Failure Place

Failure Place is an urban intervention designed by and for young people. It is a physical space and a curriculum, specifically created to build resilience. Through workshops facilitated by designers and place-makers, young people will design and create a vibrant space in Greensborough. Once built, Failure Place will be utilised by groups of young people who will follow a prescribed curriculum to resolve local issues – problems that are identified by local residents as needing improvement. At each phase, participants' ideas will be analysed and critiqued by experts – this will enhance learning, build resilience, and improve ideas and solutions.

Young people can build a sense of capability and confidence if they are able to recognise that failure fosters growth and resilience – when people are taught to identify, tolerate, and utilise their mistakes, they are enabled to develop coping skills and to improve their future outcomes.

Failure Place will increase resilience in young people by engaging them in a process of designing a space for their own use, thereby creating a sense of connection and belonging to their local community, and a program that exposes them to challenge, thereby producing emotion regulation and problem solving skills.