What does a city look like through the eyes of its youth?
Could the green man on a busy pedestrian crossing blink longer to give enough time for a safe crossing? Could there be more streetlights to get rid of dark no-go spaces?
These are some of the ideas suggested by young people in Cardiff’s Grangetown.
You take part in a project run by Cardiff University and ask them how they would improve their area.
Yahya, 12, said he wanted “to be safe, be with our friends and family and just have fun.”
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Armed with clipboards, young people took to the streets to call for changes that would make the area better for them.
“Cars never seem to stop, they just keep going,” said 13-year-old Moneab at a busy intersection.
“When it turns green, it only turns green briefly and there isn’t much time to cross the entire street.”
On the banks of the Taff River, 12-year-old Yahya pointed out packets of crisps and plastic bags littered with trash.
“It can be nice in the summer, but when it’s dirty it’s not the best, so I think we need to change it,” he said.
The project involved young people aged eight to 18 working with local schools and the region’s youth forum. If successful, it could be deployed to other parts of the city.
Four themes were identified from the work at Grangetown.
Young people want a safer and cleaner community, more places to play, a greener Grangetown and an inclusive place that serves everyone.
dr Matluba Khan, who is leading the project for Cardiff University, said the work would feed into a post-Covid recovery plan.
“Children and young people did not have the opportunity to meet their friends and cousins.
“Christmas and Eid celebrations are affected,” he said.
“They also mentioned fear and boredom and sometimes anger.”
The challenge now is to make changes that promote children’s well-being and to give city planners clear ideas about what young people want for the city.
Participants were given a small budget to make one of the changes they wanted to see – now they have to decide which ones.
In the Grange Pavilion, members of the Youth Forum put stickers on a giant map of Grangetown to identify potential changes.
While they appreciate the city’s large green parks, some desire more specifics than wide open spaces that can feel overwhelming.
They said the quality of road surfaces and sidewalks affects scooters, skateboards and buggies, not just cars.
Shoruk Nekeb, a director of the Youth Forum, admits she was “skeptical” about another research project in this area – but now feels it’s “a really good concrete project because I can see the results”.
The pandemic, Shoruk said, has made the kids “very self-conscious of what’s around them.”
“It was quite interesting to share my thoughts with everyone else and it would be really nice to see what we actually talked about,” said Fatimah, 13.
Cardiff University research comes to a Welsh charity, which said children’s ability to play is an important part of growing up.
Play Wales found that 90% of 500 children surveyed are generally happy with the places they play, from playing outside in nature to playing on the street, in a play center or in the school playground.
The vast majority of the 500 parents surveyed indicated that the ability to play has a positive impact on their children’s mental health.
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