London's Gen Alpha views both 'uplifting and sad'

With their formative years defined by Covid-19, social media and technology, London’s Generation Alpha is made up of young people acutely aware of both local and national issues.

Those were the findings of the London Museum's My London Story project, which is its first ever "wide-scale collecting programme" with those born after 2010.

"The findings are both uplifting and sad in equal measure," said Finbarr Whooley, director of content at the museum.

"While it's great to see children's positivity about the city in which they live, it's troubling to realise that they are also carrying the weight of worries and fears present in our city and wider society today."

The London Museum's findings indicate the children’s strong awareness of both local and national issues, including the UK’s cost of living crisis, local environmental priorities like the Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion, and serious concerns like knife crime.

It is also evident that global conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, migration debates, and the rapid rise of AI are shaping how these young Londoners perceive their future.

Of the 1,000 young people in the capital polled:

• 38% viewed London as a great place to live, citing its landmarks and fun activities and cultural diversity
• 17% perceived London negatively, with crime, pollution and the high cost of living as three key concerns
• 45% held a balanced view, acknowledging both the positive and negative aspects of London life
• 56% identify as Londoners, but a significant portion (41%) do not

Laurel Park school in Enfield, north London, was one of the schools that took part.

"I couldn't imagine living anywhere else," said Harriett, who is in Year 9 and wants to have a career as a musician. "There are so many cultures, so many languages spoken - it's such a beautiful place, I love it."

Dleen, who would like to become a surgeon, agrees. "I've lived here all my life. It's a really lovely place to be."

Children ranked personal attributes such as hobbies and personality traits as holding greater significance to their self-expression than their geographical location, with religious and cultural identities also being important to many.

"Me personally I feel like I'm not a Londoner, even though I've lived here for most of my life," said Dominik, aged 14. "I'd rather be associated with my home country not London."

But he acknowledged it was possible to keep his birth identity and be a Londoner at the same time.

"I guess I'm a Hungarian Londoner, because I know more things about London than my home country."

When asked about London’s future, almost a third of children were excited to see new technology, while others wanted a more eco-friendly and less polluted city (23%), and better transport (19%).

But their key concerns included worries about the rising prospect of war (66%), greater cost of living (53%), rising crime rates (51%), and pollution and climate change (43%).

"Pollution is definitely one of the most harmful things in London right now, " said Kadir, "but if we focus on it we could stop it."

Haoxuan agreed. "It's pollution and wars. There are a lot of wars going on right now that might affect London," he said. "I hear about wars from my friends and talk about stuff that is going on in the world right now."

Kadir reflected on his education over the past few years. "Education-wise for me, because of the pandemic I missed year 4 and 5 and there wasn't really much to go back on when we were back to year 6."

Asked if he believed his education was still affected by lockdown, he replied: "I'd say so, my geography would be a lot better."

Headteacher at Laurel Park School, Adele Christofi, said the two major challenges over the past few years for young people had been Covid and social media.

"When children came back to school after Covid they found that incredibly hard.

"We have been re-educating our young people as to how to interact with each other and how to develop their self esteem and confidence. There was a sense of feeling lost. "

She added: "Today there's so much reliance on social media it has almost become an addiction - they feel like they almost can't survive without their mobile phone and what that's done is impact how children communicate.

"It's full of fake imagery and fake expectations of what things should look like and be like, and that is really affecting children's self esteem."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]