Engaging Youth in Climate Resilience Planning with Social Media: Lessons from #OurChangingClimate

Abstract

In light of the socio-ecological complexities associated with climate vulnerability, planning for community resilience will require participatory techniques to engage those most vulnerable. In particular, youth set to inherit the predicted impacts of climate change must be engaged with the processes that determine the future of their built environments. Drawing from existing literature on youth-based participatory planning and climate engagement, this paper presents an alternative process for engaging youth in climate resilience planning by employing digital technology as a tool for youth-based evaluations of existing built environments. Using the pilot project #OurChangingClimate as a case study, the authors propose a new model for engaging youth with an understanding of their communities and their resilience or vulnerability to climate change. The article details the use of social media and digital narratives as tools for participatory resilience planning and presents some of the preliminary content generated in four pilot youth workshops held from 2015–2017. Lastly, implications of youth-generated content on climate resilience planning are discussed.

Keywords

• climate resilience planning
• digital narratives
• participatory design
• social media
• youth engagement