Supporting young people to take part in conversations about landscape change
Decisions about land use shape nature, livelihoods, and everyday life — yet the communities who will live and work on the land can sometimes be left out of the conversation. Future Fens was created to give young people space to explore how landscape priorities are set, and to practise weighing evidence and perspectives when imagining the future.
Developed by the Centre for Landscape Regeneration (CLR) in collaboration with Cambridge Science Centre, the workshop engaged Upper Key Stage 2 pupils through discussion, hands-on evidence, and a simplified land-use model focused on the Fens.
By the end of the session, students had:
- explored how the Fens has changed over time
- worked with real-world style evidence drawn from research and consultation
- built and justified their own land-use plans
- identified trade-offs, uncertainties, and missing voices in decision-making
The outcome was not a single “best” plan, but a shared understanding that landscape decisions involve balancing competing priorities. Future Fens helped young people see that their questions, values, and reasoning are part of how conversations about land, regeneration, and the future can happen.