The inspiration for this project came from a visit where I wanted to ask the children and youth of Olsvik what they liked and disliked about their neighborhood. The approach differed between middle school students and third graders.

For the third graders, I split them into two groups. One group rotated, with three children at a time coming over to a large map I had created of the area. They pointed out places that had a positive or negative influence on them. While waiting for their turn, the children were tasked with designing their own container. Previously, some of the children had expressed a desire to make the area where the containers were located feel less "scary," and now they had the chance to contribute to that project. Although they were a bit too young to use spray paint themselves, they enthusiastically embraced the design challenge. Two of their designs were selected and transformed into the new look for the containers on their school grounds. This was a great exercise in participation, allowing even the youngest members of the community to see their ideas come to life and feel a sense of ownership and pride in their surroundings.

For the older students, they were given a character sheet for a fictional "Lars from Olsvik" who had experienced various scenarios. They could decide whether these experiences were positive or negative, and as expected, there was a lot of dark humor. However, this exercise provided valuable insights into the places they felt had room for improvement.

During a subsequent visit, I asked both young and old to design their "dream Olsvik," focusing on two areas that many of the children had pointed out on the map.

The preliminary outcome of this project was the visual transformation of the containers, but it went further. We held a neighborhood meeting where the children's ideas were discussed among a diverse group of community members: enthusiasts, teachers, parents, residents, youth, and municipal workers. These discussions are paving the way for the next project, which will be designed based on the children's ideas, further fostering community involvement and collaboration.