The Routledge Handbook of Designing Public Spaces for Young People Processes, Practices and Policies for Youth Inclusion

The Routledge Handbook of Designing Public Spaces for Young People is a thorough and practical resource for all who wish to influence policy and design decisions in order to increase young people?s access to and use of public spaces, as well as their role in design and decision-making processes.

The ability of youth to freely enjoy public spaces, and to develop a sense of belonging and attachment to these environments, is critical for their physical, social, cognitive, and emotional development. Young people represent a vital citizen group with legitimate rights to occupy and shape their public environments, yet they are often driven out of public places by adult users, restrictive bylaws, or hostile designs. It is also important that children and youth have the opportunity to genuinely participate in the planning of public spaces, and to have their needs considered in the design of the public realm.

This book provides both evidence and tools to help effectively advocate for more youth-inclusive public environments, as well as integrate youth directly into both research and design processes related to the public realm. It is essential reading for researchers, design and planning professionals, community leaders, and youth advocates.

SECTION 1 Introduction — WHY we need to include youth in the creation and use of outdoor public environments.

Chapter 1 A Fundamental Need: Linking youth development to the public realm

Chapter 2 Freedom to Flourish: Why independent mobility and access to the public realm is important for youth development

Chapter 3 Risky Play: Why children love it and need it

Chapter 4 Why Is It Important to Provide Child- and Youth- Friendly Streets?

Chapter 5 Experiential accessibly: A therapeutic approach to the design of the public realm

Chapter 6Engaging Racially and Ethnically Marginalized Youth as Stakeholders of Outdoor Public Environments

Chapter 7Youth-built Places: Engaging youth in the construction of public places

SECTION 2 Introduction — HOW can we create inclusive, youth-friendly outdoor public environments?

Chapter 8 Welcoming Young People in Urban Placemaking: Learning from challenges

Chapter 9Turning Young People’s Ideas into Action: Learning from long-term partnerships for child and youth participation

Chapter 10 The Power of Process: Shaping our public domains with young people

Chapter 11 ‘Green Direction’: Illustrating a framework for integrating youth into the design and building of public spaces

Chapter 12 Philadelphia Youth Call for Equitable Development

Chapter 13Through Engagement to Design: Working with children, young people and communities to improve green spaces in social housing areas

Chapter 14Fluid Methodology: Investigating a re-imagination of youth friendly public places in the era of rapidly changing technology

Chapter 15How to Use Big Data for Youth Inclusion: Lessons and insights from video-based social media research on adolescent free play in cities

Chapter 16 ‘Insideness’ as the Lens for Understanding Pre-teens’ Relationship with Place

Chapter 17How to Integrate Photovoice and Multiple Participatory Methods: Lessons Learned from Collaborating with Tribal Youth in India to Explore their Surrounding Environment

Chapter 18The Mission: Engaging Aboriginal Australian children in the redesign of community public spaces

Chapter 19 Behavior Mapping to Support the Development of Youth-Friendly Public Places

SECTION 3 Introduction — Youth Inclusion in Practice

Chapter 20‘Shaking the Movers’: A rights-respecting youth participation model

Chapter 21 The Great Outdoors Colorado Inspire Initiative – Garfield County, CO

Chapter 22Friendly for Play?: Engaging young people in examining their neighborhood play environments

Chapter 23 The Rocky Hill Trail: A path of transformation

Chapter 24 In from the Margins: Engaging Latinx youth in Chicago’s Little Village

Chapter 25From Noisy Coexistence to Inclusion-through-Resistance: (Re)placing youth at London's 'Southbank' skate spot

Chapter 26 Parisite, New Orleans: Some place to play

Chapter 27 Living with Nature, Sheffield, England

Chapter 28 Play Streets to Play Quarters

Chapter 29 Youth Planning + Designing for Play: ‘The Hangout’

Chapter 30 The Manzanita Gathering Place: Engaging marginalized youth in creative place making

Chapter 31Mindful Mapping: An integrated approach to helping youth navigate neighborhood change

Janet Loebach is an environmental design researcher and consultant hailing from Ontario, Canada. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis (http://dea.human.cornell.edu/) at Cornell University. She received a Master of Environmental Design from the School of Architecture and Planning at Dalhousie University, and a PhD in Children’s, Urban, and Health Geographies from the Department of Geography at Western University. She is a registered Professional Civil Engineer (Ontario) and the Principal Consultant for Thrive Design Consulting. Her research and practice focuses on children’s perception and use of their everyday environments, and the socio-environmental factors which influence children’s behavior and well-being. Other areas of expertise include assessment and design of natural and built play and learning environments for children. She also has extensive experience with participatory, child-led and community-based design and planning processes. She currently serves as Vice President of the International Play Association (Canada) and as Co-Chair of the Children, Youth & Environments Network of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA).

Sarah Little is a registered landscape architect and an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. She holds an MLA and a PhD in Design, both from North Carolina State University. Her professional practice primarily consisted of high-end residential landscapes; children’s environments at museums, nature centers, parks, and schools; and park master plans with an emphasis on community participation and environmental justice. After almost 12 years of practicing as a landscape architect, she decided to shift her focus toward research and pursue a PhD. As a researcher, she works to understand the influence of the physical environment on human behavior and development. Her current research interests involve chil