Future Island-Island Impact Cards: Imaginarium Youth Engagement

Challenge
Young people today face many global environmental crises, but their
experiences vary widely based on context. Young people in contexts of
‘islandness’ feel both more removed from and more connected to these
challenges, shaped by their unique relationship with nature, isolation, and
dependence on local ecosystems.

Approach
To explore sustainability challenges and solutions in this context, the
programme involves young people experiencing different forms of
geographical ‘islandness’. Place-based educational approaches not only
deepen learning by connecting it to lived experience but also help shape
meaningful pathways toward a more sustainable and locally grounded future.

Outcomes
Developed through transdisciplinary collaboration with Youth Leaders in
the Causeway Coast and Glens area, the programme supported four Youth
Groups and six school classes in exploring local impacts of global challenges.
They developed hopeful perspectives and designed potential responses,
culminating in an interactive digital exhibition at Belfast’s W5 museum.

Learnings
A diverse, transdisciplinary team of researchers, designers, educators and
young people enabled the creation of a rich, multifaceted programme. Design
thinking proved extremely valuable for educators, fostering creativity and
helping young people develop hopeful, practical approaches to sustainability.

Impact
Over 200 young people in remote areas of Northern Ireland participated
in reflecting and responding to sustainability issues. Youth leaders gained
skills in creative design thinking, and participants developed meaningful,
community-rooted responses. The Imaginarium brings all of these
components together and further elevates hopeful imaginings of a future
shaped by islandness.