How to … design space for kids

"Children and young people often feel the need to make their mark and establish their right to use public space – whether constructively or destructively." So said junior ODPM minister Yvette Cooper in a CABE Space report, Involving Young People in the Design and Care of Urban Spaces, last month. Including young people in the design of public spaces tackles their disenfranchisement and ensures they get a space they want to use.

The first step is to decide the age group you want to work with. Mark Rooney, project manager of the SPACEmakers scheme in Bristol, involved young people in the design, bidding for funds and awarding of contracts for an open space on Bristol's deprived Hartcliffe estate. SPACEmakers, run by the Bristol Architecture Centre, the city council, the Glass-House design advisory body and a local college, decided on 13-year-olds. They were old enough to learn the basics of design and planning but had time for the project before their GCSEs.

Next, build a relationship with local organisations that work with young people, because they will be able to suggest children who could benefit from the scheme. SPACEmakers recruited 16 teenagers from those suggested by schools and youth clubs.

It sent them on a three-day residential course run by charity the National Tenants' Resource Centre. It covered public space design, planning rules and negotiation. And for inspiration, SPACEmakers took the kids to see examples of public space in Glasgow, London and Holland.

You can help young people apply what they've learned to their own estate by getting them to look at where they hang out – and why. On the Hartcliffe estate, the favourite spot was two green boxes containing electrical equipment. The appeal, Rooney discovered, was that they were warm, quite near to the children's homes and sheltered under some trees.

Training completed, ask the kids to pick a suitable site for development. Things to consider include how accessible sites are, whether there's any natural shelter and whether vandals tend to target them. Once a site is selected, let the children try out ideas in temporary materials.

The next step is to advertise in a trade journal for a landscape architect – and include the children on the interview panel.

There are many different funding providers. SPACEmakers got money from the European Regional Development Fund, Bristol council, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Glass-House and the ODPM's Living Spaces fund. Rooney put together these bids himself, but brought in the young people to do presentations. SPACEmakers has already received a number of tenders for its £120,000 project.

Be frank with the kids about how much you can spend. SPACEmakers' children wanted a steel bridge in their park, but it became too expensive. The development will, though, have slides for young children and a seating area for adults.

Beware of consulting with adult residents too early. Rooney met with a tenants' group when they didn't yet have clear plans, and some residents were hostile. "They were worried about groups of young people marauding about the place."

When SPACEmakers consulted with residents again, it gave a presentation on the plans. This, along with the strong partnerships built up with the estate's schools and youth clubs and the funding it had secured, ensured a much more positive reaction.