Youth Engagement and Imaginarium

Challenge

Young people today face many global environmental crises, but their experiences vary widely based on context. Young people in contexts of ‘islandness’ feel both more removed from and more connected to these challenges, shaped by their unique relationship with nature, isolation, and dependence on local ecosystems.

Approach

To explore sustainability challenges and solutions in this context, the programme involves young people experiencing different forms of geographical ‘islandness’. Place-based educational approaches not only deepen learning by connecting it to lived experience but also help shape meaningful pathways toward a more sustainable and locally grounded future.

Outcomes

Developed through transdisciplinary collaboration with Youth Leaders in the Causeway Coast and Glens area, the programme supported four Youth Groups and six school classes in exploring local impacts of global challenges. They developed hopeful perspectives and designed potential responses, culminating in an interactive digital exhibition at Belfast’s W5 museum.

Learnings

A diverse, transdisciplinary team of researchers, designers, educators and young people enabled the creation of a rich, multifaceted programme. Design thinking proved extremely valuable for educators, fostering creativity and helping young people develop hopeful, practical approaches to sustainability.

Impact

Over 200 young people in remote areas of Northern Ireland participated in reflecting and responding to sustainability issues. Youth leaders gained skills in creative design thinking, and participants developed meaningful, community-rooted responses. The Imaginarium brings all of these components together and further elevates hopeful imaginings of a future shaped by islandness.