The Urbanism Hour: Designing with Young People – Lessons from Camden
A lunchtime webinar exploring what it means to design with and for young people and why child-friendly design remains relevant in an ageing London
The Urbanism Hours are virtual lunch time events that explore a given theme within the built environment, with complementary speakers and a Q&A discussion. For January's Urbanism Hour we'll be joined by speakers Afiyah Alim, Johanna Gewolker, and Mohammed Lawal.
This session will explore what it means to design with and for young people and why child-friendly design remains relevant in an ageing London. Mohammed (Urban Movement), Afiyah and Johanna (London Borough of Camden) will share case studies of co-designing and building better streets for young people in the Euston Area, many of whom have spent most of their lives living alongside one of Europe’s most significant construction projects – HS2. The talk will share lessons about engaging in this sensitive context, examples of innovative technology-based and youth-led peer engagement techniques, and will outline how local authorities can build ongoing relationships with young people that inform delivery and policy.
Speakers
Afiyah Alim
Afiyah is a Senior Transport Planner working at Camden Council delivering transport and public realm projects in the King’s Cross and Euston Area. Part of this includes delivering meaningful resident engagement and designing the public realm with young people in the Regent’s Park area, to mitigate the impacts of HS2 works in the area. She previously worked at Ealing Council as a Transport Planner leading on behaviour change projects. Afiyah has a MSc in Transport and City Planning from the Bartlett School of Architecture.
Johanna Gewolker
Johanna delivers mobility infrastructure and public realm projects at Camden Council and is the lead transport planner for the regeneration of Euston and HS2. She has a background in strategic planning and sustainability strategy. Johanna has overseen the delivery of the HS2 Road Safety Fund, and a range of of transport schemes as part of the Somers Town Future Neighbourhoods Project, including Camden’s first series of shared mobility hubs. Johanna has also led innovative youth engagement projects that seek to enhance the voice of young people within streetscape projects.
Mohammed Lawal
Mohammed is an experienced Urban Designer who has worked on variety of projects ranging from large scale masterplans through to small pocket spaces. He also has experience in additional design disciplines including architecture and graphic design and that inform his urban design work. Due to his long standing interest in climate resilience and public health, he has done a lot of projects that are active travel and greening focussed. With the nature of his work being community based projects, he has a lot of experience of engaging various groups of people. He has a Master of Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of Dundee.
