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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 1d

#storiesofchange
#changestories #fellowship #urbanstorytelling #equitablechange #urbanequity #urbansustainability #belohorizontemg #belohorizonteminasgerais

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 1d

Be part of a global exchange shaping more equitable and sustainable cities — and the stories we tell about them!
Applications are now open for the Change Stories Fellows program, a learning and knowledge exchange program that includes U.S.-based leaders and changemakers in equity and sustainability.

The image shows text and a photograph of buildings in Belo Horizonte with trees in the foreground. The buildings are colorful and offset against a blue sky. Under the photo are the participating organization logos (University of Washington, Observatory for Urban Health Belo Horizonte, Federal University of Minas Gerais, University of the Andes, Queen's University Belfast, University of Toronto). The text reads: Change Stories Fellows. Urban Change Fellowship in Brazil. This fellowship is a learning and knowledge exchange program for leaders and change-makers working on urban equity and sustainability. The fellowship includes a one-week immersive learning trip to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, one of three global change stories sites.

To apply: https://changestories.be.uw.edu/

Application open: October 10, 2025

Applications due: November 14, 2025

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 18d

See the full document at: changestories.be.uw.edu/cities/scree...

#Bogotá #manzanadecuidado #careblocks #Urbanchange #Socialjustice #Equitablechange #Communityorganizing #urbanstorytelling

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 18d

Through illustrations and short text, we document powerful stories of the diverse actors who co-created this innovative policy. The illustrations highlight community-based political campaigning and collective action to improve the quality of life for all Bogotá residents.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 18d

Bogotá’s public care system addresses the needs of unpaid caregivers, mostly women, and prioritizes investments in the city’s most deprived and peripheral neighborhoods.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 20d

The illustrations highlight community-based political campaigning and collective action to improve the quality of life for all Belo Horizonte residents.

See the full document at: changestories.be.uw.edu/cities/scree...

#BeloHorizonte #FoodSecurity #foodsovereignty #Urbanchange #Socialjustice

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 20d

Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is a global leader in food sovereignty and security policies. We created an illustrated guide to re-examine the story of how Belo Horizonte developed these policies and programs, celebrate their successes, and expose their unresolved flaws.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 22d

Through illustrations and short text, we braid a multiplicity of personal stories, collective stories, and stories of politics and power to tell the story of sustainable and equitable change in Belfast. See the full document at: changestories.be.uw.edu/cities/scree...
#Belfast #UrbanChange

Graphic Summary Belfast

Read Graphic Summary Belfast: in English - in Spanish - in Portuguese

changestories.be.uw.edu

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 22d

However, the counter-narrative voiced by the community groups is that Belfast’s urban development is not meeting the needs of marginalized communities. They take the lead and put into practice initiatives that address common needs and promote peace and social cohesion.

A drawing of a high apartment building, so-called Flats, illustrating social housing. Arrows between speech bubbles indicate the recommended flow of the reading from the right top speech bubble to the left speech bubble to the right bottom bubble. An illustration of a middle-aged woman named Laura who is an academic and community organizer. She has wavy, longer black hair and wears glasses, a pink bottom-up sweater, a blue shirt, and says, “Community organizers play an important role filling gaps in advocating for equitable development.” An illustration of a young woman named Maeve who is a social housing resident and community organizer. She has long black hair, a green sweater, and says “Religious inequality continues to be a feature in social housing building and allocation.” An illustration of a young woman named Sara who is a student and community organizer. She wears a purple hijab, a black sweater, and says, “The policy mindset reinforces rather than challenges the idea of segregation in the city.”

Rachel, the graphic summary’s guide, is saying, “Across the city, various groups have campaigned for housing and against gentrification.” Two women and two men are sitting around the table. The women are pointing to a square on the table that looks like an urban plan with dark blue, light blue, dark green, and light green sections. The people are wearing brown, purple, blue, and pink sweaters, and one of the women wears a grey hijab. Terracotta arrows emerge from the plan, pointing to initiatives that are discussed further on the page. A drawing of a garden surrounded by trees and a fence. On the left is a greenhouse with an adult and a child standing in front of it. In the center are two planters full of produce. Between the planters is a person with a watering can. In the background is a simple wooden garden house with two people standing on the right side. Behind the fence in the background is a residential building. A drawing of a bridge over a river in a lush natural environment full of trees. A few people are walking across the bridge. A drawing of Mackie’s site master plan for social housing in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The drawing of the plan includes 14 buildings, a bridge across a river, and a lush natural environment embedded in the landscape.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 22d

In Belfast, the dominant narrative is that the city is achieving peace through prosperity after a long history of conflict and is an international model for conflict resolution.

A drawing of urban landscape with dense housing, peace walls, inner-urban motorways highlighted in browns dividing the urban fabric, and Flats where the social housing was placed in the 1990s. Rachel, the graphic summary’s guide, is speaking with her hand up and out to the side. There is a speech bubble with the following text: “The motorway blocks access from a housing state of deprived communities in North Belfast.”

