Listening to the Future: Using Participatory Sound Fiction to Engage Young People in Urban Design

In spatial planning of urban areas, there is a need for new methods for meaningful inclusion of less represented voices as those of young people. This study focuses on how participatory design, design fiction and sound design can be combined to engage youth in urban planning processes. This is investigated by developing and testing a method called participatory sound fiction. The method was tested with a group of young residents in a suburban area in Sweden. Sound fictions of the suburb in 2170 were created and discussed among the youth participants. The results show that through discussions and speculations about the future, important insights were revealed about the youths' reality, which can be of value in spatial planning processes as well as in understandings of how the youth experiences their living area. Furthermore, the study found that sound can broaden youths' perspective on their immediate environment, that participatory sound fiction has the potential to engage youths, and that youths prefer to discuss the present to feel that their voices are being heard.