Pluriversal Storyworlding: towards a decolonial imagination of public spaces in Thiruvallikeni, Chennai

Source abstract

This paper introduces Pluriversal Storyworlding as a decolonial narrative methodology for reimagining urban public spaces. Drawing on a case study of Thiruvallikeni, Chennai, the research examines the entangled legacies of colonialism, caste, religion, and neoliberal urbanisation that continue to shape its spatial fabric. Despite its cultural and religious diversity, Thiruvallikeni remains spatially segregated, reflecting persistent exclusions and inequalities embedded in its urban form. These socio-spatial tensions provide a fertile ground for exploring alternative urban imaginaries of public spaces. The study employs qualitative methodologies, combining archival research, participatory workshops, focus groups, and narrative interviews. These diverse methods of data collection enabled us to gather layered, situated knowledge, which were then synthesised into Thrivallikeni Mada Veethi கைத (Kathai-Story), an interactive story map. Rather than treating storytelling as illustrative or supplemental, Pluriversal Storyworlding positions it as both method—a plural, affective, and situated process of co-creating knowledge—and site, a space of encounter, negotiation, and resistance. Framed by polyvocal and dialogic principles, the narrative foregrounds relational, embodied, and multiscalar ways in which cities are lived and made. The paper contributes to decolonial urban scholarship by offering Pluriversal Storyworlding as a methodological intervention, amplifying subaltern and more-than-human voices and unsettling dominant urban imaginaries in the Global South.