human level. 

Meeting people where they are today means engaging not just in physical spaces, but in the media environments where they form understanding. As media consumption becomes more frequent and fragmented, planning must adapt to these new contexts. The traditional planner’s toolkit of plans, maps, and renderings will always effectively communicate the built environment’s form. But how can we better communicate experience? 

The way a plan is presented shapes how it is understood – and who feels included in it. A map can show where something is, but a story shows what it means. If people fail to see themselves in a plan, they’re unlikely to designate meaning to it, no matter how well-designed and thought out it is. 

Incorporating video into the planning process is one way to bridge this gap. Urban planning is layered and systemic, while video has the power to clarify, simplify, and humanize. It allows us to tell stories that reflect the realities of communities – not just how places are designed, but how they are lived. 

To move in this direction, planning must shift toward a more human-centered framework:

Lived experience over abstraction

Data points, land use categories, and traffic models are essential to the planning process. However, reliance on these may obscure the realities of how people actually move through and experience space. By centering on lived experience, planners can ground their work in the everyday realities of communities. This advances planning toward a more relatable, responsive, and ultimately more human endeavor.

Community voices over categories

Communities should never be reduced to demographic categories that flatten the diversity of perspectives within them. Elevating community voices means moving beyond labels and engaging directly with individuals and their stories, requiring planners to grapple with the nuance and complexity of lived realities. This not only builds trust but leads to more equitable and informed planning outcomes.

Inclusion through visibility

True inclusion isn’t just about who is invited to the participation table, but about whose experiences are made visible and valued in the planning process. Storytelling tools, especially visual and narrative media, can amplify voices and experiences that may otherwise be overlooked in traditional "select-A-or-B" planning processes with choices pre-determined by the planners' own vocabulary. By heightening these perspectives to visibility, planners can foster a more inclusive process that better reflects the communities they serve.

The city as teaching machine

Circling back to McLuhan, the media theorist indeed operated as a kind of urban philosopher. He encouraged a proactive approach to human environments, urging people to curate their worlds intentionally rather than passively inhabiting them.  As he wrote, “the city has become a teaching machine. The planner’s job is to program the entire environment by an artistic modulation of sensory usage.” 

By engaging communities directly – and ensuring that residents not only have a voice, but that their voices are seen, heard, and amplified – the city can become exactly that: a space where human awareness is heightened through dialogue, lived experience, and shared understanding.

By Alex Kozela