Growing Up in Cities of the Twenty-First Century : A Global Study with Young People and Their Urban Environment

mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Providing a broad-ranging and comparative perspective on young people’s experience of urban life, this volume offers valuable insights for students, researchers, social workers and policymakers concerned with youth wellbeing, urban and community development and related fields.

This edited volume explores how global issues such as urbanisation, globalisation, digital practice, and global warming are experienced and interpreted by young people in their local contexts. Drawing on research from 13 countries and 20 study sites, this volume examines how adolescents perceive urban space and how their environments shape their daily lives. The broader research in this volume builds upon participatory action research practices and principles that aim to empower young people by giving them a voice and supporting their agency in decision making. These approaches are used to advocate for youth health and wellbeing in contemporary urban contexts across Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Lebanon, Nepal, the Netherlands, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Nigeria, the Philippines and the United States of America. The research project focuses on low-income communities undergoing rapid change, examining ways to engage minority and youth populations in informal settlements who are particularly reliant on the resources of their immediate environments and whose circumstances hold significant implications for urban policy. Providing a broad-ranging and comparative perspective on young people’s experience of urban life, this volume offers valuable insights for students, researchers, social workers and policymakers concerned with youth wellbeing, urban and community development and related fields.