Vital Cities, Vital Childhoods: Intergenerational relationships and shared spaces

Professor Pia Christensen

University of Leeds

Outline

•Focus on the neighbourhoods and communities where children, young people and their families.

•Community vitality

•Access and Equity to service provision, community spaces and decision-making

•Vitality and liveliness of children and young people and contribution as residents to community building

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Community vitality –’measures the strength, activity and inclusiveness of

relationships between residents, private sector, public sector and civil society

organisations that fosters individual and collective wellbeing’

Community Vitality,

Liveability and Well-being

Participation,Inclusion and Stewardship in community matters

- % reporting participation in organised activities

- % with 6 or more close friends

- Property crime rate per 100,000 population

- Violent crime rate per 100,000 population

- % who feel safe walking alone after dark

- % who feel that most or many people can be trusted

- % who provide unpaid help to others on their own

- % reporting very or somewhat strong sense of belonging to community

Community Vitality – Index of Wellbeing

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Internationally well established practice:

• Service provision through involving families in participatory practices and processes

• Hearing the voices of all groups and parties

•Parents and Children not the same

• Still lacking is the participation of children and young people in service and community processes

Pia Christensen 2014

Inclusive vitalities?

• Vitality often linked to particular notions of children and young people’s inclusion and participation

• What might be learnt from children and young people’s own lives and liveliness in urban spaces?

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Successful (life) pathways (Weisner 2005)

’engagement of youth in everyday

activities that are viewed as

desirable by themselves and their

communities’

Studying the Everyday: the daydreaming paper boy

• Peter is 13 years-old. He lives in a small community in the North of England. He has a daily paper round after school for the local newspaper shop.

• Peter takes a lot of time on his paper round.

• Parents perspective: he is a bit of a daydreamer!

• Peter says: ‘But, I need to make sure that people are alright and that!’

• Shopkeeper: ‘A kind and likeable young lad!’ Customers very pleased with the delivery – ‘but he does take a long time’ on his rounds.

• Then Peter leaves the village to go to college!

• Customers pay visits to Peter’s parents to say how ‘greatly missed he is’. Running little errands - getting milk or bread on the way to someone, who finds it difficult to shop; chats with someone, who is living on their own; drinks cups of coffee with plenty of milk, whilst listening to families telling about everyday happenings and events.

What Peter’s mum told me:

• Important for the village – part of building what some would call ‘community spirit’

• as an example of what young people bring to the community -change!!

• A community with greater openness (friendliness, exchange of help and support to others -including newcomers to the village)

Pia Christensen 2014

‘New Urbanisms, New Citizens’ ESRC Research Project

UK Sustainability Community - Growth Plan policies: broad local participation, inclusion and encouraging stewardship in all community matters

• Local politics of inclusion/exclusion: access and equity

• Participatory Spaces: Community facilities and public space

• Decision-making (residents associations (local voluntary organizations), Parish councils, town/city and county councils (local government)

• What next?

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

• Within the communities children were intensely mobile

•Importance of walking, walking…

•Moved on and moving on

‘[I’ve] been to, I think, every area because, don't

know, I just walk round a lot ... yeah, I just walk

round and look round ... I just usually walk, walk in

there and just not really doing stuff there, just walk

round’ (Harry, 11)

Anne-Marie, 11

MOBILITY AND Extensive local knowledge

• Social and physical environment

• Local issues and debates

• Production of knowledge through family, kin, friendships, peers, shopkeepers …..

• Bodily experiences and sensory engagement with and observation of their environment

‘from my back garden ... from the courtyard we ran

down here, we cut through like two courtyards ... and

then we turn left and go down and the court and then

the park’s there’ (Simon, 10)

TAPPING INTO CHILDREN’S LOCAL KNOWLEDGE CAPITAL

‘I think we already have a church community, [pause] it's just, it would be nice if they had their own

building’

‘I fear it's getting a bit more sort of urbanised as it goes along’ (Phillip, 14)

‘Yeah, yeah, but the, the only thing that is hard is because they haven't, because the Council have to

re-lay the roads, that's why the kerbs are so high’

‘Well they were thinking of making, there was talk in like the big board of people at (the community)

that there's going to like be a pub or something but then it fell through’ (Emma, 13)

Opening up spaces and places

‘I was with my two friends there, we were

playing at the park … we needed the loo …

this one person [in the community centre] just

asked, who, where are your parents? … [they

said] oh go quickly you’re not welcome in

here ... but it’s just, it’s a sort of community

place’ (Jane, 10)

