Youth and their Multiple Relationships with the City: Experiences of Exclusion and Belonging in Montréal
Rethinking Young People’s Lives Through Space and Place
ISBN: 978-1-78973-340-2, eISBN: 978-1-78973-339-6
Publication date: 10 June 2020
Abstract
This chapter examines how young people relate to and engage with their city. Framed by a sociological approach to childhood, we assert that young people are competent social actors, living a complex relationship with their urban environment, while facing paternalism. The study draws on participatory activities including focus group discussions, neighbourhood walks, city mapping and song and video creation with 54 youth aged 9–17 years from six areas of Montréal (Canada). Our findings point to young people’s mixed experiences and views of Montréal. On the one hand, the city is experienced as unwelcoming, excluding, homogenising and stressful. Among recreational facilities, mental health services and venues to hang out, there is little that meets youth’s specific needs and aspirations. They also pointed out the inequalities across neighbourhoods, pressures to fit into uniformising models, the limitations of gender roles and a lack of support from adults. On the other hand, youth are responding to and shaping their environment by seeking belonging in the city. They question the inequalities and homogenising forces, seek meaning in places and community and value relationships and diversity. We contend that moving towards child–youth friendly cities calls for better listening to youth to enhance the type of opportunities that reflect their needs and aspirations, while providing for inclusive cities that feature alternative forms of citizenship, accessibility to local places, diversity and community.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
The research was funded by the Foundation of Greater Montréal. The authors are grateful to the Foundation and to the community groups who facilitated the participatory activities with their youth members. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of research assistants Salma El Hankouri and Ines de Parisot who were involved in the data collection and preliminary analysis.
Citation
Blanchet-Cohen, N., Torres, J. and Grégoire-Labrecque, G. (2020), "Youth and their Multiple Relationships with the City: Experiences of Exclusion and Belonging in Montréal", Sriskandarajah, A. and Bass, L.E. (Ed.) Rethinking Young People’s Lives Through Space and Place (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 26), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 85-103. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120200000026006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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