The RIBA recently hosted the Festival of the Future, a two-day event designed to inspire the next generation of city-makers through a creative and engaging programme for all backgrounds and ages. Conceived and organised by engagement-led practice Beyond the Box and RIBA Learning, the festival, which took place on 14-15 March, brought more than 20 practices and organisations together to offer workshops, talks, mentoring and networking opportunities with the aim of creating a more accessible and participatory built environment. I visited on the first day of the festival to find out what was on offer. Stepping inside, the first sign that something had softened among the staid walls of 66 Portland Place was a white and neon-green sculpture dancing (and expanding) across the central atrium. This suspended sculpture, authored by 70 primary school pupils each making a single card model, and facilitated by London-based practice MATT+FIONA, was a demonstration of the breadth of audience the festival organisers planned to reach: from toddlers to school-leavers and early-career practitioners.Advertisement Over the two days, a melange of events (and ages) coexisted between the RIBA’s many halls and rooms. From the hands-on, with education provider Archimake joyfully leading groups of children through tunnels of cane and fabric; to skills training, with sixth form students learning AI essentials from architecture traineeship provider Build the Way.  Elsewhere, workshops conducted by some of Britain’s leading practices, including Heatherwick Studio, Woods Bagot and Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, were taking place, with the latter asking participants to design the play spaces of the future. At the more practical end of the spectrum, sessions were on offer geared toward future education and career pathways, mentorship and funding opportunities. London South Bank and Ravensbourne universities had both set out their stalls, with the latter inviting a diverse set of alumni to speak to groups of young people about their own career journeys, from the ins and outs of lighting design to environmental consulting. RIBA Learning was also on hand, promoting its vital summer work experience programme. Far from being a careers fair, it was heartening to see the sense of ownership young people had for the festival  As well as showcasing traditional and non-traditional routes in architecture, another focus for the festival organiser, Beyond the Box founding director Neil Onions, was in empowering attendees to see themselves as actors and change-makers within their neighbourhoods. He says: ‘We need to ensure that those present at co-design tables and community engagement workshops reflect the communities who will live, work and play in these spaces. We need to ensure those designing spaces take into account the lives and experiences of their users.’ Speaking to that core issue of lived experience, the upper floors of Portland Place hosted a number of sessions exploring how young people perceive London, with the GLA and Mayor’s Design Advocates hosting an important session with both female-only and mixed gender groups on designing the city for women and girls.Advertisement Another session hosted by the RIBA outlined the sadly limited grant and bursary opportunities for architectural studies, inadvertently highlighting perhaps the most pressing barrier to diversifying the industry: the cost (and debt) of studying architecture. I can’t help but feel this remains the single biggest challenge young people face in joining and contributing to the profession.   Following the days’ activities, evenings at the festival featured panel talks with guests speaking from a range of career avenues: from architectural filmmaker and photographer Dion Barrett and Office Sian practice director Gurmeet Sian, to writer and academic Shumi Bose and sustainable design consultant Aretha Ahunanya. The effect was to show a career in architecture as part of an expanded field which includes not just practice, but academia, storytelling and communication, and technical specialism. Far from being a careers fair, what was heartening to see at the Festival of the Future was the sense of ownership young people had for the festival – which was as much run by young people as for them. This was in no small part due to the efforts of Neil Onions’ Beyond the Box, with a gaggle of young stewards and facilitators from the practice ushering people into events, interviewing attendees and documenting the festival through film.  With more than 2,000 visitors from around the country joining across the two days, the immediate impact of the festival is clear. What will hopefully become clearer in the coming months is whether the Festival of the Future will return or evolve into a broader platform for continued conversations and actions around a more representative and equitable built environment. Krish Nathaniel is a designer, writer and researcher 2025-04-30 Simon Aldous comment and share