Drawing of a neighborhood divided in the middle by peace walls colored pink from one side and purple from the other side. On the drawing are many long two-story houses, with trees, a few cars, and many people walking and biking on the streets.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · 22d

Cities have dominant stories about their history, identity, and change. These stories circulate via many channels such as the news, official documents, and political speeches. Counter-narratives oftentimes tell a different story about the city and its change, including who has been left out and why.

n illustration of a street in Belfast with typical two-story houses attached to each other with small front gardens. At the end of the street, a wall is seen as a residue from the Troubles. There is a mural painting on the wall with two holding hands with flowers surrounding them. Purple triangle flags are stretched between the houses and flying in the air. There are several people on the street, a man with a child, a woman gardening, a woman walking out of the door, and a woman sitting and raising her hand in a peace sign. In the forefront is a woman representing a guide through the graphic summary, Rachel, waving, smiling, and saying, “Welcome to Belfast!” She is middle-aged, has gray hair with pink highlights, and white skin. She wears a blue hoodie jacket, beige pants, and brown shoes.

A drawing of a port with a large boat entering the canal. There are five-story Victorian buildings surrounding the canal on both sides. In front of the buildings are sidewalks with many people walking. The sidewalk on the right side is wider with long wooden-looking shacks. In the bottom left corner of the drawing is Rachel, the graphic summary’s guide, speaking with her hand up and out to the side. There is a speech bubble with the following text: “My father moved to Belfast from the countryside to work in industry.”

A drawing of a large crowd of protesters marching through the street. They are holding a large protest sign saying, “Civil Rights March”, along with many other signs with unreadable text.

A drawing of a peace wall. On the left side is a two-story house with four people surrounding the entrance. The peace wall is attached to the house and has three levels related to three different time-points the wall was built – the lowest level of the wall is built from bricks, the second level is built from dense iron poles, and the third level is built from less dense poles. There are mural paintings on the wall with abstract busts of people, a person waving a closer-unspecified flag, and a person with a hat and sunglasses. There are two people in front of the wall and a house behind the wall.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Aug 13

Exhibition "The State of Belfast", currently in the Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, is a multi-faceted project drawing connections between art practice and housing rights activism through an extensive public programme of talks, tours, and screenings.

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Aug 12

They will highlight the potential for a heritage-led and socially focused alternative to the Tribeca redevelopment.

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Aug 12

Drawing on architectural research and activism with the 'SaveCQ' campaign, Aisling Madden, PhD researcher from Queens University Belfast and Dr Agustina Martire will encourage conversations on urban heritage, mixed-use development, housing in the city centre, gentrification and neoliberal urbanism.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Aug 12

Join us for a walking tour of Cathedral Quarter - Belfast where we will be discussing the area’s recent decline and future potential!

14 Aug 2025
Time: 5pm - 6.30pm
Free, but Booking Required:
themaclive.com/event/saving...

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Aug 12

By providing free, healthy meals to waste pickers in downtown Belo Horizonte, it affirms food as a right and strengthens collective efforts toward food sovereignty in the city.
Photo credits: Maria Olívia Floriano
#changestories #asmare #mst #foodsecurity #solidaritykitchen #belohorizonte

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Aug 12

Maria Brás Solidarity Kitchen remains a powerful example of how alliances between rural and urban social movements can confront hunger through solidarity.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Jun 16

Aarathi Prasad, one of the Change Stories’ advisory group members, is involved in the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub, a team of researchers, designers, and engineers exploring issues of plastic waste while recognizing that there are no simple solutions as plastic is intricately embedded in our lives.

Drawings of six people potty training children.
Image credit: Polina Pencheva, UCL

UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub launched
www.bigtoiletproject.org
the first global, and most ambitious attempt to understand people’s practices and techniques for toilet training children, to determine what works best for the children, parents, schools and the environment, and why.

A photo of garbage waste with a text "Globally, every minute, more than 300,000 disposable nappies are sent to landfill, incinerated, or end up in the environment.".

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · May 15

From body awareness and artistic resistance to conflict resolution and alliance-building, these collective efforts shape new ways to participate and lead. #FeministLeadership #WomenInPolitics #WomenEmpowerment #PoliticalParticipation
#LeadershipForChange #CommunityVoices
#SocialJustice#ChangeStories

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · May 15

Powerful days with the Women’s Advisory Council in Bogotá 💜 We co-create political advocacy projects through a leadership course built by and for women.

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · May 1

“Stories about urban change are often simplified, giving credit to a single mayor or policy, which is not usually the full story,” says Sergio Montero, Change Stories collaborator and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. @sergemont.bsky.social

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Feb 28

Through Change Stories, we are establishing new types of relationships between academic and community-based partners, centering joy and respect for diverse knowledge in our work.
Learn more about the Change Stories project in the full video on changestories.be.uw.edu

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Feb 28

How does storytelling relate to urban change? And why is important to understand the whole story?
Watch the full video on the Change Stories website:
changestories.be.uw.edu
#Changestories #Storytelling #Storytellingforimpact

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Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Feb 28

The activists, organisers, architects, growers, community gardeners, students, and people in housing stress visited the Mackie’s site to explore the meaning and spirit of Meitheal and land justice while rethinking the ways each can contribute to re-envisioning and re-building the site.

Change Stories @changestories.bsky.social · Feb 28

Meitheal is the Irish word for a work team and denotes the co-operative labour system in Ireland where groups of neighbours help each other in turn with farming work, such as harvesting crops. To the heart of the concept is community unity through cooperative work and mutually reciprocal support.

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