In any long-term interaction, relationships are important for success. This is true of same-age relationships, as well as those where there is an age disparity such as adults and children. Relationships need to be built for successful co-design: not only between adults and children, but also between the adults and the team and the children on the team.
- From the initial interaction, adult designers should endeavor to nurture relationships with child designers so the child designers know that they are safe and cared for, but also that within design, adults and children are equal. Adults should begin to immediately listen to children and try to think of them as teammates rather than students to be taught. Suggestions for supporting this can be found on the Informal Interactions page.
- Building relationships takes time. In intergenerational co-design, we are asking children and adults to create relationships that are fairly different from others they may have experienced. Children may not immediately trust that adults are going to listen to their design ideas, and adults may not be initially comfortable with the shift to consider children as equal teammates. Allowing all team members, adults and children alike, to have time to grow into and trust these relationships, is paramount.
- We have found that as much as possible, having children who do not know each other outside of the co-design team is ideal. This allows for relationships to be built based only on the co-design sessions, and not to have outside social relationships from school or other settings impact these relationships. While some teams have found success with siblings on a design team, this can amplify the effect of previous relationships entering the team, and designers should significantly consider if they want to accept siblings simultaneously on a team.
- When possible, invite adults and children to return to the design team year after year. If turnover on the team can be reduced to a small percentage of the team each year, there will already be pre-established relationships that can serve as models for new team members. When new members can see examples of the relationships that already exist, they may be able to more quickly trust that these are possible and be more quickly open to forming them.
