Enhancing city resilience through theatre

While change is to be expected, current trends such as the climate crisis, rising resource scarcity and increasingly volatile international economic systems have the potential to move our global society into new system states. Additionally, the scale of impact is expected to become more pronounced as urban and regional areas continue to grow. Because of this, there are growing movements which aim to increase resilience in our cities. This article builds on current explorations in using creativity within sustainable city planning and growing connections between the arts and well-being, to act as an exploratory pilot study probing the relationship between theatre and city resilience within regional Australia. To explore the proposed relationship between theatre and resilience, three lenses were used to understand features of city resilience. This investigation was then applied in the context of Geelong, a regional Australian city in the state of Victoria. Geelong was chosen as the case study site as it was the first regional Australian city to be part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, a global network of cities recognizing creativity as a strategic factor of sustainable development. Through this exploration, a preliminary relationship between theatre and the three lenses for understanding city resilience was established. The lenses being: theatre as a tool for sensemaking, theatre as a tool for placemaking and theatre as a tool for social connection. This relationship suggests the potential of theatre to enhance city resilience in regional Australian cities in times of transition. This has implications for how theatre can be positioned to contribute to cultural policy, resilient urban planning and improving community health and well-being.