Practices and resources for the inclusion of teenagers in the life of the city: an expert view

Филипова А.Г., Скрыпникова Е.М.

doi:10.25136/2409-7144.2022.7.38201

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Sociodynamics

Reference:

Filipova A.G., Skrypnikova E.M. Practices and resources for the inclusion of teenagers in the life of the city: an expert view // Sociodynamics. 2022. № 7. P. 11-23. DOI: 10.25136/2409-7144.2022.7.38201 EDN: LCXOBE URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=38201

Practices and resources for the inclusion of teenagers in the life of the city: an expert view

Filipova Alexandra Gennadyevna

Doctor of Sociology

Head of Childhood Research Laboratory, Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service

690950, Russia, Primorskii krai, g. Vladivostok, ul. Gogolya, 41, of. 1625

Alexgen77@list.ru

Other publications by this author

Skrypnikova Ekaterina Mikhailovna

PhD in Pedagogy

Associate Professor, Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University

630126, Russia, g. Novosibirsk, ul. Vilyuiskaya, 28

katrine13@mail.ru

Other publications by this author

DOI:

10.25136/2409-7144.2022.7.38201

EDN:

LCXOBE

Received:

02-06-2022

Published:

05-08-2022

Abstract: The subject of the study is the urban environment. The urban environment in which a teenager grows up influences his socialization through the spatial, architectural, and functional characteristics of the city. The specificity of these characteristics may provide opportunities for the inclusion of a teenager in urban life and his active participation in it, or to act with the opposite effect. In the article, the authors note a number of contradictions characterizing the implementation of the participation of a teenager in the life of the city. The main contradictions are connected with the willingness of a teenager to express his opinion, the willingness of adults to take this opinion seriously and the normative elaboration of the issue of children's participation in the life of the city. Expert interviews were used as the main method of data collection. A total of 27 experts were interviewed. They asked questions about the possibilities and limitations of including teenagers in the co-participating design of the urban environment. Experts note that children do not have their own spaces in the city, which complicates the process of personalization of urban space, its active development and, subsequently, transformation. Also in expert interviews, the problem is fixed, on the one hand, ignoring the child's opinion, on the other — expanding the practices of involving children in expressing their opinions. The authors identify the practices of including children in the life of the city, characterizing the gradual nature of this process, which begins with the expression of an opinion with the transition to its accounting and then - the active participation of adolescents in the transformation of the urban environment. Based on the analysis of expert interviews and scientific publications, the resources of participation of teenagers in the life of the city are described. These include: foreign experience, the activities of enthusiasts for the involvement of children and methodological developments.

Keywords:

urban environment, teenagers, co-participating design, expert interview, children's participation, urban socialization, sociology of the city, practices of complicity, ownership of the city, project approach
This article is automatically translated.

The interaction of a child/teenager with the city is determined by the existing contradiction between the willingness of a child to express his opinion on issues of city development, to participate in urban projects and the availability of forms and platforms where this opinion can be expressed and taken into account by competent adults. This contradiction manifests itself in three planes: high readiness of children and insufficient development of platforms for expressing opinions; insufficient readiness of children and the availability of platforms for expressing opinions; optimal readiness of children and the availability of platforms and forms. The third option is the most difficult, since it requires efforts on the part of adults both in ensuring such readiness of children (preparing children to comprehend urban space and their opportunities in the city, the ability to formulate thoughts and convey them, etc.) and in creating appropriate formats and spaces.

The data of expert interviews confirm that the indicated contradictions take place in the urban everyday life of teenagers. The identified "point" Russian practices of successful involvement of children/adolescents in the life of the city need to be replicated in order to maintain the necessary formats and platforms.

By participating in the development of the urban environment and its transformation, influencing events in the life of the city, a child/teenager learns values and experiences that allow him to be a full member of society. The success of the child's inclusion in these processes will depend on the success of his adaptation and individualization in the urban environment, which in turn will further affect the formation of a sense of belonging to the city.

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First Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

