Young People

Maria Sibireva: ‘the city cannot exist without children’

Maria Sibireva, PhD in Sociology, posted her poster presentation on the LinkedIn discussion group. She was asked to write an article about her research into child playing areas in the city. Maria Sibireva: ‘the process of planning and designing the city must be based on the needs of people, especially of children. Normally only parents, psychologists, teachers and other adults are asked questions. Where is the voice of children in planning an designing a city?’

EC White Paper - A new impetus for European youth

The White Paper 'A new impetus for European youth' was published in 2001 order to promote new forms of European governance. Young people are the ones who will be most affected by modern trends such as economic- and demographic change, globalisation and cultural diversity the most. It was therefore believed that European policy-makers should facilitiate this process of change by making young people stakeholders in European societies.

European Youth Pact

Young people have a significant contribution to make to the Lisbon goals of boosting jobs and growth and to sustainable development, as they make up the future work force, and are the future source of much-needed research capabilities, innovation and entrepreneurship. These goals can only be achieved if young people are properly equipped with knowledge, skills and competences through high quality, relevant education and training. This cannot be ensured unless barriers such as growing up in poverty and social exclusion are removed.Gender equalities also need to be addressed, as young women experience higher unemployment and a higher risk of poverty than young men, while more young men leave school early. Against this background, and in line with the Commission’s Strategic Objectives for 2005-2009, the European Council concluded that young people should benefit from a set of policies and measures fully integrated in the revised Lisbon Strategy, and adopted the European Youth Pact.

Collaborative care provision

The aim of the project is to create the conditions in which young people can reach the most achievable and suitable educational qualifications and position in the labour market.

Back on stage 16/17 - Mobile Youth Work Austria

Mobile youth work is a social work strategy that reaches out to and supports young people who may be potentially at risk at an early stage, i.e. before actual damage occurs.

Mentoring Schiedam

Schiedam council hopes to improve the lot of young people of ethnic minority origins in Dutch society by working with them to improve their prospects. One of the ways of doing so is the mentoring project ‘Jongeren aan Zet’ (Young people’s move).

Neighbourhood tutors for youngsters - Lisbon, Portugal

Youth crime problems are being tackled with local ´neigbourhood tutors´ in Lisbon, Portugal.

Positive Inclusion Partnership - Glasgow, United Kingdom

A case study that describes the efforts Glasgow´s local authorities to promote inclusion and support for vulnerable pupils with behavioural problems.

Ruman Grandi: participation by Antillean juveniles - Rotterdam, Netherlands

The object of Ruman Grandi is to promote the participation of Antillean young people in Dutch society and to minimise the probability of social decline. This, it is hoped, will be achieved by strengthening certain areas of life such as work, income, schooling, housing, sport and recreation, and mental health.

Solidarcité - Brussels, Belgium

Solidarcité provides a 'social year' for young people between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five who suffer both economic and social exclusion. During that time the young people are helped back towards the regular labour market through volunteer work, training courses and placements.

Activities for at-risk young people - Utrecht, The Netherlands

In Utrecht, young people at risk are offered special counseling in order to give them an extra chance to fit in with the wider society.

Rotterdam: Projects bureau Het Jonge Noorden

Students, teachers and other staff at the INHOLLAND Higher Education are cooperating on innovative projects for the Noord borough and the city of Rotterdam, whereby vocational training is being supported with practical experience in the neighbourhoods. This will allow students to have a much broader social preparation. There is extra capacity available for the borough to carry out innovative projects.

Heerlen: Multi-functional youth centre in Molenberg

The neighbourhood of Molenberg is dealing with a structural overload of young people. The social cohesion in the neighbourhood has a weak, continually crumbling basis. The available potential for organisations and a context within organisations is steadily decreasing. For a number of years, young people from various age groups have expressed the need for a place of their own in the neighbourhood.

"Het Jonge Noorden op Zuid" Project Bureau - Rotterdam, the Netherlands

The Objective 2 Feijenoord area is confronted with a number of urban problems relating to the district’s (knowledge) economy, unemployment, safety, integration, and spatial planning. Students from the INHOLLAND College operating from the Het Jonge Noorden op Zuid (Young North on the South Side) Project Bureau will impart an impetus to the economic development of the district.

The Voice of the Young in Helsinki

The Voice of the Young in Helsinki is a Helsinki City project to promote participation of young people.

Youth and the enlarged European Union

Large information campaign on the issues of employment, mobility and participation in the decision-making structures within an enlarged Europe addressed to young trade unionists in Cyprus, Malta and Greece. Active Involvement and participation of the target group during the different actions of the project.

Multicultural Girl Work in Practice

Developing a Multicultural Action Plan for the Girls’ House  -  Meeting Place for Girls and Young Women in Helsinki

The city centre also belongs to children...

Crime prevention amongst young children in Marseille.

