Youth Participation in Playground Design – March 23rd @ 1PM ET

Engaging youth in the playground design process can empower youth and create a more meaningful design. But, most of all, it’s fun! This course will review how engaging youth in playground design can benefit the project, youth, and community. We will present several strategies and activities for engaging kids of different ages in various phases of the design process.

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

– Explain how engaging youth in a playground design project can improve the project and help build human and social capital.
– Identify key strategies for planning a successful youth engagement process.
– Summarize appropriate youth engagement activities based on the design phase and the participants’ ages.

Speaker:
Katherine Melcher is an associate professor at the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design. She teaches courses in community design, social theory and design, healthy places, and urban design. Her research interests span landscape architecture theory and the social aspects of design, with a special focus on participatory design. She is a licensed landscape architect with over fifteen years of experience in community-based development and design. Her work focuses on the interaction between design and community needs, particularly participatory design processes and community places. Her projects include parks, playgrounds, schoolyards, streetscapes, and pedestrian and bicycle trails.