Place-based and intergenerational storytelling for youth climate action: Moving beyond participation and towards momentum

The urgency of the climate crisis necessitates inclusive approaches that engage marginalised groups, particularly youth, in meaningful and sustained ways. This paper explores the transformative potential of place-based and intergenerational storytelling for fostering youth climate action, drawing on insights from a British Academy-funded project in Vietnam. Building on Lundy’s Model of Participation, we integrate “momentum” as a critical extension to sustain youth engagement within and beyond initial participation. The project involved 18 youth participants co-creating narratives with elders, linking historical resilience to contemporary challenges and stories of hope through creative forms such as picture books and water puppetry. These intergenerational dialogues deepened emotional connections, fostered agency, and anchored climate action within local contexts, and simultaneously maintained motivation and momentum throughout.

In this paper we demonstrate how influence and momentum must be intertwined to achieve lasting outcomes and challenge the often made assumption that momentum is a natural outcome of participation. We argue that in the context of climate change, where challenges are complex and ongoing, momentum must be explicitly nurtured and maintained, and built into frameworks of theory and practice. By embedding place-based and intergenerational storytelling into youth engagement strategies, whist crucially thinking about momentum, we offer a flexible, scalable framework for researchers and practitioners to drive sustainable, impactful youth climate action.