Cycle routes link urban play landscapes in Braunschweig

The City of Braunschweig involves children and young people in reshaping playgrounds and links them up through special cycle routes.

YouthBank UK

The focus is on engaging young people in the North West region.

Teesdale Environmental Youth Project

This case study describes the work of the successful Teesdale Environmental Youth Project which aims to facilitate personal and social development via community-based environmental regeneration projects.

Birkland Community Exchange

Case study information – Birklands Community Exchange

South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Youth Project

This case study describes how young people were engaged in preparing and contributing to a Community Action Plan.

Support, Play and Recreation

Case Study Information – Support, Play and Recreation in East Bolton

Dundee XPlore Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP)

The Xplore SIP aimed to tackle the social exclusion faced by disadvantaged 11-18 year olds in Dundee.

The Big Step Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP)

Case Study - The big step was a thematic SIP based in Glasgow which was set up to tackle the issues faced by young people leaving institutional care.

Positive Youth Engagement – Gateshead Tyne & Wear

Between 1997 and the present day Gateshead Council had developed from a traditional centrally controlled authority to one that has fully embraced modernisation and partnership. Children and young people have been one of the many partners that have supported this change.

LKC Awards 2006

The New Deal for Communities in Lower Kersal and Charlestown encouraged and recruited young people aged between 13 and 19 in these areas of Salford to plan and stage an awards evening to recognise their contribution to the local community.

Gam3 - Urban Streetbasket Challenge

If the young people will not seek sports, then sports must come to the young people.

Catch22 supports young people in difficult situations

Catch22 is a national charity in the United Kingdom that works with young people who find themselves in difficult situations. The organisation works with their families and communities in order to support youngsters. Catch22 helps young people to get education, find employment, find decent housing and steer clear of crime. The charity organisation was set up in 2008, when two national charities, 'Rainer' and 'Crime Concern' came together. The main driver of Catch22 is the idea that when young people become more positive, productive and independent, the whole community benefits.

Towards a youth agenda

How can local authorities improve general and local youth policy?

Government in check. Local youth policy in the grip of national policy

This publication goes into the relationship between local and national youth policy, the character and effectiveness of local youth policy and the degree to which this policy is influenced by the national policy.

Toolkit for youth participation in urban policies

Local authorities find it difficult to offer young people the role of participants rather than that of spectators in local life. The city of Bristol offered other European cities an opportunity to address the issue by creating a thematic network on youth and participation.

Evaluation of Sure Start Plus: supporting pregnant young women and young parents

This report describes the Sure Start Plus initiative to support pregnant young women and young parents under 18 years of age.

'Working it out' programme: helping disadvantaged young people shape their future

This report summarises the findings of an independent evaluation of Working It Out, an innovative programme designed to help disadvantaged young people, aged between 15 and 25 shape a productive future.

Political choices among young adults in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area

The present study consists of three main sections. They all concern the political behaviour of young adults in the age group 18–30, the first one dealing with political interest or engagement in politics, the second one with the political agenda and political orientation and the third one electoral participation and choice of party.

Multicultural Youth Work in Helsinki

The analysis of the Strategy on multiculturalism and the daily youth work in Helsinki clearly suggest that multicultural youth work is still just in the making.

Developing Accessible Play Space – A Good Practice Guide

In the past there has been little recognition that disabled children are entitled to the same play opportunities as other children. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister commissioned Inclusion, Childhood and Education Ltd to produce a good practice guide.

Experimental Analysis of Neighbourhood Effects on Youth

The research examines the effects of moving out of high-poverty neighbourhoods on the outcomes of teenage youth, a population often seen as most at risk from the adverse effects of such neighbourhoods.

Superlocal Identities - the value of European urban youth cultures

In his article 'Superlocal identities' published by Eurozine.com, Tommi Laitio discusses the development of European youth cultures. Even though youth cultures often have an American origin, they can function as tools for voicing European concerns better than national, elite-driven culture, Laitio states. However, public bodies seem very slow to recognise the value of European youth cultures. Their interest in subcultures is often driven by fear. Commercial actors on the contrary have been very successful in the support of youth cultures and got ahead of the public bodies. Public bodies in Europe might therefore want to reconsider their approach towards urban youth cultures and expand it beyond the mobilisation of youth when addressing issues of integration.  

Youth unemployment cannot be tackled without particular concern for the background of migrant youngsters

Youth unemployment is an important problem for many European cities. Large groups of youngsters drop out of school and thereby lose their ability to enter the labour market. Many of these youngsters are the children or grandchildren of migrants. However, the question often remains whether this fact makes any difference in finding the solution to the problem. This research publication, published by Nicis Institute as part of the STIP research programme, explores this issue. It particularly focuses on the question whether governments should consider the fact that many unemployed youngsters come from an immigrant background. The research looks at institutions that deal with policy in this field in both Amsterdam and Berlin. It investigates the different ways these institutions formulate and execute their policies and what consideration form the basis of their work. The report includes some important recommendations for urban professionals and concludes that youth unemployment in large cities such as Amsterdam and Berlin cannot be tackled without considering the background of unemployed immigrant youngsters.

