Levelling Up North of England for Rural Youth: Co-design Possibilities and Challenges

This paper explores how co-design approaches contribute to support, learning and work opportunities for young people who are socially and economically disadvantaged because of where they live in the UK. The paper presents a project in which an arts organisation, design researcher and young people living in three rural areas in the North West of England came together to co-design opportunities for rural youth. The approach benefitted all involved, delivering outcomes such as new networks, youth spaces, paid work opportunities and transformed the arts organisation’s practice. The approach also broadened awareness of rural opportunities, shifted views on living and working rurally, increased confidence, developed skills and created informal career guidance spaces. The paper advocates for design research to address place-based socioeconomic inequalities, therefore “levelling up” and rebalancing the learning, support and work opportunities for young people, therefore investing in peoples’ lives through collaborative design.