Professor Pia Christensen, School of Education, Unoiversity of Leeds presentation at the Supporting Families in Difficult Times Conference held on 18-19th September 2014

1. Vital Cities, Vital
Childhoods:
Intergenerational
relationships and
shared spaces
Professor Pia Christensen
University of Leeds

2. Outline
•Focus on the neighbourhoods and
communities where children, young people
and their families.
•Community vitality
•Access and Equity to service provision,
community spaces and decision-making
•Vitality and liveliness of children and young
people and contribution as residents to
community building
)

3. Community vitality –’measures the strength, activity and inclusiveness of
relationships between residents, private sector, public sector and civil society
organisations that fosters individual and collective wellbeing’
Community Vitality,
Liveability and Well-being
Participation,
Inclusion and
Stewardship in
community matters

4. Community Vitality – Index of Wellbeing
- % reporting participation in organised activities
- % with 6 or more close friends
- Property crime rate per 100,000 population
- Violent crime rate per 100,000 population
- % who feel safe walking alone after dark
- % who feel that most or many people can be trusted
- % who provide unpaid help to others on their own
- % reporting very or somewhat strong sense of belonging to
community
)

5. Internationally well established
practice:
• Service provision through
involving families in participatory
practices and processes
• Hearing the voices of all groups
and parties
•Parents and Children not the same
• Still lacking is the participation of
children and young people in
service and community processes
Pia Christensen 2014

6. Inclusive vitalities?
• Vitality often linked to
particular notions of children
and young people’s
inclusion and participation
• What might be learnt from
children and young
people’s own lives and
liveliness in urban spaces?
)

7. ’engagement of youth in everyday
activities that are viewed as
desirable by themselves and their
communities’
Successful (life) pathways
(Weisner 2005)

8. Studying the Everyday: the daydreaming paper boy
• Peter is 13 years-old. He lives in a small community in the North of England. He
has a daily paper round after school for the local newspaper shop.
• Peter takes a lot of time on his paper round.
• Parents perspective: he is a bit of a daydreamer!
• Peter says: ‘But, I need to make sure that people are alright and that!’
• Shopkeeper: ‘A kind and likeable young lad!’ Customers very pleased with the
delivery – ‘but he does take a long time’ on his rounds.
• Then Peter leaves the village to go to college!
• Customers pay visits to Peter’s parents to say how ‘greatly missed he is’. Running
little errands - getting milk or bread on the way to someone, who finds it difficult
to shop; chats with someone, who is living on their own; drinks cups of coffee
with plenty of milk, whilst listening to families telling about everyday happenings
and events.

9. What Peter’s mum told me:
• Important for the village – part of building what some would call
‘community spirit’
• as an example of what young people bring to the community -
change!!
• A community with greater openness (friendliness, exchange of help and
support to others -including newcomers to the village)
Pia Christensen 2014

10. ‘New Urbanisms, New Citizens’ ESRC Research Project
UK Sustainability Community - Growth Plan policies: broad local participation,
inclusion and encouraging stewardship in all community matters
• Local politics of inclusion/exclusion: access and equity
• Participatory Spaces: Community facilities and public space
• Decision-making (residents associations (local voluntary organizations), Parish
councils, town/city and county councils (local government)
• What next?

11. FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
• Within the communities children were intensely
mobile
•Importance of walking, walking…
•Moved on and moving on
‘[I’ve] been to, I think, every area because, don't
know, I just walk round a lot ... yeah, I just walk
round and look round ... I just usually walk, walk in
there and just not really doing stuff there, just walk
round’ (Harry, 11)
Anne-Marie, 11

12. MOBILITY AND Extensive local knowledge
• Social and physical environment
• Local issues and debates
• Production of knowledge through family, kin,
friendships, peers, shopkeepers …..
• Bodily experiences and sensory engagement with and
observation of their environment
‘from my back garden ... from the courtyard we ran
down here, we cut through like two courtyards ... and
then we turn left and go down and the court and then
the park’s there’ (Simon, 10)

13. TAPPING INTO CHILDREN’S LOCAL KNOWLEDGE CAPITAL
‘Yeah, yeah, but the, the only thing that is hard is because they haven't, because the Council have to
re-lay the roads, that's why the kerbs are so high’
‘Well they were thinking of making, there was talk in like the big board of people at (the community)
that there's going to like be a pub or something but then it fell through’ (Emma, 13)
‘I think we already have a church community, [pause] it's just, it would be nice if they had their own
building’
‘I fear it's getting a bit more sort of urbanised as it goes along’ (Phillip, 14)

