FROM INTERVIEWS TO PLAYFULNESS: a child & youth-centred design approach to policy-making

There has been a tradition of professionals creating the child- and youth-policies
in municipalities in Denmark, containing the risk of not including the direct perspective of
children and young people. There are a tendency of involvement of children and young
people being through e.g. teachers or by involving primarily high-performing participants
through e.g. youth councils which presents a risk of diverse and relevant perspectives being
excluded.
In a collaboration between Kolding School of Design and the municipality of Ringsted, it has
been possible to study how children and young people can be included on a more equal
basis, by implementing more relevant and playful methods for user involvement.
Approximately 7000 of the municipality’s children and young people, between 3 and 25
years old participated in the study.
Methods adjusted to the context and participants, have shown potential to highlight
perspectives that might not have been found by the typical approaches.
The study points to the potentials of using playful methods and the combination of different
approaches, to gain insights for policy-making. It also indicates the benefits of collaboration
between design and policy, for a more democratic approach to policy-making.