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Apologies for cross-postings... Second Call for Papers: Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting (AAG) 2014, April 8-12, Tampa. Young people and city space: revisiting urban redevelopment in theory and practice Session Organizers: Melissa Butcher and Luke Dickens This paper session will focus on how studies of and with young people contribute to theory and practices associated with our understanding of contemporary urban redevelopment; including gentrification, cosmopolitanism, everyday interactions and social cohesion. These processes of change are being documented through various approaches but there remains a need for a targeted focus on how young people experience urban transformation and what this means for urban theory and the practices of redevelopment. Young people are substantial users of public space, central to debates about social inclusion, crime and media representation, and a group often portrayed as the progenitor of other’s insecurity. They play a particular role in perceptions of anomie inflected with inter-generational opposition and a discourse of shifting cultural values. For young people, their experience of belonging to particular places can be impacted by their ‘otherness’ (ethnic, classed and aged) intersecting with changes to physical space such as gentrification and privatisation, surveillance and exclusion. They can become a source of tension and contestation in terms of space use, as they negotiate and adapt to spaces of adult, ethnic, and/or commercial dominance (Clayton 2011; Vasta 2010; Abbott-Chapman & Robertson 2009). There is a need, therefore, to broaden our understanding of the particular impact that urban redevelopment has on young people, to document how they experience these changes and a continuing need to investigate the complex, ambiguous processes of growing up in post-industrial society (Mallan et. al. 2010). This paper session proposes two inter-related streams focusing on theory and practice, with a view to marking out the dimensions of critical urban studies in which young people play a central role. The following are suggested areas for papers but other options are possible. Theory: * How do age and generational positions affect negotiations over space and space use? * How do young people redraw boundaries of belonging in rapidly transforming built environments? * Where do young people fit into the imagined global city? * How do studies of and with young people incorporate affective processes in understanding the outcomes of interactions with others and with the built environment? * What do the spaces that young people use, and the tactics of civility that they engage in, tell us about belonging? Practice: * What might effective youth participation in redevelopment consultations and planning processes entail? * How is the ‘effectiveness’ of such participation measured, assessed and evaluated? * What are the possibilities and challenges for new forms of youth work within changing and diverse urban contexts? * How are young people involved in the resistance or subversion of urban redevelopment processes, and the reclaiming of public spaces? These sessions are linked with the panel session ‘Going public? The ethics of sharing, visibility and recognition in participatory research with young people’,in which leading researchers will consider the ethics of public participation in an open discussion and debate during the conference. Please email abstracts of 250 words (using AAG guidelines, http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting/call_for_papers/abstract_guidelines) by 01 November, 2013 to: Melissa Butcher ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) and Luke Dickens ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>). -- Dr Melissa Butcher Department of Geography The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA UK Tel: +44 (0) 1908 654 456 Mob: +44 (0) 7594 307 978 Email: [log in to unmask] Web: www.globalroaming.at Web: http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/people-profile.php?name=Melissa_Butcher Join the 'Geography Matters' Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Geography-Matters/142753089122470 Current Research: Creating Hackney as Home (ESRC): www.open.ac.uk/researchcentres/osrc/research/projects/creating-hackney-as-home Creating the ‘New’ Asian Woman: Entanglements of Urban Space, Cultural Encounters and Gendered Identities in Shanghai and Delhi (HERA): http://www.open.ac.uk/researchcentres/osrc/research/projects/creating-the-new-asian-woman Recent publications: (2012), Tyszczuk, R., Smith, J., Clark, N. & Butcher, M. (2012), ATLAS: Geography, Architecture and Change in an Interdependent World, UK: Blackdog Publishing. -- The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).