Engaging the future: Why young people should shape the places we build

For too long, public consultation has been treated as a tick-box exercise, attracting minimal numbers to a draughty town or village hall on a Wednesday afternoon. But expectations have shifted. Local authorities – especially in London and other major cities – understand they can flex their muscles and demand that large scale development delivers meaningful social impact for residents. In a growing number of instances these local councils are active partners in projects giving that demand an extra dimension. 

Residents, too, are more aware of how development can affect their daily lives. They want more than information boards and feedback forms. They want to feel listened to, to see design teams that value local knowledge, and projects that reflect their priorities – not only in buildings, but in the opportunities created.

At Camley Street in Camden (pictured), we are part of a public private partnership between Camden Council’s Community Investment Programme (CIP) and Ballymore Lateral. The proposals create a new mixed-use neighbourhood, combining significant commercial space with homes and green spaces, forming a car-free environment embedded in existing communities. The CIP team began speaking with residents in 2020 and the vision published in 2021 still underpins the regeneration.

Young people – roughly a third of the local population – have been central throughout. The project steering group, established in 2020 and still meeting, has always included young representatives. From the outset, the team made sure they could participate: stipends, letters to schools to allow attendance, and flexible arrangements enabled consistent involvement. Several young people sat on the interview panel when the council selected the private sector partner – and asked some of the toughest questions, highlighting sustainability and delivery of jobs and skills as their primary concerns.

When we were appointed in late 2024, our focus was to build on the strong foundations laid out by the CIP team: positive, active relationships and a steering group playing a meaningful role in shaping the masterplan.

Working with engagement consultant make:good, we developed activities that created spaces where young people could communicate in ways that suited them: photography, storytelling, model-making, walking tours and group discussions. These programmes offered new skills, training – and, crucially, payment.

The Young Researchers in Residence programme – delivered with In Her Place and Social Place – has given young women and non-binary people the tools to investigate their own neighbourhood, test ideas and feed insights directly into the design process. The Community Storytellers programme has enabled others to articulate their hopes and concerns through photography, creative writing and content creation.

Working with Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children and Deaf Architecture Front showed how rarely deaf young people are invited into conversations about the built environment. Over three days, students created a ‘dream city in a box’, expressing ideas through hands-on making and visual communication – challenging our own assumptions about access and inclusivity.

Long-term engagement has also helped the project team to distinguish between what people say in generic consultation settings and what they express when they feel genuinely included. Young people told us they wanted public spaces that feel physically and emotionally safe. They asked for smaller, more intimate areas where people would naturally linger. They spoke about play for all ages. And they were candid about where they felt regeneration often fails: when it delivers growth without delivering opportunity.

These insights have informed aspects of the emerging masterplan, from the fine grain of the landscape to the programming of public spaces. At the same time, we are exploring how regeneration can support real job pathways – not only construction apprenticeships, but long-term roles with commercial tenants. Local residents will be prioritised for job applications, supported by careers fairs and taster sessions. Local businesses will have first opportunity on retail units and an affordable workspace strategy will help young entrepreneurs access maker spaces. A £1m Ballymore Lateral Community Fund will also support grassroots initiatives over the next decade, ensuring that community-led ideas can grow well beyond the build phase.

As the sector faces pressure to deliver new homes, expectations around social impact will only increase. At Camley Street, we’ve worked hard to show what happens when engagement is treated as a design driver rather than a statutory requirement – when social value is not a separate line item, but the thread connecting the whole masterplan. The most successful neighbourhoods are built not just from bricks and landscape strategies, but from relationships, trust and long-term commitment.