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Youth at the Helm: Shaping Public Spaces Through Co-Design

  • HTA Design 75 Wallis Road London, England, E9 5LN United Kingdom (map)

Beyond the Box - London Festival of Architecture
Co-Designing the Future: Embedding Young Voices in the Built Environment at HTA Design Studio

Event Description

Set against the backdrop of Beyond the Box’s much-anticipated People’s Pavilion 2025, opening this summer at the William Morris Gallery, join us for this dynamic event that explores the transformative potential of co-design.

This in-conversation explores how youth communities can lead the transformation of public spaces. The event spotlights community-led design in action—highlighting youth-driven initiatives that reimagine public space through co-design, creativity, and care.

Bringing together an intergenerational mix of young people, industry professionals, and thought leaders, the series amplifies lived experiences, bold ideas, and innovative ways of working. From panel conversations to provocations and hands-on insights, we’ll explore what it truly means to design with, not for—and how we can collectively create a more equitable and inspiring future.


Event Speakers & Panelists 

  • Shawn Adams - Architect, Writer, and Lecturer  

  • Bongani Muchemwa - Director of McCloy Muchemwa 

  • Sam Elbahja, Architectural Designer, Poet and Author 

  • Peter Moore - Architectural Designer and Maker  

  • Bianca Quiring - Aspiring Designer, People’s Pavilion 2025 Co-designer 

  • Cy Sherliker -  Aspiring Designer, People’s Pavilion 2025 Co-designer 

  • Ayaz Akyol - Aspiring Designer, People’s Pavilion 2025 Co-designer 

Chaired by  

  • Neil Onions, Director Beyond the Box &

  • Isata Kamara, Aspiring Designer & People’s Pavilion 2025 Co-designer

This event is the first in a 3-part series curated by Beyond the Box, celebrating co-design as a powerful tool for inclusion, imagination, and systemic transformation. Together, we’ll uncover how young people, when given the tools and trust, can reimagine the environments we all share.

Spanning architecture, culture, and public space, this series brings together an intergenerational mix of young voices, industry professionals, and thought leaders. Through panels, provocations, and lived experience, we’ll ask: what does it really mean to design with, not for—and how can co-design help us build a more equitable, inspiring future?

Be part of the conversation. Be part of the change.

Previous
19 June

How can the built environment sector authentically integrate co-design with young people