The Routledge Handbook of Designing Public Spaces for Young People: Processes, Practices and Policies for Youth Inclusion

The Routledge Handbook of Designing Public Spaces for Young People is a thorough and practical resource for all who wish to influence policy and design decisions in order to increase young people’s access to and use of public spaces, as well as their role in design and decision-making processes.

The ability of youth to freely enjoy public spaces, and to develop a sense of belonging and attachment to these environments, is critical for their physical, social, cognitive, and emotional development. Young people represent a vital citizen group with legitimate rights to occupy and shape their public environments, yet they are often driven out of public places by adult users, restrictive bylaws, or hostile designs. It is also important that children and youth have the opportunity to genuinely participate in the planning of public spaces, and to have their needs considered in the design of the public realm.

This book provides both evidence and tools to help effectively advocate for more youth-inclusive public environments, as well as integrate youth directly into both research and design processes related to the public realm. It is essential reading for researchers, design and planning professionals, community leaders, and youth advocates.

Janet Loebach is an environmental design researcher and consultant hailing from Ontario, Canada. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis (http: //dea.human.cornell.edu/) at Cornell University. She received a Master of Environmental Design from the School of Architecture and Planning at Dalhousie University, and a PhD in Children’s, Urban, and Health Geographies from the Department of Geography at Western University. She is a registered Professional Civil Engineer (Ontario) and the Principal Consultant for Thrive Design Consulting. Her research and practice focuses on children’s perception and use of their everyday environments, and the socio-environmental factors which influence children’s behavior and well-being. Other areas of expertise include assessment and design of natural and built play and learning environments for children. She also has extensive experience with participatory, child-led and community-based design and planning processes. She currently serves as Vice President of the International Play Association (Canada) and as Co-Chair of the Children, Youth & Environments Network of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA).

Sarah Little is a registered landscape architect and an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. She holds an MLA and a PhD in Design, both from North Carolina State University. Her professional practice primarily consisted of high-end residential landscapes; children’s environments at museums, nature centers, parks, and schools; and park master plans with an emphasis on community participation and environmental justice. After almost 12 years of practicing as a landscape architect, she decided to shift her focus toward research and pursue a PhD. As a researcher, she works to understand the influence of the physical environment on human behavior and development. Her current research interests involve children’s autonomous exploration of the physical environment, accommodating children living with disabilities in the play environment, and Behavior Mapping. As a landscape architect and researcher, she works to disseminate research for fellow design practitioners to facilitate evidence-based design.

Adina Cox is a postdoctoral scholar in the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Kentucky. She holds a PhD in Design and an MNR in Natural Resources/GIS from North Carolina State University, and a BS in Landscape Architecture from Cal Poly Pomona. Her research interests include youth’s active transportation, children’s outdoor play environments, and the human-nature relationship. She is passionate about social and environmental justice in design. Her work has been inspired by her childhood spent in the redwood forests of northern California, and by her experiences raising her own children in North Carolina.

Patsy Eubanks Owens is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Davis. She holds an MLA from UC Berkeley and a BLA from the University of Georgia. After observing teenagers hanging out on Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley as a graduate student, she sought information on adolescents’ place preferences and activities to inform her design decisions. Finding limited research, she focused her thesis and an NEA-funded project on the Venues and Values of Teenagers. More than 30 years later, she continues to examine the role of the physical environment in the development, health, and well-being of youth. She has conducted research with youth in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Her work includes youth-led research and design projects, and topics such as youth exclusion, skateboarding, and the role of nature.