NEWURBAN

voicesToolkit

What is New Urban Voices?

What are the Drivers?

Context - City, Town

Project Design

Tools for Engagement:

New Urban Stories - 2 Case Studies

Lessons Learned

Acknowledgements

Contents

We wo r k e d a s a te a m a n d finished our work – everyone contributed!!!!!Forfar Academy Pupil

We wo r k e d a s a te a m a n d finished our work – everyone contributed!!!!!Forfar Academy Pupil

We’ve been able to take our big

silly ideas and make something

different

Forfar Academy Pupil

Everyone got to understand what we were actually doing in the project.DundeePupil

WHAT IS NEW URBAN VOICES?New Urban Voices is a collaborative project led by young people that uses creative and cultural assets to help them develop a new voice and role in decision-making transforming the places where they live – in this instance a city, Dundee, and a town, Forfar, in Scotland. The project is led by Space Unimited <www.spaceunl imited.org/> in par tnership with Creative Frontline <www.creativefrontline.com>. Space Unlimited is a social enterprise, which encourages organisations to seek fresh ideas from young people. Creative Frontline supports new, transformational ways of thinking and acting that engage the private, public and civic sectors to make meaningful change. By bringing together youth-led enquiry and design strategy, they add value by creating a novel capacity and skill-set targeted on an area of cultural practice that is often overlooked – the voice and role of young people in place-making.

A b o u t N e w Urban Voices

Bringing together youth-led enquiry and design s t r a t e g y a g g r e g a t e s value by creating a novel capaci t y and sk i l l - set ra n g e d o n a n a re a o f cultural practice that is often overlooked – the voice and role of young people in place-making.

It exceeded my expectationsadult

Define

Develop

Deliver

Discover

DesIgn

There are three principal drivers:1. The wide range of national and international research on the empowerment of young people and the need to give them the creativity, voice and skills to exert control over their environment; a process from which they are often excluded.

2. The need to go beyond the objective of investing in audiences, access and participation by co-investment in the “assets” - the engagement process and the people in the process. That involves young people and those working with them, as well as creative professionals, all collaborating to develop fresh thinking and new perspectives about place.

3. The need to give young people a new voice and role in urban transformation, impacting upon streets and neighbourhoods by using the tools of open-ended enquiry, co-creativity, co-design and design thinking, and leaving behind the transferable skills, confidence and behaviours to make systemic change.

What are the drivers?

Project ContextTown; Forfar Community CampusForfar is a town with a population of 13,500 in Angus. Angus Council is proposing to develop a Community Campus to replace Forfar Academy (the Town’s single secondary school) on the existing site which is on the edge of the town. The new campus will be designed to provide modern, multi-functional and sustainable facilities, which will be able to support a variety of service providers jointly using the facilities at the same time, both during and out-with the school day. Phase 1 of the project will include the construction of the new campus building. The demolition of old school buildings and external works, including the provision of new car parking and a synthetic sports pitch, will be progressed as Phase 2 of the project. The aim is to have the new building available in August 2016 and complete all remaining works by early 2017. Public consultation has indicated the main concern to be the need to connect the new campus to the town and to be a resource for the whole community.

Public consultation on the Forfar Community Campus has highlighted the main concern to be the need to connect the new campus to the town and to be a resource for the whole community.

City; Hilltown RegenerationThe Hilltown, as the area has been known historically in Dundee, is formed by the Victoria and Dens Roads and the slopes of Dundee Law to the Marketgate. Although opportunities exist for the regeneration and renewal of the Hilltown which has a legacy of good buildings and pubic spaces, excellent transport links, local shopping and a strong identity, many buildings are in poor condition and the public spaces need investment. Shops are declining and many are vacant. The Hilltown Regeneration Framework created by Dundee City Council sees the challenge as building confidence and importantly, connecting its present assets to future opportunities for change.

Project Context

The Regeneration Challenge for the Hilltown is connecting its present assets to future opportunities for change.H i l l To w n R e g e n e r a t i o n Framework

Project Design Outputs and Outcomes

Outcomes:

For young people: confidence in making change happen, insights and pathways into creative and cultural industries and transferable skills for life and work. For youth workers: new skills and capacity in youth-led innovation as a tool for change. For creative professionals: insights for place-making; new skills in community collaboration.For planners/community developers: insights and ideas for regeneration new capacity in

processes that build shared responsibility and ongoing collaboration.