The topic raised by the author of the article fits perfectly into modern trends in social research and affects a fairly active social group – teenagers. The locus of research – the city - seems to be interesting. "Teenagers in the city" is a well-founded object of study, the heuristic value of which consists primarily in identifying the possibilities of the so-called "participatory design". The article has a clear structure, which allows us to determine the specifics of the logic of scientific research, as well as to identify certain advantages of the approach proposed by the author of the article. The introduction looks somewhat unviable, in which we would like to see a decent analysis of the existing scientific discourse with the key research directions indicated in it. It would make sense to focus not only on the specifics of the urban environment, but also on defining the methodological framework of the study, the formulation of the existing scientific problem, etc. In short, the author needs to present in the introduction the scientific apparatus of the work, according to which it can be concluded, in particular, how much the author is immersed in the subject under consideration, whether he has sufficient information about current trends in the study of the problem, etc. An extremely weak place of work is the description of methods. It is not clear how the selection of experts was conducted (especially since they represent completely different and far from each other cities in their specifics, for example, Moscow and Perm), who were the experts, what is the characteristic of the guide of questions, to identify what features the questions were directed, in what way the expert survey was conducted, who conducted it and at what time time, within the framework of which study and on whose basis, what is the role of the author of the article in conducting this survey, etc. Without this information, it is difficult in any way to verify the results obtained by the author during an empirical study. The modest section "Results and discussion" also does not allow us to evaluate the specific data obtained during the study. The author cites literally 7 excerpts of their answers from informants (by the way, 27 people were interviewed), which in no way allow us to form a clear picture of how the author solves the indicated problem in his article. Since the introduction does not reflect the methodology of the work, it is difficult to understand what results we expect from the author: it is clear that if it were a socio-cultural approach, for example, it would be about the value orientations of adolescents, etc. One of the key concepts – "related design" - turned out to be not completely worked out, or rather not at all worked out. The author did not pay attention to it in any way, and therefore the justification for the need to apply this concept in the context of the issue under study remained behind the scenes. The language errors found in the article (for example: "Based on expert interviews, we can ..." and other cases), as well as the extreme brevity of the presentation of the material did not allow the author to fully disclose the stated topic. It is completely unclear from the content of the article what kind of design we are talking about, what the interviewed informants (experts) have to do with it, and finally, how urban teenagers are involved in this – if it is at least clear with experts which cities they represent, then that's who "teenagers in the city" are (what city, what age range and the gender range, what is their attitude to "designing", etc.). A small list of sources for such a large-scale topic, as well as a small volume of the article, do not stand up to criticism. Apparently, in this case we are not dealing with a full-fledged article, but only its outline (plan). The author clearly hastened to submit such weak material to the journal in all respects, in fact, so far I have not observed any pronounced advantages in it that can be at least somehow developed at the stage of finalizing the article, therefore I cannot recommend such a work for publication.

Second Peer Review

In the peer-reviewed article "Practices and resources for the inclusion of adolescents in the life of the city: an expert view", the subject of the study is the participation of adolescents in the design of the urban environment and ensuring its safety. The purpose of the study is to analyze existing practices and prospects for the inclusion of adolescents in the life of the city, as well as to identify resources for constructive and partnership interaction between adolescents and adults. The research methodology is based on the concept of the city as a space for citizens, in the construction of which they are directly involved. The methodology of the research is based on the concept of participatory management and design. At the same time, the author points out that the theoretical and methodological basis of the study is the "new" sociology of childhood, which rediscovered the child as an actor actively involved in the construction of social reality. To understand the specifics of adolescent urban participation, the method of expert interviews with 27 specialists (urbanists, architects, psychologists, educators, researchers) from different cities of Russia was chosen. The main criterion for the selection of experts was the research experience or practical experience of co-designing with children and adolescents. The study of participatory practices was also carried out by analyzing relevant cases implemented at the school level, architectural projects of the All-Russian children's center; a city festival, non-profit organizations and an architectural laboratory. The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that the formation of value, volitional attitudes and social ideals of the younger generation will directly determine the future dynamics and vector of development of modern cities. In these conditions, teenagers (teenagers) are one of the main riches of the territories. However, not many of them have a chance to participate in the decision-making process that affects their lives and the life of the local community, and their potential contribution to the development of the urban environment is often not taken into account. The solution of the problem under consideration can help overcome the difficulties that have emerged in connection with the need to involve the younger generation in the life of the city. The scientific novelty of the publication consists in substantiating the existence of a contradiction between the willingness of a child to express his opinion on issues of urban development, to participate in urban projects and the lack of forms and platforms where this opinion can be expressed and taken into account by competent adults. The data of expert interviews confirm that the indicated contradictions take place in the urban daily life of teenagers. At the same time, the author's emphasis on the need to replicate and maintain the identified "point" Russian practices of successful involvement of children/adolescents in the life of the city deserves attention. The conclusions formulated in the article meet the objectives of the stated research and have sufficient justification. In general, the content part meets all the requirements of a scientific text. This publication is characterized by a general structuring and consistency of presentation. The bibliography as a whole is present at a sufficient level. The paper provides links to 31 sources, including domestic and foreign authors on the topic of urban development and the involvement of adolescents in the process of creative creation, including participating design. Thus, the appeal to the main opponents from the area under consideration is fully present. Conclusion: The article "Practices and resources for the inclusion of adolescents in the life of the city: an expert view" has scientific and practical significance. The work can be published. It will be of interest to specialists in the field of youth sociology and urban sociology.

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Practices and resources for the inclusion of teenagers in the life of the city: an expert view