ABSTRACT
Children’s participation in local planning or design processes is rarely given the attention and resources it deserves. Real barriers and challenges still exist to achieving shared public spaces that are welcoming and inclusive of young people. Planners and designers who are committed to challenging these obstacles need to be informed and inspired by noteworthy examples of how young people can participate as active and engaged citizens. This chapter describes and analyzes three local-scale projects in Australia that invited youth to actively engage in local government processes that influenced strategic planning, modeled representative civic decision making, or delivered new community space. The focus is on the ‘power of process,’ examining how young people’s involvement is invited, who champions it and activates the processes that capture young people’s voices, and how their ideas are integrated into planning strategies and influence design outcomes that reflect community expectations or aspiration. These examples can encourage those who make and implement policy to engage young people in the planning and design of public processes and the design of shared public spaces.
