Building Inclusive Urban Spaces: Engaging Youth in the Planning Process

The gentrification conversation has dotted my career as an urbanist. What are the benefits? What are the downsides? Who wins and who loses? Yet, an honest conversation with a group of teenagers in South London has opened my eyes to a new, and potentially more challenging dilemma. The ‘agefication’ of our cities!

The context is Camberwell and Peckham Rye in London where our team have recently carried out a foodscapes survey, to better understand the link between the urban environment and young people’s food choices. There, amongst a twenty strong group of South London’s energetic youth, I gained a crash course in the ‘agefication’ of an urban neighborhood. At strategically selected locations within the two wards; in front of the McDonald’s, next to the train station, close to fresh food stands, we stopped and talked about the places where we stood. Marcus, a community researcher from our partners TSIP asked questions about the teenager’s perception of the space, its qualities and what food choices they usually make.

Youth perspectives on gentrification: where age becomes the real barrier

It was evident that as we walked the contrasting South London streets, my out-of-town, white, ‘expert’ biases became more and more challenged. We turned off Rye Lane to witness an immediate visual and cultural difference with Bellenden Road. Located just 300 yards and in stark contrast to the low-cost chicken shops, butchers, and hollering fish mongers of Rye Lane, Bellenden offers a more expensive and exclusive culinary offering. The ethnicity of patrons on Bellenden was also clearly different, switching from predominantly black people on Rye Lane to predominantly white people on Bellenden.

Marcus asked a leading question, “Do you guys know what gentrification means? It’s when people from outside of your neighborhood buy-up shops and homes and start to change the look and feeling of the place. You can see that’s what has…is happening here. What do you all think about that?”

“Oh yeah, that’s not good,” said Alex hesitantly. A few more kids nodded and then came a brave voice… “I actually think it’s nice’ said Zihoa, a 15-year-old girl. “It’s clean and nice and looks comfortable.” “Yeah that’s true!” piped up another kid. “It’s quiet and looks like people care about the place,” said a third. More and more of them eagerly agreed, empowered by the honesty of Zihoa. They continued to point out what they liked about this rapidly gentrifying street — outdoor seating, art on the walls of the bar, pretty vegetation and nice signage. Despite enjoying what they see, most of them said they had never walked here before.

Aha, I thought! I know what was happening and intervened. “But what do you all think about the people here being mostly white? Does that change how you all feel going here?” The kids looked at me, slightly annoyed by my question. “This place is nice, I’d go here, but that is a bar, that is a bar, and that is a bar. I can’t get into those places because I’m not old enough!”

“Yeah there aren’t any places here for kids like us.” said another. “The only places we can go into are on Rye Lane, like McDonald’s, McNeils, and other cheap restaurants…”And there it was, a clear portrayal that the primary challenge that to these kids faced was not based on typical gentrification characteristics — be it socio-economic status, ethnicity or locals vs newcomers… but it was all about their age.

The public life offer of this street was immediately blocked by direct and indirect age requirements.

As we continued, it quickly became apparent that many places were age limited, almost completely off-limits to kids under 18. We found that it isn’t only the fact that most places were bars, but that neighboring restaurants, cafes and retail were clearly targeting an older clientele. For these kids, their age dictated their access to this area as much as their socio-ethnic background. I was stunned.

The forgotten demographic: how cities are forgetting to create public spaces for the youth

As an urban planner working all over the world, I have long been aware of, and addressed gentrification along socio-economic lines, but now I was confronted with a sharp dose of ‘agefication.’

We have seen that cities around the world have done an admiral job investing in playgrounds for small children, and infrastructure and support services for the elderly. From Berlin to New York to Denver I’ve enjoyed several of these playgrounds with my own children (ages 6 and 9). Whilst nicely designed water parks and exciting jungle gyms conveniently placed next to great cafes might attract some families to raise their children in urban areas, the number of places for tweens and teens has decreased dramatically. We see this, especially in the UK. The number of youth services and programs in London alone has decreased, with at least £39m cut from council youth services over the last seven years and 81 youth clubs and projects closed since 2011. The consequences of these measures mean teenagers have less and less options within the public realm, effectively creating no go areas on their doorsteps. A lack of invitations, and restrictions based on their age (both real and perceived) limit teenagers’ activity, embedding typical routines, choices and behaviors that in turn exacerbate the perception of different areas.

In my realization of the impact of age limitations, I do not underplay the associated risks of gentrification nor of issues of ethnicity, financial inequality or class disparities when it comes to urban inclusion and exclusion. I did, however, find something refreshingly optimistic in my conversation with the youth who joined our project. These kids didn’t feel excluded based on the color of their skin or that they live on a certain council estate, or not. They are perhaps, also too young to feel gentrification’s consequences on rising rents and fast changing neighbors that their parents may experience. Regardless of everything that differentiates people and places, this group of young people expressed a simple desire to sit at a well-designed place with a fresh view of the rail yard or enjoy sitting on nice public seating on a quiet street during a pleasant summer evening. And despite currently being excluded from some of the areas that have those invitations, they felt they belong there, but just not until they grow a little older.

Recognizing the impact of real and perceived age limitations

So how do we address this in our work as planners and urban strategists?. Primarily, it is about awareness and continued conversations. At Gehl, we are integrating in-depth interviews with 12-18-year olds in more of our projects in Copenhagen and elsewhere. We are learning new things from these conversations and developing more relevant tools to effectively engage this demographic and learn how to facilitate a better public life for them. It is a small, targeted first step, as it is impossible to learn and act, if we don’t dare to engage and care enough to ask questions about how this age group really experience their urban environments.

Thanks to the young people in London and with the help of Marcus, I feel like I have a new perspective. A new type of empathy and compassion for a situation that every single one of us can relate to — since we have all been kids. We’ve all been bored teenagers with nowhere to go. Now it is our job, as urbanists, city leaders, and citizens to make sure that the public life offer invites for a diversity of people — of all ages.