In Toronto's Mount Dennis area, high school students are influencing urban development by sharing their design insights for a Privately Owned Publicly Accessible Space (POPS). Winning entries from Alice Tulloch and Jayden Pan, both aspiring urban planners, emphasize the unique perspectives teens bring to urban design. The Design Jam contest, part of the annual 1UP Conference, encouraged over 100 students to collaborate on tackling real-world challenges, focusing on community impact and honoring industrial heritage. Their efforts showcase the importance of youth voices in shaping urban environments.
Teenagers have different motivations and different spaces that they want to exist in," said Tulloch in an interview with CBC's Metro Morning on Tuesday. "I haven't been to a school for urban planning, so I don't know the exact details and processes that they might teach me, which I feel like lets us come in with a more creative vision and more ideas.
The contest saw more than 100 high school students from across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) work in groups to build their prototypes and present their work to judges, who evaluated them on categories including how they connected to the broader community, what elements they included and how they honoured the industrial heritage of the site.
The Design Jam contest was part of the 1UP Conference, an annual event where teenagers learn about city building and collaborate on real-world urban challenges.
Students had about three hours to create a design that works for real peopleâa place to relax, socialize, and play.
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