YUP’s Principal Investigators Professors Andrea Rigon and Julian Walkers have presented the hypothesis of YUP project at a session on Innovation, Technology and Models of Spatial Configurations at the Italian Urban Planners Conference on transitions and spatial justice. 

This initial paper “Co-production of digital platforms for youth inclusive urban governance” has been published in the conference proceedings and can be read below.

The entire booklet with other papers in the section can be downloaded here.

In synthesis, the paper distinguishes between organic forms of participation leading to claimed spaces through autonomous young people digital initiatives and induced forms of participation with invited spaces where government ask young people to participate in digital platforms created and managed by government. This latter form is typically not well received by young people. The paper argues that there is a third form of negotiated participation in co-produced digital spaces where young people and other actors, for example, the municipality, work together to co-design and co-produce digital platforms. 

Our thinking has already moved to a more complex framework during the intense fieldwork with our partners in Indonesia and Lebanon but the paper still offers an introduction to some of the ideas we explore in the project.