Teenagers in the city: Case study of co-participating design in Permsky Region

Abstract

This article presents the results of the student expedition, which took place as part of the Rediscovering Russia professional competition, organized by the Higher School of Economics and ANO Russia—Land of Opportunities. The purpose of the expedition was to study the experience of co-participating in the design of the city with teenagers by the method of “immersion in the urban environment”. Empirical data collected in five cities of Permsky Region comprises interviews with participants of the Laboratory of Architectural Thought project—teenagers and teachers—expert interviews as well as blitz interviews with residents of the city. In total, there are 43 transcripts in the research archive, including 14 expert interviews, 21 blitz interviews with passers-by and 8 focus groups with teenagers. The key research question was to clarify the attitude of teenagers to the art objects they created, the significance of these objects for the city, its residents and the teenagers themselves.

The study showed that participation in the creation of urban objects did not form a sense of belonging to the city or a stable connection with the city in teenagers. The exceptions were those teenagers whose projects were implemented. However, architectural workshops allowed the participants to reconsider their attitude to the city improvement, to evaluate the work of people creating urban objects as well as to expand their understanding of architecture and urban environment design. The created objects did not make noticeable changes in the life of the city and its citizens, some of them were behind a fence or in a hard–to-reach part of the city, others were used for other purposes, etc. However, the laboratory’s activities allowed teenagers to be heard and became, perhaps, the first step towards perceiving teenagers as equal citizens.