Building resilience through arts-based transformative learning and youth empowerment in a changing climate

Abstract

The City of Cape Town (CoCT) envisions being an “opportunity city” that contributes actively to the development of its environmental, human and social capital in order to build resilient communities (CoCT IDP 2017-2022). To achieve this vision, there is a need for new methodologies that can create opportunities for greater understanding of the underlying factors and root causes for systems being trapped in undesirable situations, but also where ‘seeds’ or pockets of potential future transformation might exist in the present. The youth represent a critical and powerful force for social change and have an important role to play in developing and implementing responses to many of the current and future challenges associated with climate and other drivers of change. Nevertheless, empowering the youth, especially those in already marginalised communities to be “change agents” is not straightforward. It is especially challenging in countries like South Africa where many young people do not have access to adequate education, healthcare, nutrition and current or future employment opportunities. Research looking at the role of education for sustainability undertaken during the first phase of this project has shown that many formal education systems highlighting climate and other environmental change linked to land, water and air pollution are often insufficient and inadequate to the challenges at hand and need to be grounded in local contexts and realities. Further, owing to the complexities and uncertainties of climate science, as well as the diversity in worldviews and understanding, communicating climate and environmental change to the public is challenging. Initial research undertaken through a literature review for this project suggests that education surrounding climate and environmental change should become responsive to the existing beliefs, attitudes and situational contexts of specific audiences and move towards participatory and arts-based modes of engagement, especially with youth. Creating novel and imaginative spaces for reflexivity, learning and experimentation with arts can play a critical role in shifting mindsets, providing inclusive and safe spaces for opening new political horizons and visions of the future. Art-based and embodied methodologies are an effective way to develop passion and emotional connection with environmental issues and can help surface future imaginaries of what options exist for change. Providing safe spaces for these transformative learning experiences to occur is important for instilling agency and purpose in future generations and building resilience capacities in people and communities, as well as the ecosystems that sustain important ecological processes important for human wellbeing. Leveraging work and networks already established through The Beach Co-Operative (TBCO) and work implemented by the artist CareCreative and other stakeholders, this project provided opportunities to advance and synergise important on-going work. TBCO is an NPO that engages with citizens to build good relationships between coastal communities and the ocean, thereby ensuring individual and community investment in protecting and regenerating ocean health. One particular focus of TBCO is on plastic pollution, and its role as a major threat to ecosystem and human health and thus, by and large, to urban resilience. TBCO have developed an approach to nurturing active citizenship through building community around beach clean ups, cultural and arts-based events and citizen science. Together with creative arts-based methods co-developed by Claire Homewood from CareCreative and resilience thinking and methods from researchers at SU and UCT, this project has begun to engage key stakeholders involved in urban resilience initiatives. We surfaced many learnings that we hope can be leveraged and built on in future projects. Some of these learnings include: the need to co-develop material for enhancing climate literacy that is based on local realities; that multiple capacities and hives of activity already exist in communities and need to mobilised and elevated and not built; that creative visioning and futuring can help identify options for change; and that many youth are seeking creative, immersive and safe spaces for co-learning and connection.