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Minecraft and The Sims: let’s not write off creative ways to get young people interested in the built environment sector
Meaningful, proactive engagement with children and young people can help tackle the skills crisis, speed up development timelines and have them help shape communities, writes Lord Gascoigne, chair of the House of Lords Built Environment Committee
Lord Gascoigne is chair of the House of Lords Built Environment Committee
Meaningful, proactive engagement with children and young people can help tackle the skills crisis, speed up development timelines and have them help shape communities, writes Lord Gascoigne, chair of the House of Lords Built Environment Committee #UKhousingChildren and young people care deeply about the built environment, even if they probably wouldn’t use that term. They spend a lot of time in their local area, use local facilities, and are able to speak maturely and articulately about what they like and dislike about their villages, towns and cities.
At the same time, the built environment sector is facing numerous challenges, including acute skills shortages, a housing crisis and long development timelines. While it may not seem obvious from the outside, I believe that meaningful, proactive engagement with children and young people is one piece of the puzzle.
I chair the Built Environment Committee in the House of Lords. We have just published a short letter to the government, wrapping up an inquiry into young people and the built environment. We examined questions of how much children and young people already know about the topic, how they feel about it and whether they want to learn more.
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Alongside our usual written and oral evidence, we heard from more than 900 children and young people in our school survey. Our letter makes recommendations to the government about how the built environment can work better for young people.
As a committee, we constantly hear about the challenges of getting enough homes built, the long planning processes and public opposition. While it may seem like consultation with children and young people is just another obstacle to getting stuff built, we heard that proactive engagement can actually streamline the planning process, build trust in the local community and reduce commercial risk.
“We were concerned to learn that only one in three young people feel like they understand how to get involved in local decision-making”
As children and young people are more likely to be pro-development than older adults, including them in public consultations can actually create a larger, long-term support base for a scheme. Developers going out of their way to include children’s voices can also demonstrate a long-term commitment to the area, building trust within the community, reducing the risk of public opposition and lowering commercial risk.
Moreover, our evidence shows that when young people do provide feedback, they focus on making better places, prioritising green spaces and health and leisure facilities, and being particularly mindful of accessibility.
In our oral evidence session with Stephanie Peacock, minister for sport, tourism, civil society and youth, we were concerned to learn that only one in three young people feel like they understand how to get involved in local decision-making.
Planning consultations are a brilliant way to get young people interested in politics, and can give them what one of our witnesses called ‘spatial citizenship’, a greater stake in the built environment around them.
At the same time, we should not use the same old methods of engagement that make people feel like they’re not really contributing. It is crucial that young people are engaged in the sector in a manner they understand.
We heard fantastic examples about the use of digital tools, particularly video games, as a means of engaging children and young people and developing their interest in the built environment.
Games like Minecraft, The Sims and even Assassin’s Creed are increasingly young people’s first introduction into themes of architecture, world building, planning and urban design. Instead of pushing back against the tide, the sector should embrace video games as a powerful tool to connect to young people, and meet them where they’re at, using a language they understand.
“Through engagement with the sector, and even video games, non-stereotypical career paths can be highlighted, and the pipeline of the next generation of built environment professionals can be strengthened”
If the built environment pays greater attention to children and young people, we are also more likely to inspire them to take up training, education and even careers in this space. While young people care about their local built environment, we heard that they do not typically have a good understanding of the range of jobs available to them, and hold onto pervasive stereotypes about the nature of the work.
Through engagement with the sector, and even video games, non-stereotypical career paths can be highlighted, and the pipeline of the next generation of built environment professionals can be strengthened.
We have seen the amazing work that the sector and individuals within it are already doing, going out of their way to engage in innovative and meaningful ways. We want to work with the sector to enable more opportunities for engagement and outreach, and highlight the work being done already.
If we want to tackle the so-called ‘nimby vs. yimby’ debate, if we want to grow the economy and build more homes, if we want people to feel they are shaping their own communities, then looking at ways of engaging and involving young people is an enormous step forward.
Lord Gascoigne, chair, House of Lords Built Environment Committee
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