Rage Against the Pristine Part 1 Project 2024 Roisin McMillan University of Cambridge | UK Rage Against the Pristine is a strategic proposal which recentres young people in rurality. This is a youth centre in the form of a microcosmic village, surrounded by a rewilding scheme, responding to the needs of local young people now and in the future. It offers a space to be appropriated, played with and which, gives license to East Cambridgeshire’s teenagers to explore their interests and sense of identity.Bottisham holds a unique opportunity to access rural young people, a vulnerable group, because of the historic Village College, which acts as an East Cambridgeshire social condenser. The opportunity could not be overlooked. There are two subjects to this project: youth and rurality. Both concepts are burdened with nostalgic idealisation. Their intersection is complex; young people can be viewed and experienced as chaotic elements which threaten the romanticised quietude and valued traditions of the village. The only way to successfully centre youth is to challenge this ideal, embrace the energy, lean into their liveliness. The metrics shift. Young people participate in civic society by subverting it, challenging it, reappropriating it. Their youth centre must be amenable to that challenge, must be flexible, engaging, and fun. Tutor(s)