Sparking actions for change from the ground up

10 September 2026

Nick Grinpukel is a social impact and community engagement practitioner with the Social Impact Lab at the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion. He recently joined the Research Café to discuss the Community Led Sustainable Cities project that used participatory narrative and arts-based methods to grow a community-led sustainability transition.

“To build real social change for our neighbours, the Social Impact Lab aims to develop place-based, reciprocal partnerships with communities for positive social change. We run action research projects and connect community groups to faculty partners as well as student communities through the Soul and Shopfront programs,” Nick explained.

“By participating in such programs, UTS students get a great taste of what it's like to work with communities and build networks.”

Nick said the Community Led Sustainable Cities project sought to understand how UTS could leverage the knowledges, local narratives and lived experience from its neighbouring communities to develop a place-based narrative for change.

To build real social change for our neighbours, the Social Impact Lab aims to develop place-based, reciprocal partnerships with communities for positive social change.

“We wanted to engage a broad, diverse community in sustainability transition, a space that's so often locked behind technical or other jargon language,” Nick said.

Turning local stories, lived experience and shared priorities into action

The project began with a series of workshops in which communities were invited to share their lived experience through stories. Participants shared their best experiences of working in sustainability, the challenges they faced and what would be some of the ideal futures they might like to see.

“For the workshops, we used a theory of change method called the Three Horizons framework. In this instance, we also worked with art and narrative and found this to be an amazing way to engage people from a diverse range of backgrounds, especially those who might find universities a bit intimidating,” Nick said.

Working in collaboration with artist, research communicator, and Senior UTS Lecturer Dr Pat Grant, the team transformed participant stories in the Three Horizons framework into a dynamic rich picture called ‘A Sustainable Story of Change for Our Neighbourhood’. This represented a story that was meaningful for everyone, overcoming one of the main challenges of sustainability transitions; building consensus on both the problem definition and future actions.

“We then continued working with community members to support local activations including a fashion waste and repair workshop, a community garden on a social housing rooftop and a local community climate forum.” These community projects leveraged the engagement that had been built in the transition narrative and developed real-world actions identified in the Story of Change.

“In this way, each project extended well past its due date and funding cycle to create ongoing networks for change in our community.”

The Community Led Sustainable Cities project shows what’s possible when universities listen first, work reciprocally and stay connected beyond the life of a project. By grounding sustainability action in local knowledge, creative storytelling and long-term relationships, UTS is helping cultivate the networks, trust and momentum needed for lasting community-led change. This approach is a commitment of the recently released Community Engagement Charter developed in partnership with community members.