Policy Brief on Public Space and Youth Political Participation

GAPRIA is happy to present a Policy Brief, produced in the context of this research project, on the Important Role of Public Space for Youth Political Participation.

The Brief explores this topic providing evidence from research in the context of GAPRIA and other research projects and policy reports on participation and youth activism.

The Brief will be disseminated to youth advocates and policy makers at national and EU level. It aims to contribute to current policy debates, particularly held in the context of the Youth Partnership of the EU and the Council of Europe, on youth participation and the shrinking of democratic civic space.

Key points that the Policy Brief addresses:

• Teenagers, and adult youth, are often excluded from official channels of expressing political opinion. In this sense, public spaces form important public arenas of what has been termed ‘unconventional youth political participation’

• Public spaces must be safeguarded as they contribute to the formation of youth’s active citizenship, to the visibility of the claims of different sectors of youth, and democratic plurality

• Public spaces are facing consistent threats in recent years on a global level through commercialization of space that involves neoliberal processes of gentrification and touristification of space

• Such processes go hand in hand with increasing securitization and militarization of public spaces and a trend of criminalizing dissent prevalent across Europe

• The commercialization and militarization of public space contributes to the shrinking of democratic civic space for youth, thus, the importance of public space for youth political participation must be urgently acknowledged and safeguarded.

Policy Brief here:

Policy brief. GAPRIA.pdf

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