Data shows that public realm provision does not work well for many young women, gender diverse young people and boys (what we sometimes refer to as an un-catered majority) as a result many public spaces do not feel welcoming and inclusive to them. These groups are often left asking, “Am I meant to be here? Is this a space for me?”
 

This engagement project run by Julia King & Associates in partnership with Make Space for Girls and funded by Railpen saw to working with a group of 13-14 year old young women and non-binary young people in Cambridge. Through a series of workshops carried out between October 2023 and January 2024, it addressed the need to make the public realm more welcoming to a constituent of un-catered for young people by listening to, recording and evidencing their experiences of their local areas and daily movements through Cambridge; and their design propositions for how Cambridge, and particularly a public square in Cambridge can be a more welcoming space to them. Their propositions will be used to inform Railpen's future developments in Cambridge.

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Why do this work?
 

This work is needed because recent research shows that the uncatered for majority of young people do not feel provided for, welcome, comfortable or safe in public space and do not have a say when it comes to their local areas. For example: 

 

• Research by Grosvenor indicates that, 89% of young adults aged 16-18 have never been consulted about their local areas; 

• Girlguiding’s research shows that 52% of girls and young women aged between 17-21 indicated feeling unsafe in public and avoided being alone; 

• And Stonewall reports that more than two in five trans people wholly avoid certain streets due to fear.

 

When young people are explicitly considered in public space, the standard approach often caters for a specific set of activities that are disproportionately used by young boys and young men. Provision for teenagers in outdoor public space is usually: skate parks, football pitches and other multi-use games areas (MUGAs), and BMX/cycle tracks. This approach is often enshrined in planning policy documents, local plans, etc. While no one actively sets out to make these places unwelcoming to the majority of young people, in practice they often become gendered spaces, dominated by boys and young men while teenage girls and gender diverse young people often feel that they do not have outdoor spaces that they can claim for play, relaxation and social interaction.

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Understanding young people's experiences of their local areas, and following, creating spaces for and with them is therefore essential to their feeling included, involved and represented on their terms in the places in which they live.