Upturned Participation

Form a group of youths that you know well and that you know are vis­i­tors in the insti­tu­tion (fast track). Plan two meet­ings with the youths.

In the meet­ings it is impor­tant to stress that every­thing is to be tak­en seri­ous­ly, that every­one can speak freely, and that it is for­bid­den to dis­cuss. It is a good idea to talk via bul­let points. What is being said will be not­ed in bul­let points on “wall prints” so every­body can see what is not­ed. Wall prints from the first meet­ing will be dis­played at the sec­ond meet­ing and will be used as a com­mon basis.

Find a headline/topic that occu­pies the group: “Life in the rec cen­ter”, “Rec cen­ter in the area”, “Good life for youths in the rec center”.

1. Cri­tiquing phase: talk to the youths about what trou­bles them – cri­tique and dis­sat­is­fac­tion with the “top­ic”.

Write this on the print.

2. Utopi­an phase: what would it look like if you (the youths) had the pow­er of decision?

Write this on the print.

3. Real­iza­tion phase: remind them of their ideas – what would they like to real­ize and why? Use the head­lines as a start­ing point and talk to them about where they could begin. What and how would they do it?

• Orga­nize the space so it feels acces­si­ble and invites participation.
• Arrange the space phys­i­cal­ly so it invites dia­logue. Use the phys­i­cal arrange­ment to “upturn” the space.
• Be aware that the phys­i­cal space sup­ports pow­er in the room – who/what will dominate?
• The space con­notes cer­tain rooms – for instance a class­room and a cre­ative work­shop. Maybe you can find a place that you usu­al­ly don’t frequent?
• Strive to cre­ate the same space every time. Use for instance wall prints and arti­facts like flow­ers and chair arrangement.

Read more about how to work with spaces in the arti­cle “Didac­tics as participation”.