Overview
As part of my Digital Civics Study Abroad program, I collaborated with Sean, a PhD student from Newcastle University, on a two-week project focused on youth-led urban planning in Sunderland, UK. The project aimed to guide the researcher in using a UX-driven approach to understand how technology could play a meaningful role in empowering youth to shape their community. My focus was on helping the researcher take a step back, understand the broader goals of the youth, and then explore how technology could support and enable those goals in the most impactful way.
Role:
As the UX consultant, I guided the project through a user-centered lens, designing and facilitating co-design workshops to understand the big picture. We began by exploring the kinds of initiatives the youth wanted to lead in their community, rather than jumping straight into technology solutions. This foundational work allowed us to focus on how digital tools could best support their vision. I provided UX consultation to help the researcher align the project with the real needs and motivations of the youth, ensuring the technological solutions were both meaningful and impactful.
Tools:
- Co-Design Workshops
- Participant Interviews
- Qualitative Research
- Participatory Design
- Data Analysis
Problem
The youth in Sunderland felt disconnected from urban planning processes and believed they had little influence over shaping their community’s future. The challenge was not just how to involve them but to understand what they truly wanted to achieve through their involvement. We recognized that technology could play a key role, but we needed to explore how it could best serve the youth’s goals. This meant stepping back and first understanding their vision, then determining how technology could bring that vision to life.
Results
Our Approach
Through a series of co-design workshops, we identified five key themes—Campaign, Movement, Collaboration, Location-Based, and Inclusivity—that represented the youth's interests in shaping their community. These insights guided the project toward understanding the role technology could play. Instead of pushing technology as the starting point, we focused on how it could be a tool to empower the youth to lead initiatives that aligned with these themes. I recommended a participatory design approach that involved continuous iterations of workshops, allowing the youth to explore how specific digital tools could help them achieve their community-driven goals.
Impact
The most significant takeaway from this project was the importance of using a UX approach to guide complex social initiatives. By first focusing on understanding the youth's broader goals and then considering how technology could enable those goals, we ensured that the project stayed aligned with their real needs. This UX-driven strategy helped the researcher reframe his work, moving away from tech-first solutions and toward human-centered design. Ultimately, this approach provided a clearer roadmap for using technology to empower youth-led urban planning initiatives in a meaningful and impactful way.
UX Research
This project followed three key phases: understanding the context, gaining insights into the community, and exploring technology's role in social action.
Phase 1: Context & Barriers
We began by researching the Sunderland Youth Council and the local community to assess past efforts, identify barriers, and align with our sponsor's goals. This research revealed that previous tech-driven initiatives often failed to engage the youth meaningfully, guiding us to position technology as a tool to support their vision rather than the focus.
Phase 2: Community Insights
We conducted a co-design workshop with the sponsor and youth council to gain a deeper understanding of the community’s background and values. Participants expressed challenges in contributing to urban planning, revealing a lack of confidence in their influence. This insight helped us develop an action plan aimed at fostering inclusivity and agency among the youth.
Phase 3: Technology & Social Action
In the final phase, we held a second workshop exclusively with the youth council, exploring how technology could amplify their impact. We identified five key themes—Campaign, Movement, Collaboration, Location-Based Action, and Inclusivity—that framed our recommendations for using digital tools to empower the youth in urban planning.
This phased approach ensured that technology was leveraged as an enabler of social action, helping the youth make a lasting impact on their community.
Design
A central focus of this project was designing impactful co-design workshops. These workshops were carefully crafted to gather meaningful insights from the youth community, helping us explore their identities, roles, and aspirations within urban planning. We selected activities that allowed participants to step back from familiar contexts, facilitating fresh perspectives on both existing research and new possibilities for their involvement in the community.
Each workshop was designed with specific objectives, whether to revisit earlier findings or spark conversations about how technology could support youth-driven social initiatives. Additionally, we held ideation sessions that encouraged participants to brainstorm how digital tools could foster social change and benefit their community. These sessions allowed us to explore potential solutions and prioritize ideas that would most effectively empower the youth to shape their city’s future.
Design
A central focus of this project was designing impactful co-design workshops. These workshops were carefully crafted to gather meaningful insights from the youth community, helping us explore their identities, roles, and aspirations within urban planning. We selected activities that allowed participants to step back from familiar contexts, facilitating fresh perspectives on both existing research and new possibilities for their involvement in the community.
Each workshop was designed with specific objectives, whether to revisit earlier findings or spark conversations about how technology could support youth-driven social initiatives. Additionally, we held ideation sessions that encouraged participants to brainstorm how digital tools could foster social change and benefit their community. These sessions allowed us to explore potential solutions and prioritize ideas that would most effectively empower the youth to shape their city’s future.
Reflection & Next Steps
- Refine the Action Plan: Incorporate feedback from workshops and align recommendations with the youth’s specific needs.
- Pilot Digital Tools: Test location-based and collaborative platforms with the Sunderland Youth Council to support youth-led projects.
- Conduct Follow-Up Workshops: Engage the youth in follow-up sessions to gather feedback, iterate on solutions, and ensure alignment with their evolving goals.
- Establish Local Partnerships: Collaborate with local organizations to strengthen support for youth-led urban planning initiatives.
- Explore Funding Opportunities: Identify potential funding sources to scale the initiatives and ensure long-term sustainability and impact.
