Children's Lives in Changing Places (CHiLL)

Understanding the changing significance of local places in young people’s lives in the context of social change

Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, Children's Lives in Changing Places (CHiLL) is a participatory research project with young people aged 10-15 that seeks to understand the lives of children and young people growing up in less advantaged contexts to inform positive social change. The project is being undertaken as part of the Global Growing up in Cities project involving projects worldwide engaging young people in researching and improving their neighbourhood

The Open University in Woughton, Milton Keynes

We have been conducting research in Woughton, Milton Keynes. Dr Wendy Turner and Dr Debbie Humphry from the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) at The Open University, have been working closely with young people, community members and Woughton Community Council to understand young people’s experiences of their local neighbourhood, where and how they spend their free time and factors influencing that, how they value and use local spaces, their sense of place belonging, and the significance of local places (families, communities, local environment) in affecting young people’s wellbeing, life chances and their developing sense of active citizenship.

Young people from Woughton have worked as co-researchers, running workshops and conducting interviews themselves. The outcome is that they have developed a Wellbeing and Safety Pack (including all content and artwork), based on the research with the aim of making positive change.