In thirty years’ time, today’s primary school students will be the leaders of tomorrow, taking their own children to school. But what kind of communities will they be living and working in, and what capabilities will they need to thrive? Children are rarely consulted about the design of their education or the environments they will live in, but as the debate about environmental impacts contributing to climate change, and the challenges of predicted urbanisation of 70% of the world’s population intensify, young people are being empowered to take positive action to overcome fear. Upper primary school-aged children are innately compelled to learn about the world and often value things that may get pushed aside by big end of town interests.

We know that building a culture of children’s participation in policy, service planning, delivery and evaluation does result in practical benefits to services development, experience and access; improves citizenship, empowerment and social inclusion; and promotes childrens’ personal and social development including practical and social skills, increased self-confidence and positive career choices. Additionally, empowering school students and teachers with design process, skills and mindsets, particularly through design immersion, has shown to heighten engagement in design and support the development of 21st century skills.

So while design professionals are busy proposing smarter and more sustainable innovations, it is important we are equally focused on empowering the future custodians and prosumers in the process. As endorsed by Unicef Australia’s 2018 recommendations, we need to help Australian Governments at the local, state and federal level to develop sustainable formal mechanisms and appropriate child rights education tools to enable meaningful participation of children in Australia’s progress towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Once such collaboration between Dr Natalie Wright, DIA Fellow, researcher and Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture from QUT Design Lab and QUT Centre for Inclusive Education, and Matthew Flinders Anglican College Primary School on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, is investigating the value of embedding place-based and community-engaged design thinking in primary school curriculum. As part of a larger strategy for the professional development of the teachers in design thinking, the annual Design for Impact Summit, now in its third year, is an annual two-day design thinking immersion experience tasking approximately 100 Year 5 students to design and prototype the Maroochdore City Centre for 2050. Decision-making, referencing the award winning Sunshine Coast Council Design Strategy principles, is facilitated with the children during democratic ‘ministerial portfolio meetings’. Students work alongside local community members and design professionals with diverse industry expertise to examine the complex challenges, disrupt their thinking and encourage empathy with different stakeholders during the design process. The program culminates with an official presentation and opening of the city by Sunshine Coast Federal Member for Fairfax Mr Ted O’Brien.

Research conducted at the 2021 Summit will inform publications examining the design immersion model as a strategy for enacting child participation in urban design, as well as its role as a catalyst for the development of a school design thinking signature pedagogies toolkit and design thinking professional development program for primary teachers. This builds on Natalie’s research in design -led educational innovation and her work with schools since 2010 when she delivered the year-long DIA Queensland Branch Unleashed: Queensland Design on tour Travelling Exhibition and associated goDesign Workshop Program throughout regional and remote Queensland.

The Design for Impact Summit is an important Australian case study showcasing the value of design as a framework for transformative student engagement and development of 21st century skills, critical to preparing our citizens of the future for lifelong learning and adaptability. It is hoped that the Design for Impact Summit to be held again on July 13-14, 2022 and future programs, which will tackle other exciting Sunshine Coast challenges, will be the catalyst for the development of a Sunshine Coast Council Youth Strategy which addresses United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This will ensure young people are actively engaged, empowered and celebrated on the Sunshine Coast both now and into their future. It may also encourage governments across Australia to support similar design-led, inclusive initiatives to build a democratic culture of practice incorporating children’s voices and ideas.

We can all learn from what one child commented after the 2020 Summit.

“The workshop helped me realise that the choices we make have an impact on other people and the environment”.

Dr Natalie Wright FDIA is a Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture in the QUT School of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering. She is the Co-Lead of the Design-led Learning & Practice Research Group of the QUT Design Lab Resilient Communities Program and a Core Member of QUT Centre for Inclusive Education. Her current research is exploring opportunities to scale up primary/secondary teachers’ capacity to teach creativity, innovation and enterprise through design thinking in curriculum, and the facilitation of design expertise for transformational change in diverse industries.