Voice Opportunity Power
Young people have a right to be involved in the decisions that shape the places where they live and including them creates better places for everyone.
The Voice Opportunity Power toolkit is a free resource with practical guidance on how to involve young people (11-18) in the way that places get built and managed. It is for engagement practitioners, developers, designers, planners and sports providers and is designed to improve participation in – and the quality of – new development and regeneration. The toolkit was produced by ZCD Architects in partnership with Grosvenor, Sport England, and the TCPA.
The following two webinar recordings introduce the toolkit and provide examples of how it has been used to effectively involve young people in planning, regeneration and neighbourhood management.
Webinar one: Youth engagement in planning, regeneration an neighbourhood management
In this webinar Dinah Bornat, Director ZCD Architects:
- gives an overview of Voice Opportunity Power – what the toolkit contains and how it can be used;
- presents case studies of Voice Opportunity Power in use in Aberfeldy Village and Charlton House and Albany House;
- presents the work to date behind the Earls Court redevelopment Public Realm Inclusivity Panel.
Webinar two: Empowering young people for a greener future
This webinar, held during Great Big Green Week 2025, explores:
- the transformation of one of London’s oldest public squares, using Voice Opportunity Power to involve young people in creating an extraordinary green space with exemplary environmental credentials.
- the perspectives of developer Grosvenor, child and youth engagement specialists MATT+FIONA, and a young adult who took part in the work themselves.
The TCPA’s wider work on children and young people
These webinars form part of the TCPA’s wider work on children, young people in the built environment including:
- Raising the healthiest generation in history: why it matters where children and young people live – recommendations and evidence review from the 2024 Levelling Up, Housing and Communities inquiry into children, young people and built environment.
- Child-friendly planning and design: insights from European cities – a webinar with Tim Gill exploring approaches from four European cities embracing child-friendly planning and urban design.
- Developing Well conference – the conference explored the relationship between children, young people and the built environment, the critical importance of creating healthy places in which they can thrive, challenges and opportunities and highlighted case studies of place-based practice from local authorities and the private sector.
- Homes and neighbourhoods for children and young people – a webinar exploring why planning and the built environment matters for healthy and thriving children and young people and how to engage with children and teenagers about 20-minute neighbourhoods and place.
Supported by:
