My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
Yes
I am 18 years of age or above, by the application deadline.
Yes
My organisation is a registered UK entity and has a London-based address.
Yes
My organisation is a non-profit (e.g. school, university, or local authority) — not a for-profit, which can only join as a partner.
Yes
If there is a for-profit organisation as a partner in my initiative, they work on a cost-recovery basis only.
Yes
My solution is implemented at scale, or if not, I have a clear business plan, a minimum viable solution (prototype, pilot, or proof of concept), evidence of access to a lease for the space you are leveraging, and evidence of work or impact in London within your coalition.
Yes
I am aware that, if I am submitting more than one application to a Challenge run by Ashoka and Go! London, only one of them is able to progress through the stages.
Yes
Are you an employee (and their children and grandchildren) of Ashoka or any of its respective affiliates and participating advertising and promotion agencies?
No
I have read and accepted the Challenge Terms & Conditions.
Yes
First Name
Lorenzo
Last Name
Ciancarini
Pronouns
He/Him
Email address
I would like to receive notifications and updates about Go London!, Ashoka, Ashoka Changemakers, and other Ashoka opportunities.
1
Are you an Ashoka Fellow?
No
Are you applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow?
No
If you are applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow, please specify the name and organisation of the fellow below.
Lead Organisation Name
Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (formerly Sustrans)
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
1984
Initiative Title
Young Street Builders
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
https://www.walkwheelcycletrust.org.uk/
Initiative Stage
Growth (You’ve moved past the very first activities; working towards the next level of expansion.)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Children & Youth
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
This project proposes to radically reimagine street space outside the City of London Academy in Islington as a space for community, play, rest and activity for all, handing over design agency to young people to shape a public space that they would like to spend time in, and centring them in the build process to deliver these street changes. It is a partnership between the City of London Academy in Islington, Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, BuildUp and Islington Council.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve and who will benefit the most from your solution? How close are you to the problem and/or community impacted?
The project tackles two interlinked issues: the lack of opportunities for young people to play, move, and socialise on their streets, and their exclusion from decisions about the outdoor environments they use every day. Only about 20% of children meet the recommended levels of physical activity. Car-dominated streets limit the freedom to move and opportunities for children to "play out", despite strong evidence that street play increases activity, strengthens community ties and reduces social isolation. Streets are our largest public space resource, yet their potential as social, active and learning spaces remains vastly untapped. While local authorities are prioritising people‑friendly streets, they often are not truly child‑friendly due to limited resources and a lack of meaningful youth involvement. This gap is exactly where our idea sits. We work directly with young people who navigate these streets daily and often feel unheard in local decision‑making. Without opportunities to influence their environment, they also miss out on developing confidence, leadership and a sense of agency. A fairer society requires equipping all young people with the skills and spaces to help create it. The project will benefit young people at the City of London Academy Islington (CoLAI) and children across the wider St Peter’s area, where access to public space for play and socialising is limited. Islington is the 2nd most densely populated area in London, with the least access to green space and the 4th highest child poverty rate in the UK. Walk Wheel Cycle Trust is already working with Islington Council to redesign streets for people in St Peter’s Ward, and has a long‑standing partnership with CoLAI through workshops exploring healthy streets principles with pupils and designers.
Your approach: How are you/ will you addressing the problem outlined above? How does your solution unlock or reimagine access to spaces for sport and physical activity? What role do landowners, local authorities, or other decision-making stakeholders play in your approach? We'd love to know about the origin of your idea, and what was your "aha" moment" that led you to take action?
Our approach tackles both outlined barriers at once. We are developing a youth‑led methodology for street design, placing young people at the centre of shaping the spaces they use, happening over three youth-led phases: design, construction and activation. Working with pupils at CoLAI, we will co‑design and co-build structures to encourage movement and play, embedding activity into daily journeys. The project builds on a live Islington Council scheme with WWCT to reclaim roadspace for people at two key junctions just outside the school. At WWCT, we thrive to make neighbourhoods places where everyone can walk, wheel, cycle and be active. We see a pattern across projects: young people’s needs are secondary, so redesigned streets rarely support youth activity. Our “aha” moment came during work with CoLAI pupils, where we felt the resolution to challenge traditional tokenistic co-design approaches, delivering schemes truly led by the young people who use them. We are partnering with Build Up, experts in youth‑led design and construction, to ensure young people meaningfully lead the project from concept to delivery. The Council as landowner ensures the transformed space is permanent; CoLAI anchors participation. By integrating co-designed features into the street, we expand sport and physical activity into free, everyday movement woven into daily life. A pupil-led activation event will invite the wider community to reimagine the space through a Movement Festival, with programmed activities embedding long-term ownership, connection, and use. Together, we will remove structural barriers that typically exclude young people from shaping public space, transforming an overlooked streetscape into an active environment and helping develop a blueprint for future projects.
Collaboration with young people and the community: In what ways does your initiative engage young people and community members closest to the problem? What role do they play in building the solution you deliver?
Young people will have a seat at the table they are rarely invited to, and they will lead the design and build of the space on their school’s doorstep. The project will be youth-led from start to finish, transforming the junction into a playful, active community space, with features designed and built by the students themselves to create a lasting legacy in one of London’s most urbanised and least green boroughs. We will bring together our streetscape expertise with BuildUp’s youth-led design and construction knowledge. The approach will enable young people to have a voice in a field where professional practices normally exclude them. The project will be led by a paid youth steering board, which will shape design and construction in co-production workshops, plan and deliver the activation event, and play a role in collating/sharing learnings from the pilot. 60 young people will participate in workshops led by Build Up’s facilitators and designers, alongside Islington and WWCT’s engineers and engagement specialists. They will map how they use the space and generate ideas for movement-focused structures. Students will redefine the space, prototype a variety of approaches (with features like balance beams, climbing elements, and playful seating), and make decisions about design, types of play, layout, and specifics like materials and colours, taking part in conversations with Islington teams. These ideas will then be brought to life in 8 hands-on build workshops, where they will construct the features themselves, transforming their designs into a tangible space. A final youth‑organised activation event will celebrate the students’ achievement, bringing together the 900 school pupils, residents, and partners to recognise their contribution and embed long‑term outcomes.
Potential for/Evidence of Impact: How do you imagine your initiative will make a difference in unlocking spaces for and access to physical activity and sport so far? If you have already implemented it, what difference have you made so far? What is the impact your initiative has had , and or what impact do you envision having in the future?
The project transforms 2,000m² of vehicle-dominated space into playful, active community space, unlocking opportunities for movement, climbing, balancing, play and connection in the public realm as part of daily school journeys. The space will bring young people into core decision‑making, enabling them to create spaces that reflect their needs, benefiting all young people in an area with limited access to outdoor space - directly supporting the Challenge priorities: expand access to play and movement, reduce inequalities, and empower youth to shape healthier neighbourhoods. There is strong evidence for the long‑term impact of active streetscape design and youth‑led placemaking. Build Up’s record (53 youth‑led construction projects, 301 young people in 2025) shows that such projects produce inclusive, better‑used spaces. WWCT Hounslow play streets introduced gymnastics, ball games, dance, planting, recording a 300% increase in walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling. Build Up’s 24/25 data found people felt new spaces were: safer, cleaner, wanted to spend more time (95%), more appealing, welcoming (89%), positively changed the neighbourhood (100%). We will evaluate key project stages to assess the approach in different contexts and identify critical success factors, through interviews, surveys with young people, residents, stakeholders, and workshops with the project team and youth. Learning will be shared through presentations, CPD sessions, conferences and a visual publication. Structural barriers still separate youth‑led design from streetscape improvement. WWCT delivers school‑focused schemes, and Islington supports youth engagement but lacks processes. With Go London support, we can create a scalable model and deliver long‑term change in St Peter’s Ward.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
Our innovation lies in merging two proven, but previously separate approaches: WWCT’s expertise in street transformation and Build Up’s youth‑led construction model - moulding a new approach to street design that embeds informal physical activity into children’s daily routines. While youth engagement in street design is often limited to consultation workshops or wish lists, our approach goes further: young people will define, design, and physically build new play features directly into the public highway, shifting them from passive consultees to active designers of their surroundings. BuildUp’s unique youth‑led design approach already works, but has rarely been applied to live public realm projects. At the same time, street transformation projects often aim to increase active travel, but overlook informal, everyday opportunities for play and movement, and traffic reduction schemes lack reimagining streetspace for different uses. By combining these two worlds, we are creating a new model that tackles the root of multiple problems. Our innovation lies in democratising physical activity by embedding playful, active features directly into the spaces young people use every day. Beyond relying on formal sports facilities, we imagine streets as places where movement, play, and social connection are part of daily life. Why shouldn’t a street be a space for climbing, balancing, or imaginative play? This idea introduces a new way for actors who usually don’t speak to each other to collaborate. It brings engineers, designers, and young people together in one process, from concept to construction. The result is not only a high‑quality active space, but a methodology that London Boroughs can adopt to ensure future street designs are shaped BY young people, not simply FOR them.
Viability and Scalability: How are you setting your initiative up for success, and what is your plan to ensure operational sustainability of your solution and its impact? What are your ideas for scaling your initiative to the next level?
WWCT will manage the project, drawing on in‑house experts who are already working on live wider improvements in Islington. This gives us a defined programme, builds on strong relationships with Council officers, and ensures the project is embedded within a real public‑realm transformation, not a standalone exercise. BuildUp will bring delivery expertise in youth‑led design and construction, focused on movement and play. This collaboration will ensure all phases are genuinely youth‑driven, safe and fully risk-assessed, and create a delivery framework replicable in future projects. Islington will provide long-term maintenance, ensuring sustainability. WWCT’s existing partnership with CoLAI in design and careers support provides a reliable foundation to leverage the project in the future. Scaling requires navigating complexities of highway delivery and shifting perceptions of youth involvement. By working directly with Islington and contractors, we aim to build confidence in the process and show that youth‑led design can be delivered safely to a high standard. This pilot is a proof‑of‑concept, reducing perceived risk, demonstrating that involving young people is not tokenistic but improves outcomes. Our ambition is to use the learning from this project to raise Islington’s expectations for youth‑led design and encourage more movement‑focused interventions in the public realm. This will create a model adoptable by all Boroughs. Through roundtable discussions with local authorities and young people, robust evaluation interviews, and a practical publication, WWCT and Build Up will embed insights from this pilot into their wider work, strengthening tools, processes and evidence to support local authorities in delivering innovative, youth‑led public‑realm projects at scale.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
Our project will be delivered with the collaboration of four key partners: BuildUp Foundation, the City of London Academy in Islington, Islington Council, and Walk Wheel Cycle Trust. 1. Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (WWCT) will manage the overall project, holding responsibility and risk for delivery, overseeing the programme and the delivery of all workshops, build, and activation events with partners. WWCT currently holds all the individual relationships with other partners and will act as the liaison and coordinator. WWCT staff will include engineers and urban designers, project managers and engagement specialists. WWCT designers and engineers are already working closely with Islington Council on the wider St Peter’s Area improvements and are very familiar with internal processes to deliver work on the public highway with Islington. This in-depth knowledge and experience of the area and live project ensures that our project with the young people is smoothly embedded, maximising impact. The collaborative design process will be designed in partnership with BuildUp to ensure a smooth transition into the collaborative build phase and ensure young people are centred in the process. WWCT and BuildUp will also oversee the learnings and dissemination of the project experience with all other partners, ensuring visibility and replicability in the future, particularly with other organisations. 2. BuildUp is the main delivery partner, with a team of youth coordinators, project managers and builders. They will oversee the co-design process and young people's involvement throughout, ensuring the project is truly youth-led rather than consultative. They will also design and deliver the build workshops with the pupils and will be responsible for managing construction, installation and risk in the public highway based on extensive experience. 3. Islington Council is the key decision maker and landowner, with responsibility over the public highway and the overall St. Peter’s area improvements and transformation. The team includes the St. Peter’s project managers in the transport and healthy spaces team, as well as their highways engineers and maintenance teams, drawing on expertise from heritage, public health and other council teams through the Peer Review Design Panel. Islington Council is on board with the Go London project, and will coordinate internal conversations within council teams, as well as provide the necessary permits to do work on the public highway, street closures for activation events, and liaison with their appointed term contractor to facilitate the Build sessions with BuildUp and the pupils. 4. The City of London Academy in Islington (CoLAI) is a key stakeholder invested in shaping the local area and public realm around their school. They will take charge of the coordination and participation of young people, mainly from the school, including providing the necessary supervision with teachers. WWCT, CoLAI, and Islington engineers have successfully delivered a workshop and creative walking tour with pupils in the past, providing a good basis for further collaboration. The school is already on board with the project and potential workshops and build sessions taking place, providing a unique opportunity to pupils. CoLAI will provide facilitation of all workshops within the school, as well as outreach to the school community (e.g. parents, teachers) on the programme and particular events, such as the final activation event/movement festival. The four partners are integral in the successful delivery of the project, and early conversations have already taken place to ensure buy-in and alignment from all groups, including flagging early constraints and risks if we were successful.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/to grow.
The milestones and stages we envision for the project to take place are as follows, along with indicative timescales: 1- Project & engagement planning (September 26) Intended outcome: Bringing all partners together to agree on approach, constraints and considerations, timescales, expectations etc, as well as set the tone for the engagement events. 2- Early collaborative design workshop with young people (October 26) Intended outcome: Early engagement of young people around movement, play, understanding restrictions and creating space for reimagining the street environment. Focus on core themes of sport, and perceptions of movement and play. 3- Collaborative design workshops with young people (Nov-Dec 26) Intended outcome: Focused workshops thinking about the design of specific features, what these features are and where they will be located, children’s vision for increasing play and movement on the street through design. 4- Youth panel to council officers (Nov-Dec 26) Intended Outcome: Young people presenting their ideas and plans to the council officers and having a chance to be heard and discuss the importance of play and movement in the public realm. 5- Design Refinement (Jan-Feb 27) Intended Outcome: Refining students’ designs into buildable working designs. 6- Build preparation workshop with young people (April 27) Intended Outcome: With the pupils, planning out together how the build will take place, allowing pupils to participate in the construction planning. 7- Build delivery (May 27) Intended Outcome: A series of hands-on building workshops centring young people in the delivery of their ideas and designs. Approximately 8 workshops over two weeks. 8- Activation codesign with young people (June 27) Intended Outcome: Workshop with young people to shape the celebration event and decide what kinds of movement-focused activities they want to run/have 9- Activation event delivery (July 27) Intended Outcome: Delivery of a celebratory event at the space focused on involving the wider community and giving young people the opportunity to be recognised as active designers of their surroundings. Also, an opportunity to evaluate the project. 10- Learnings + practical visual publication (September 27) Intended Outcome: Consolidate all experience and learnings from project implementation through discussions and conversations, including with the youth steering board. Create a small practical guide for other stakeholders and local authorities interested in implementing similar projects to provide reassurance and consideration of risks and learnings.
