KMA were appointed by Fife Council to undertake a youth ‘training’ charrette with young people in Cowdenbeath. Working with young people is a key dimension of our place momentum collaborative placemaking approach. Our team, comprising Kevin, Husam and Iain, worked with a mix of local young people to explore, understand, then plan the future of their town centre, using the new Scottish Government Place Standard tool as a gauge. This work builds on, and contributes to, other strategy and project work the Council has been undertaking for the town centre.

The participants, aged between 13 and 16 willingly (or so we are told) gave up a day of their time to consider the town centre and what is needed to improve it. The site visit helped to draw out their perceptions, while the Place Standard tool helped them articulate their views about a range of factors. The afternoon session involved prioritising a range of potential improvements before considering design aspirations for a particular space, including activities for animation in different seasons.

The outputs from the exercise were compiled into a report for the Council team. This record of the event and its outputs has enabled them to demonstrate the value of consultation with a distinctive group, allowing the voice of the group to stand out, and they hope to carry out similar exercises with other groups in the future.