We have recently been working with Waltham Forest Council on an exciting project to improve Memorial Park. As part of the design process we are engaging different community groups, to understand what matters most to them and what changes they want to see in the park.

We have been especially interested to hear from young women and girls, whose views are so often not heard in the design of parks and public spaces. Inspired by groups like Make Space for Girls, whose advocacy work is shining a light on the need to include teenage girls in the design process, we are running a series of focus workshops with local young women to understand how they currently use public outdoor space and what changes they feel are needed. It is hoped that the research carried out in these workshops will contribute to the wider conversation about how design professionals and clients should make listening to women and girls the norm.

The group have been amazing to engage with, highly energetic, passionate about girls’ needs but also sensitive to the needs of other groups, very creative and very vocal - which we love.

The theme of the first workshop was ‘listening’ – listening to how the group used parks when they were younger, how that has changed as they have grown older, the barriers they think need to be tackled when it comes to young women spending more time outdoors, and the ideal programme of activities they would like to see in their local park to make it truly attractive and inclusive for all young people. Below are some of the key themes and talking points that emerged in the workshop.

In the second workshop, the group rolled up their sleeves and crafted a set of collages that capture their design vision for the park. The medium of collage was a great tool in this instance because it gave the girls a freedom to mix ideas they liked from very different origins and combine them to create a new reality. It prompted them to think about the composition of their piece, which also translated to thinking about how their ideal park would be arranged, the qualities or character they would want the different spaces to have, and the desired degree of proximity or separation between different activities. Collaging is a very accessible medium, no prior experience is required, and it is also fun. As designers, we like to say that collage allows us to bring together the world of imagination with the world of building, and the group excelled at demonstrating this.

The finished pieces, shown below, are delightful to see. They all embody really interesting ideas around what is important to young women when it comes to the design of public outdoor spaces. The main themes that came up were:

• Safety: the importance of having spaces that are well overlooked, connected to other facilities/uses e.g. cafes, and well lit
• The desire to have a diverse and age-appropriate offer of activities. At the moment provision for teenagers mostly consists of fenced off ball courts and sometimes skate parks. There are so many more activities that could be catered for to make youth spaces truly inclusive and exciting
• The desire to have equipment that encourages play and physical activity. The group felt strongly that play should not stop once a child becomes a teenager. Why don’t we build playgrounds for teenagers?
• Areas that support artistic expression, such as dance, or graffiti
• Areas that promote connection with nature, to improve mental wellbeing

We are excited to be co-designing our park improvements with this talented group of young women, and look forward to sharing the design proposals once these begin to emerge.

Marta Llorens