All the city’s a stage: Greenpeace, #VWDarkside, and the popular appeals of urban climate activism

Abstract

Through the lens of Kenneth Burke’s dramatistic pentad, this study examines the role of the city as a consequential forum for environmental activists—providing efficient and dynamic platforms of expression and contestation and opportunities for public communication outreach. Building on the view of urbanist Jane Jacobs that cities only reach their democratic potential when they are inclusive, responsive, and created by all, the metropolis is explored in terms of both its viability and untapped potential for activist communicators. This study also builds upon previous research asserting the city as both a site of continuous transformation and communication conduit for social change. In this context, cities provide a key platform for public communication practitioners and audiences, as well as for exploring environmental advocacy as a socio-cultural practice. Such a platform also aligns with the argument for the role of public relations as a vehicle for relationship cultivation, organizational participation in public life, and democratic dialogue. This study ultimately establishes a popular environmental dramatism that forges the geography of public relations to material and symbolic ecological change.