Outputs:

Place-specific prototypes for transforming and improving the local built environment in Town and City. Public exhibitions and presentations to share the ideas and prototypes.Case studies of young people influencing place-making in their communities.New co-creative design tools to enable young people to engage in systemic change

eport containing analysis of community cohesion and development

Project ProcessIn both city and town locations the process involved:

scale and focus of the work so that it was tailored to suit local needs. This included Community Learning Development, Education Department, Secondary Schools and other local agencies as well as liaison with the planners and architects invovled.

representative cross-section with young people and local stakeholders.

leading their own enquiry into the needs and opportunities, locally.

people work alongside creative practitioners and other relevant partners to develop and share ideas for action and select the strongest ideas for implementation.

with the creative practitioners and realising ideas visually or physically.

way of engaging the local community and key stakeholders with their plans for the future.

continuously on the overall experience, particularly, how the benefits and outcomes can be sustained.

their individual and collective stories of change.

Act

ion

plannin

g

Disse

min

ating

Imple

menta

tion

Exhib

itin

g

Phase and Purpose

Enga

gement

and

recr

uitment

Disco

very

Design

and

conce

pt te

stin

g

Pre

para

tion

Method and Approach

- of the delivery team,

local partners, design and

logistics of the programme

– of the local community

around the

programme and individuals

to participate

- of young people’s ideas /

insights / role / need to

change

–collaborative design of

actual changes young people

want to make happen

– proposed ideas for

change and the suggested

route to action

– a detailed, collaborative

action plan for change

including all relevant

parties

– learning from, and evalu-

ation of, this process of

public engagement

– taking the action plan

forward and making real

change happen in a

collaborative waye

Collaborative conversation with community stakeholders and Dundee / Angus-based partner organisa-

tions exploring how/ why young people can play a meaningful role in place making, and how to continu-

ally review and evaluate the programme.

Disse

min

ating – learning from, and evalu-

ation of, a prolonged

period of supported imple-

mentation and further

public engagement in

action

Engage a genuine cross-section of community voices in building shared understanding of the benefits

and risks of involving young people in place-making, thinking about the role of young people in crea-

tively shaping the communities where they want to live, work and play, and agreeing the focus and

recruitment criteria of the programme.

Our youth-led process will allow the young people to define their role, develop their ideas and insights

around place making in their local area, and describe the support/development they need to take a

more active role in the future

The young people co-design their ideas working with design professionals using tools like site analysis,

design anthropology, streetscape, traffic flows, public art/design and cultural probes. Issues relating to

the built environment will be identified and ideas generated – ideally that partners can take forward

collaboratively with young people.

Using social media the young people will engage the wider community and interested parties while

building to a community ‘handover’/dialogue event where the young people discuss their ideas with

programme partners and other community stakeholders, the media, public, politicians and visitors to

the area with this work.

Task force (including adults and young people) create a clear and detailed action plan for implementing

desired changes and getting commitment to making these happen.

Collation and dissemination of process learning and impact evaluation.

Task force works together to bring young people’s ideas to life, with input from the wider community

where necessary.

Young people with more skills and confidence influencing place making, and community members with

more skills and confidence working collaboratively with young people.

Collation and dissemination of examples of sustained and impactful change on an individual, group or

community level.

Design

“More freedom leads to more fun, leads to better learning” Forfar Academy Pupil

Toolkit for Engagement and designing the workshopDesigning the Workshop

The Process above was used to design the workshops. It integrated Space Unlimited’s person-centred enquiry methods with Creative Frontline’s design-led, problem solving strategies and brought together design and social enterprise.

The workshops were organised thematically around 5/6 days of interconnected activities: Day 1 Enquiry, Day 2 Discover, Day 3 Define, Day 4 Develop and Day 5 Deliver. Each day and the resources used are outlined in the resources part of this Toolkit.

02 03 04Develop Deliver

and discarding of ideas takes place. This is where a combination of the ideas or

as problems, and ideas for solutions

problem(s) and a plan for how to address this.

Analyse and understand your

the problem

Prototyping new solutions and testing them

Developing the new solution for implementation

At the Develop stage the project has been taken through a formal sign-off, which has given the corporate and

of one or more concepts that have addressed the initial problem. Design methods used at this stage include creative techniques such as brainstorming, visualisation, prototyping, testing and scenarios. The Develop stage will have brought the team to a stage where the product or service is ready for delivery to production.

signed-off, produced and launched. It will result in a product or service thatsuccessfully addresses the problem

will also include processes for feeding back lessons from the full design process to inform future projects, including methods, ways of working and relevantinformation.

ProcessModel

.

:

Announcement successful bid

Planning meeting: Corner, DCC.

Engage audience: young people, communityworkers, police, planners,localcommunity representatives, local politicians.

; n Fot.

Engage audiencevia local outh Engagement event with CPD Angus.

e”t.

