A HUGE thank you to Lola McLoughlin for this blog! Lola graduated from our 2020 Digital Academy and has since worked with us as contributor to the Northern Powerhouse Urban design quarterly magazine and is on the board of a charity in London as a Youth Representative. We asked Lola what challenges she believes the built environment will face in the next 10 years.
I think in the next ten years some of the challenges we will face include cost as a huge one, houses around me are already sky high which is a cause for concern for my generation. Some people are working and some unable to be employed due to lack of work experience, this all considered if we add Covid on top, it’s a massive challenge. My generation being in and out of education, I know I missed out on work experience, I was lucky enough to be employed beforehand but I know some who are unfortunately unable to get jobs. To address these issues we should be giving young people a voice through platforms like PLACED, and we should be prioritising young people’s input and giving them opportunities to talk about what they want for their future.
I think another challenge would be the lack of input from people my age, these will be our future homes and communities and we have no say in anything that happens in them. I think it would be beneficial to get more younger people involved whether it’s in programmes like PLACED or through education systems, it might help for people to take care and respect public properties and enjoy the spaces more, decreasing anti-social behaviour.