GC-08: Getting with the Times – Designers Listening and Learning with Youth

Young people inherit the outcomes of our decisions as designers, planners, and policymakers, yet they are excluded from decision-making processes, despite having valuable insights to offer.

Engaging with youth is a win-win for communities and the profession: Design professionals learn through genuine human connection in an environment free from project-driven goals, benefitting from the knowledge that youth have to share, and youth become equipped with the knowledge and agency to advocate for themselves and their communities, while also being exposed to design thinking, planting the seeds for a more diverse generation of new professionals.