Speaker
Description
In his book ‘Smart City Citizenship’, Calzada (2021) proposes a fifth helix in the multi-stakeholder framework of innovation in the smart city, including activists as key drivers. This paper will look to one such demographic that has rediscovered activism in large numbers recently – young people. The paper will examine how young people envision the future ‘smart city’.
Citizenship as a module is introduced in the English school system within the secondary school context, however, it largely fails to capture spatial and emerging digital dimensions of citizenship. The Raynsford Review of Planning in England (TCPA, 2018) identifies planning education in secondary schools as one of the key factors for a better understanding of architecture and planning by the public and achieving active citizenship.
This paper draws on the experience of a research-led courses based on urban planning and architecture, designed as part of the Brilliant Club programme, and delivered in secondary schools across the West Midlands by the doctoral researcher. In total, more than fifty students took part in six different interactions of the course entitles ‘Can youth plan the Future ‘Smart City’?’ with three submissions by secondary school students published in the Brilliant Club Journal (Aksu, 2019; Alkatheri, 2019 and Maan, 2020). This paper unpicks the role of urban-led research in secondary education and the challenges, trade-offs, and opportunities it presents to participants on all sides. It presents key themes that emerged from the young people’s understanding of smart cities and their role as citizens in the future city.
| I am willing and able to travel to Norway unless Covid-19 restrictions prevent me from traveling to Stavanger. | YES |
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| GDPR complianced | Yes |