It goes beyondthe rhetoric of audiencedevelopment and formulaicprocedure by co-investingin the principalassets, thatis, simultaneouslybuilding thecapabilities of youngpeople, those who work with them and creative professionals with a stakein theurban realm.

1. It uses a co-creative process that integrates design thinking and co-designwithin an open-ended, boundary-breaking approachthat uses youngpeople as the catalyst

2.It seeks to achieve sustainability by embeddingthis practice within theindividuals and organisationsinvolved through a robustevaluation, feedback andfollow-through support.

3.It underpins the stress on sustainability by harvestingand customising the learning from the project into a continuing professional development format.

4.It interweaves local structures, projects and protagonists with a stake in urban transformation with the voices of young people into a distinctive narrative.

Designing the Workshop

The Process above was used to design the workshops. It integrated Space Unlimited’s person-centred enquiry methods with Creative Frontline’s design-led, problem solving strategies and brought together design and social enterprise. The workshops were organised thematically around 5/6 days of interconnected activities: Day 1 Enquiry, Day 2 Discover, Day 3 Define, Day 4 Develop and Day 5 Deliver. Each day and the resources used are outlined in the Examples part of this Toolkit.

EnquiringThe workshops employed a range of enquiry and design led tools:

EnquiringIn addition to an ice-breaker, a “journey” was explained and demonstrated. The nature of an enquiry question and the challenge was explored, as was the “how” of sharing what might be discovered. A participative exercise was undertaken that fed into thinking about traditional roles and responsibilities and how these might be different in this project. Importantly, this then led into Contracting followed by a discussion focused on the possible outcomes and motivations for the participants, the community and other people.

Tools

Asset Mapping� Tools

Community Asset Mapping Asset mapping is about getting out into your community, identifying what makes it special, and sharing that information with others. Each community has a unique set of assets from which to build upon and the first step is to map and recognize those assets. Through mapping assets can acquire a whole new perspective and framing of one’s community can begin to happen. Each participant will got an opportunity to think about what they consider to be their own personal assets and what impact these assets have had on their personal development. The purpose of this activity was to get participants to begin thinking from an asset-based perspective. Getting them to identify personal assets of their own helped them to branch out and begin seeing assets from the larger local and institutional perspectives.

Acknowledgement: Community Asset Mapping Toolkit

Design – the 4 DsThe project used the “Double Diamond” design process model. Divided into four distinct phases, Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver, it maps the divergent and convergent stages of the design process, showing the different ways of design thinking.

Discover - This marks the start of the project beginning with an initial idea or inspiration, often from an enquiry phase in which user needs or other interests are identified. Define - The second quarter of the double diamond model is the definition stage, in which interpretation of these needs and interests are linked to the objectives of the project. Develop - The third quarter marks a period of development where design-led solutions are developed, tried and tested.DeliverThe final quarter of the double diamond model represents the delivery stage, where the outputs are finalised and presented to the relevant audience.

2. Define

3. Develop

4. Deliver1.Discover

DesIgn

Design - the 4 D's

Acknowledgement: Design Council

Case StudyDundee

This is how a group of young people from two city secondary schools plus participants from outwith mainstream education took up the challenge of how to make the Hilltown a better place.

C o n f i d e n c e a n d C r e a t i v i t y - Expression and Inspiration

Day 1 Enquire

range of introductory teambuilding exercises in small groups.

of value to them and within the Hilltown community.

were about to experience and early project ideas.

to the question of how to make Hilltown a better place.

p l a n n e r N i g e l M c D o w e l l f r o m Dundee City Counci l and local community activists.

and shared their own learning.

Dundee- day 1

I was able to speak in front of people

I learned how to judge p l a ce s b a s e d o n o t h e r people’s perceptions.

I learned how to make an emotional timeline.

I feel progress was made and I feel enthusiastic.

I got to know the area well.

I was able to speak in front of people

T h e r e a r e g o o d p h o t o o p p o r t u n i t i e s i n t h e Hilltown.

learned that the Hilltown wasn’t all bad.

The young people indicated that they had got to know the area better and that they has learned how to judge places based on people’s perceptions of the area.

Field Trip

site in Hilltown. The group explored the area, working in small collectives, taking on roles to ensure they covered everything they wanted to document.

to map and document the area. They considered:

Dundee day 2

I was able to speak in front of people

I am most excited about the final design stage.

I came up with some good design ideas.

Through the fieldtrip the young people gained a sense of place; they learned that the Hilltown wasn’t all bad, that there were positives along with the negatives a n d t h a t t h e H i l l t o w n w a s a photogenic subject.

