Participatory Design as a Tool for Involving Teenagers in Urban Planning

Participatory design is a young practice in the history of both global and Russian urban planning, which appeared in the 1960s and 2010s, respectively. Complicity appeared in the context of the development of the concept of the «right to the city» and the symbiosis of the transformation of participatory democracy. Classics believe that it is impossible for a specialist from any field to create a comfortable city or public space without the involving of direct beneficiaries and stakeholders in decision-making, the most sensitive of whom are children. The paper considers a controversial, broad and excluded group of urban youth — teenagers, who, due to their lack of experience, can make and offer real solutions that will be taken into account by architects when developing the project concept, will help make urban space as inclusive as possible for everyone and form their subjectivity regarding this place. The research was conducted using qualitative methods: expert interviews with specialists involved in urban planning and urban development, architecture, psychology and pedagogy, and researchers of childhood in the city. Additionally, an experiment was conducted in the format of two project seminars with teenagers in small towns, as a result of which the ideas of teenagers entered into the concept for territory development. The study's findings demonstrate that participatory design, when used as a tool in urban planning, significantly enhances the effectiveness of urban development initiatives by acknowledging the subjective nature of adolescents.