TTPod 3.5 - "Natural Born Planners" - Enhancing the voice and needs of children in planning and design processes

Talking Transformation

The latest Talking Transformation Podcast takes me back in time to a period when children and youth were at the forefront of planning innovation in the City of Johannesburg.

In 2009 I led an initiative with the City of Johannesburg's Development Planning and Facilitation team to several schools across Johannesburg. The objectives? Interrogate and plan for the challenges and movement patterns, needs and ambitions of different schools, from the most impoverished to the most affluent.

Initial excitement and methodologies that were developed regrettably never took seed or became embedded within the planning processes in the metro at that point.

Within a few months of posting about this initiative on LinkedIn Professor Philip Harrison who commissioned the initial CoJ work had pulled together a collaboration of professionals to pull together the basis of a practice note that considered children in planning design processes.

The practice note was published a year ago and today's episode looks at not only the genesis of the CoJ thinking but also the background and recommendations relating to that practice note.

Joining us as a third town planner and advocate of integrating children into planning processes is Lekgolo Mayatula. Lekgolo's practical experience with children and passion for the subject makes for compelling listening.

Public participation is a tricky exercise at the best of times however sometimes there are obvious opportunities and lenses that we should be considering which get left behind or drowned out in the noise: the voice of the youth is one such lens.

This episode at least advocates for practical approaches to rethink the way that we do our plans and processes.

Recorded 28th June 2023