Day 3 Define

from the previous days’ researches:

themselves into collectives based on their selected themes, revisiting their mood-boards and other design work from the previous Develop phase as well as the earlier Asset Mapping exercise.

Dundee- day 3

I feel progress was made and I feel enthusiastic.

I was able to speak in front of peopleI have contributed unique ideas.

I have valued other people’s imaginative ideas.

- What was the impact on the community?- Were the problems and opportunities local, regional or global issues; how were they being addressed in other places?- What were the barriers if any?- What was technically or logistically possible? What about space, time and sustainability?- What was financially possible?

� What would you want to say to others? � What would it stand for or represent? � How could your product or service represent that?

to and building up their community asset map

Dundee- day 3

I was able to speak in front of peopleI l e a r n e d t o m a k e something work and make changes to make things better.

This stage elicited much excitement and enthusiasm with the young people enjoying the process of contributing ideas, learning f rom each other, and looking forward to the design stage. Equally they revisited the large mind map building up its network of connections.

they had observed, for example, the lack of colour co-ordination in the Hilltown’s shop frontages, the need for a park and a safe area; an outdoor market place, and an attraction for all of Dundee, the young people progressed a variety of ideas. All of this interconnected with the 3 central themes of Identity, Amenity and Attraction.

Dundee- day 4 and 5

I enjoyed coming up with abstract ideas.

community juke box; a cup and string phone; a Dundee “Hall of Fame”; a safari park; the Hilltown Cube – a community amenity access point; an outdoor market place; a tree top café; and ideas for the general transformation of the area.

referencing global examples of interesting urban transformation sourced from the internet.

related to all of the above ideas. Included was a piece of digital design focussed on transforming buildings in the Hilltown that addressed the need for better colour harmonisation in the local architecture.

attempted – wrapping light standards and transforming litter-bins.

working in situ in a neighbourhood community centre in the Hilltown.

Dundee- day 4 and 5

In terms of process the young p e o p l e l e a r n e d t o m a k e s o m e t h i n g w o r k a n d m a k e changes to make things better and they learned how to create and design in a group. Enjoying coming up with abstract ideas was also commented upon at this stage.

The strength of the young people’s investigation into the built environment of the Hilltown was commented on by one of the guests to the workshop presentation who indicated surprise at how well the work had been prepared and researched.

Day 6 Deliver

the workshop presentation for the invited guests using the available space within the community centre.

exploration, ideation, problem solving and co-designing – and set up stalls to display and present each collective’s project.

schools involved, council officers from youth, planning and area community teams, and from the Shore and Explore initiatives – were met by the young people and guided through the journey before interacting with the individual projects

were invited to make comments in reaction to the presentation - what it was that surprised them? What should happen next?

of ideas produced, the huge range of skills on view and an overwhelming desire to see the young people’s ideas realised in the Hilltown.

Dundee- day 6

The wealth of ideas was amazing.Visitor to final day workshop presentation

Case StudyForfar

Academy addressed the issue of how to make the new Forfar Community campus a resource for the whole community.

: For the young people Day 1 raised some unexpected things like: in addition to overcoming initial nervousness and making new friends; they realised they had more ideas that they thought t h e y h a d ; t h e y f i n d o u t n e w information (from Council Officer); and undertook new and diverse activities.

Day 1 Enquiry

undertook a range of introductory teambuilding exercises.

own and within the community.

were about to experience and early project ideas.

to the question of the campus as a community resource.

Ken Mckay from Angus Council’s Education Department.

shared their own learning.

Forfar- day 1

I was able to speak in front of peopleI was able to speak in front of people

It was good to look at the town through different eyes.

The fieldtrip helped the young people to look at things more closely; it raised awareness of the built environment of Forfar; they learned about buildings in the town; they saw the potential in Forfar, as well as noticing that there could be improvements like more greenery

Fieldtrip

for working on-site in the town as well as being given a list of things to consider they were encouraged to look more closely at the Town’s built environment and to try and see things differently through fresh eyes.

themselves into groups and explored the routes to the new campus from the town centre using photos and sound bites to record their observations and reactions.

the young people reviewed what they had experienced and shared this with the wider group.

Forfar- day 2

I was able to speak in front of peopleIt was good to look at the town through different eyes.

I liked the designers

Le a r n i n g h ow to d e s i gn a n d develop ideas came across very strongly, as did creating models, but also seeing the benefits of working with other people in groups.

Days 3 DefineEach group selected and worked on a particular theme using brainstorming a n d m i n d - m a p p i n g t h r o w u p ideas that they could then design and develop. They also had inputs on interesting design ideas from elsewhere and that were not schools like airport terminals or hotels.