14. Opening up spaces and places
Exclusion from community spaces – a ‘community’
centre
‘I was with my two friends there, we were
playing at the park … we needed the loo …
this one person [in the community centre] just
asked, who, where are your parents? … [they
said] oh go quickly you’re not welcome in
here ... but it’s just, it’s a sort of community
place’ (Jane, 10)
‘as soon as they see you walk in [to the
centre]…,if they don't see you walk in then
you're fine, … they will go and tell this
woman, like, I think it's the manager or
something’’ (Ellie, 14)
)

15. Centre employee:
‘we had a traffic light system
at one stage … they’d give
you a yellow, which is a first
warning then … [if ] you got a
red … you were asked to
leave’

16. … behind railings

17. Vital decision making – new communities
‘… there’s a lot of children in the village, so it’s sort of like well
we should get our say because, because it’s where we live
(Sarah, 9)
‘We’ve got fresh ideas waiting to come out’ (Ameera, 10 )
‘… if they listen it’ll be better, because not all their ideas work
but ours might...’ (Alice, 12)
‘… Yeah, we, like we might, we could like we both could
have ideas and we merge them together and then like it’d
be a better idea than two different ones.’ (Harriet, 12)
‘… so if the two groups sat down and combined the ideas
together we could actually have a positive outcome and
something that, not exactly what both groups want but it’d
be a combination of the two.’ (Izzy, 14)
)

18. POLITICS OF EXCLUSION
LOCAL DEBATES AND DECISION MAKING
• Age based exclusion
‘But, but because like people are older than us and they don’t really think that we’ve got
that many ideas so they just leave us out’ (Jim, 10)
‘I think adults presume that they know what kids want … and to be honest when they
actually don't (Imogen, 14)
‘Haven't got a clue (Izzy, 14)
‘… like Matilda, I’m big, you’re small, I’m right, you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you can
do about it ...’ (Robert, 12)

19. PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN
AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Have you been asked about local issues by an adult?
• Consultation and decision-making
• Playground consultation
• Local primary school (exclusion of young people)
• Ambivalent about the consultation

20. CHILDREN DIDN’T GET WHAT
THEY VOTED FOR
‘We voted for it but we voted for, for the bigger one, well we didn't know that it would be so small
and no slides or proper swings’ (Rory, 11)
‘we asked for this park at school and it looked like a dream park, like wicked. And then basically all
they've done is, there was a park at the top of the village and it was tiny, it was for ‘babies’ and then
all they did was basically moved that stuff and put about two more things in it … and it was nothing
like the design. ’Alice (aged 10)
INT: Okay, so it wasn't exactly what you wanted?
RES: No, no, no (Imogen, aged 10)

21. LOCALISED POWER / RULE
• Holding the power and making decisions
‘It’s actually the fifty plus generation that actually have got, hold the power, the decision making power’ (Local
resident and committee member)
• Power, ownership and community
‘they’re not getting involved at all because they look at it as, well we’re probably going to move on … they don’t
look at it as their community, that’s Mum and Dad’s community, it’s not their community, they’ll move’ (Youth
leader)
• Implications for young people
‘we did a lot of work on their behalf and they couldn’t even be bothered to turn up … as a result of which the
following year we said well we’re not going to give out money to the youth’ (Local resident and committee
member)

22. INITIATING THE DIALOGUE – RESTORATIVE PRACTICES
‘I‘ hope in the future that the issues discussed in the
workshop will be resolved and that from it the youth of the
village will develop a good relationship with the ruling
adults ... maybe even if we’re lucky we’ll get a bit of a
bigger budget and therefore more money towards the
youth. It may one day happen’ (Male, 14).
‘I hope that our ideas are taken into account and are
maybe even considered. I wish for an improved and
successful community’
(Female, 11).

23. We sometimes talk about disengaged youth??
• Children and young people themselves highlight their lack of status within the
community and in local politics.
• Their knowledge is often under-used and under-valued – through exclusions
regarding access and equity.
• Communities need to capitalise on the use of ‘community spaces’ (e.g. community
centres) as inter-generational spaces; children and young people’s access is vital in
the processes of community engagement
• Focus on collaborative community processes rather than one-off events of
consultations (ticking boxes!!)
How will real change happen? We suggest that it is through children and young
people being seen as members of families and communities and given
citizenship/resident status in both formal and everyday local politics.
CONCLUSION PARTICIPATORY SPACES AND FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

24. ‘The New Urbanism, New Citizens’
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S
EVERYDAY LIFE AND PARTICIPATION IN
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES’ (ESRC)
Professor Pia Christensen (PI)
Professor Peter Kraftl (CO-I)
Dr John Horton (CO-I)
Dr Sophie Hadfield-hill