‘as soon as they see you walk in [to the

centre]…,if they don't see you walk in then

you're fine, … they will go and tell this

woman, like, I think it's the manager or

something’’ (Ellie, 14)

Exclusion from community spaces – a ‘community’ centre

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Centre employee:

‘we had a traffic light system

at one stage … they’d give

you a yellow, which is a first

warning then … [if ] you got a

red … you were asked to

leave’

… behind railings

Vital decision making – new communities

‘… if they listen it’ll be better, because not all their ideas work

but ours might...’ (Alice, 12)

‘… Yeah, we, like we might, we could like we both could

have ideas and we merge them together and then like it’d

be a better idea than two different ones.’ (Harriet, 12)

‘We’ve got fresh ideas waiting to come out’ (Ameera, 10 )

‘… so if the two groups sat down and combined the ideas

together we could actually have a positive outcome and

something that, not exactly what both groups want but it’d

be a combination of the two.’ (Izzy, 14)

‘… there’s a lot of children in the village, so it’s sort of like well

we should get our say because, because it’s where we live

(Sarah, 9)

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POLITICS OF EXCLUSION

LOCAL DEBATES AND DECISION MAKING

• Age based exclusion

‘But, but because like people are older than us and they don’t really think that we’ve gotthat many ideas so they just leave us out’ (Jim, 10)

‘… like Matilda, I’m big, you’re small, I’m right, you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you cando about it ...’ (Robert, 12)

‘I think adults presume that they know what kids want … and to be honest when theyactually don't (Imogen, 14)‘Haven't got a clue (Izzy, 14)

Have you been asked about local issues by an adult?

• Consultation and decision-making

• Playground consultation• Local primary school (exclusion of young people)

• Ambivalent about the consultation

PARTICIPATION OF CHILDRENAND YOUNG PEOPLE

‘we asked for this park at school and it looked like a dream park, like wicked. And then basically all

they've done is, there was a park at the top of the village and it was tiny, it was for ‘babies’ and then

all they did was basically moved that stuff and put about two more things in it … and it was nothing

like the design. ’Alice (aged 10)

‘We voted for it but we voted for, for the bigger one, well we didn't know that it would be so small

and no slides or proper swings’ (Rory, 11)

INT: Okay, so it wasn't exactly what you wanted?

RES: No, no, no (Imogen, aged 10)

CHILDREN DIDN’T GET WHAT

THEY VOTED FOR

LOCALISED POWER / RULE

• Holding the power and making decisions

• Power, ownership and community

• Implications for young people

‘they’re not getting involved at all because they look at it as, well we’re probably going to move on … they don’tlook at it as their community, that’s Mum and Dad’s community, it’s not their community, they’ll move’ (Youthleader)

‘It’s actually the fifty plus generation that actually have got, hold the power, the decision making power’ (Localresident and committee member)

‘we did a lot of work on their behalf and they couldn’t even be bothered to turn up … as a result of which thefollowing year we said well we’re not going to give out money to the youth’ (Local resident and committeemember)

INITIATING THE DIALOGUE – RESTORATIVE PRACTICES

‘‘I hope in the future that the issues discussed in the

workshop will be resolved and that from it the youth of the

village will develop a good relationship with the ruling

adults ... maybe even if we’re lucky we’ll get a bit of a

bigger budget and therefore more money towards the

youth. It may one day happen’ (Male, 14).

‘I hope that our ideas are taken into account and are

maybe even considered. I wish for an improved and

successful community’

(Female, 11).

We sometimes talk about disengaged youth??

• Children and young people themselves highlight their lack of status within the community and in local politics.

• Their knowledge is often under-used and under-valued – through exclusions regarding access and equity.

• Communities need to capitalise on the use of ‘community spaces’ (e.g. community centres) as inter-generational spaces; children and young people’s access is vital in the processes of community engagement

• Focus on collaborative community processes rather than one-off events of consultations (ticking boxes!!)

How will real change happen? We suggest that it is through children and young people being seen as members of families and communities and given citizenship/resident status in both formal and everyday local politics.

CONCLUSION PARTICIPATORY SPACES AND FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

‘The New Urbanism, New Citizens’

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’SEVERYDAY LIFE AND PARTICIPATION IN

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES’ (ESRC)

Professor Pia Christensen (PI) Professor Peter Kraftl (CO-I)Dr John Horton (CO-I)Dr Sophie Hadfield-hill