Forfar- day 3

I was able to speak in front of people

We’ve been able to take our big silly ideas and make something different

Again, the power of group-work, team working and collaboration were seen as important by the young people. Using design to turn ideas into models – working in three dimensions was seen as a very positive experience.

Day 4 Develop Turning ideas and rough designs into concrete form using modelling was key at this stage. At this phase the young people had artists who worked alongside them as co-designers.

Forfar- day 4

I was able to speak in front of peopleI was surprised how many people liked my model

Developing IdeasThe role of l ight and l ight ing in enhancing appearances (and this would st r ike a chord with many contemporary designers) emerged as a really important idea from the young people. They observed interesting design schemes from elsewhere – such as Heathrow Airport, Japanese Hotels and arcades. Alongside this they picked out the importance of animation and illumination in making a welcoming, happy place. Ideas for aquariums, cafes, billboards, eco/nature walks and public art came out of this.

growing confidence in presenting ( to an invi ted audience) was mentioned by many of the young people. Working out problems collaboratively in the group also emerged as key. Importantly, the experience was seen a serious fun.

Day 4 Develop Turning ideas and rough designs into concrete form using modelling was key at this stage. At this phase the young people had artists who worked alongside them as co-designers.

Forfar- day 5

I was able to speak in front of people

“ I w a s s u r p r i s e d h o w confident the young people were in expressing ideas and engaging with the adults” Workshop “visitor”

What Next?Speaking to the wider community; keeping ideas moving for ward; influencing people in the school; ensur ing ideas became real i ty ; becoming student ambassadors; u s i n g t h e s k i l l s l e a r n e d ; a n d presenting to the school’s Senior Management Team were all seen as important as next steps in sustaining the momentum.

New Skil ls – the young people’s self-evaluation of the Forfar workshop found that their design skills improved, especially at working with others in groups, as well as having a say and contributing ideas. Developing confidence, whether working with others or in proposing and presenting ideas, was came out strongly in the young people’s comments.

Change – comments by the young people on the Forfar workshop emphasised their role in the change process through being able to influence the new campus, pulling together a wide variety of ideas for a “happy” “modern” place, and “lightening up” the community.

Relationships – workshop evaluation found that there were real improvements in relationships between young people and young people, young people and adults and between young people and professionals like architects and council officers.

A Space for IdeasThe NUV project had a dist inct e t h o s o f a l l o w i n g t h e y o u n g people to experiment and lead the initiative themselves. Instead of being “directed” youth-led enquiry and co-design methods and tools were offered to help support the development of ideas. The open-e n d e d a p p r o a c h a l s o e n a b l e d building collaborations between the young people and the professionals working alongside them..

Lessons LearnedExperience of PlaceTh ro u g h o n - s i te f i e l d wo r k t h e young people utilised their local environment at first hand, analysing and recording their experiences of the Hilltown or the proposed campus site. Importantly, the project facilitated the exhibition and sharing of those experiences with others thus giving young people a new voice and helping to demonstrate that people - young people included – make a place.

Using Existing AssetsThe process of Community Asset Mapping supported making the most of existing assets –the physical and personal resources within the community and those of the young people themselves. This also helped to create a better awareness of place and the potential of the role of young people within the community whether for its future development or regeneration.

Participation Beyond ConsultationIn the NUV project the young people were invited to co-create and co-design alongside professionals and creative practitioners. This produced tangible results which, presented by the project’s young participants to an audience from the community, helped foster alliances and further collaboration

Community of PracticeThe NUV project had diverse outcomes. For young people confidence in how to make making change happen as well as affording new insights and skills. For youth workers new capabilities in youth-led innovation as a tool for change. For creative professionals new insights into place-making and skills in community collaboration. For planners and community developers fresh ideas for regeneration from a young audience.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSFundersCreative ScotlandArchitecture and Design ScotlandRoyal Society of ArtsDundee

Neil Gunn, Head of Communities, Dundee City Council

Nigel McDowell – Planning Officer/Urban Designer, Dundee City CouncilParticipating staff at Morgan Academy and St John's High SchoolFiona McGrath - Health Services Link Worker - The Corner Health, Information and Peer Led ServicesStewart Murdoch, Director, Leisure and Communities, Dundee City CouncilGail Thomson – Manager, The Shore, Dundee City CouncilForfarGraham Hewitson – Principal Officer, Community Learning and Development, Angus Council

Ken McKay, Education Development Officer & Education Adviser School Projects, Angus Council

Melvyn Lynch, Head Teacher, Forfar AcademyJohn Vannet, Deputy Head Teacher, Forfar AcademyPauline Meikleham, Art and Culture Support Officer, Angus Councilor