Aspiration and attainment amongst young people in deprived communities

'Aspirations and attainment in deprived communities’ is a joint project between the UK Social Exclusion Task Force, the Department for Children, Schools & Families (DCSF) and Communities and Local Government (CLG). It explores the potential to raise the attainment of young people in deprived communities, by raising aspirations and changing attitudes within these communities.

Growing up in the new New York: youth space, citizenship, and community change in a hyperglobal city

This article emerges from a project that was prompted by a single overarching question: "what is it like growing up in New York today, as experienced and expressed by young people themselves?" and its ancillary, `how can young people be meaningfully engaged in community evaluation and action?' It does not begin from a specific research hypothesis. Rather, it approaches the broad topic of the spatial lives of young people from the epistemological position of participatory action research. What we present here is a reflective account that draws on empirical evidence from experience and observation, and focuses on selected themes revealed through youth participants' words and actions. 

Rosario: The New Citizenship Landscape

The heart of the matter is not to govern for the children but to govern with them in order to improve life conditions for the whole community.

Birkland Community Exchange

Case study information – Birklands Community Exchange

Educative success programme: France

The educational success programme under the social cohesion plan allows all the necessary means to be used to resolve the educational difficulties of children and adolescents as soon as they are identified.

Somali youngsters, The Hague, The Netherlands

A survey of the social environment of young Somalis in the city of The Hague resulted to a position reinforcing project for Somali youngsters in The Hague.

Leeds City Centre Area Action Plan

This case study showcases an example of how young people can be involved in shaping an Area Action Plan for their city centre from the early stages with few resources.

Positive activities for young people: national evaluation - final report - UK

Evaluates the Positive Activities for Young People programme (PAYP), an initiative aimed at providing participating young people with a range of diversionary and developmental activities during the holiday periods to encourage them to engage in “mainstream”, non-PAYP funded activities, during term time.

Buzz around Budapest – The opinion of youngsters living in Budapest and surroundings about the city

Studio Metropolitana PS made a research in the capital and its agglomeration asking people between 16 and 30 years, if they liked Budapest, or not. The research explored the opinions about the main problems and the most important measures.

Involving children and young people in community improvement - UK

The report summarises the findings of research into whether active community participation is an effective way of tackling the social exclusion of children and young people in deprived areas.

What happened next? A report on ex-residents of foyers - UK

Research into how well young people moved into being independent after leaving Foyer accommodation and the difference which Foyer services made to their later lives.

Promoting learning and personal development among disadvantaged young adults - United Kingdom

The report summarises the lessons learned by the Young Adults Learning Partnership (YALP). YALP researched and developed effective approaches to learning and personal development among disadvantaged young adults on the margins of education, training and employment.

Neighbourhood management and services for young people – UK

An evaluation of how Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders have worked with and influenced services for young people aged 11-19.

Evaluation of Young Advisors Pilot Programme final report

This report has identified the differences Young Advisors made within their local neighbourhood, with local authorities and services, and at national and regional level. The research focused on the models in use within the pilot and their effects in terms of development and implementation.

Our kids, our community: community-based approaches to working with 13-19 year olds in four Neighbourhood Support Fund projects

The research focuses on how the community-based approach to working with young people works in practice, based upon the evaluation of four projects which typified this approach.

Revitalising an old industrial site near the city centre of Bielefeld

On the site of a former machine works a functionally mixed neighbourhood was realised through a project dealing with the vocational training of young people and how they live together.

City of Jihlava: Project “Park in park” - Support of Unemployed Youth Threatened by Social Exclusion

'The State of the World's Children 2012' - increasing urbanization is a great threat to children

More than half of the world’s 7 billion people now live in urban areas. What does this mean for children? UNICEF has dedicated the 2012 edition of its flagship report, The State of the World’s Children, to the situation of children growing up in urban settings. Cities are known to generate economic growth – but, as the report reveals, not all children are benefiting from urban expansion. In this increasingly urban world, the absence of a sustained focus on child rights means that some children are being left behind.

Tête à Tête, preventing risky behaviour among French adolescents

Tête à Tête in the French city of Rosny is a friendly place for youngsters in need of a listening ear about issues encountered in adolescence. Here young French people between the ages of 13 and 25 years old can come for information or share their concerns and comments on several questions having to do with for example sex, alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. In this way Tête à Tête promotes prevention of risky behaviour for the well-being of young people by making them aware of the risks they may face in their daily lives. The centre offers different tools such as informative and entertaining books, comics, magazines, exhibitions, debates, meetings and more. Animations and workshops are also introduced throughout the year to facilitate exchanges and discussions.