This contribution introduces the preliminary stage of an investigation conducted in Milan addressing youth participation and public space, part of a broader framework represented by the project MUSA (Multi-layered Urban Sustainability Action), a strategic intervention, financed by the PNRR, working on urban spaces, from a social and environmental point of view. Young participation and urban space is a key-duo in the contemporary urban geographies across Europe, where local administrations promote several actions aiming at creating a more sustainable urban landscape including marginalized actors. It is no coincidence that public space constitutes a thematic axe on which the theoretical reflection of ‘children’s geography’ has been based (Holloway, Valentine 2000). According to some scholars, public space constitutes a space of everyday life in which the actions, practices and narratives produced by young people are considered ‘political acts’ (Percy-Smith, 2010). Indeed, public space is, at list in principle, a space open to all, in which different groups relate to each other in order to affirm their political and cultural boundaries (Mitchell, 2003), a space at the same time imbued with geometries of power that can facilitate or delegitimize young people’s participation in public life (Staeheli, Thomson, 1997). This research, now in its first experimental phase, will run for two years, relying mainly on the use of participatory, visual and arts-informed methods. One of the first research steps was the creation of YOUth Forum, a participatory research group aimed at young people between the ages of 14 and 25, involved on a voluntary basis, and university students, doctoral students and scholars, that are investigate around the themes of youth participation and public space, adopting a cross-sectoral and cooperative approach. Specifically, this contribution intends to present a theoretical premise, the methods and results that emerged in the first phase.

Silvy Boccaletti, Stefano Malatesta
Università degli studi di Milano – Bicocca

 
ID Abstract: 237