Short Abstract

This panel explores young peoples’ claims-making practices in cities of the Global South. As the cities ‘get younger’, we invite scholars and practitioners to discuss key challenges facing diverse youth, grounded mobilisation tactics, and youth-led interventions towards equitable urban futures.

Description

As cities in the Global South undergo rapid expansion, they are also turning younger, with UN-Habitat predicting 60 percent of the urban population will be under 18 by 2030.Yet, young people, particularly marginalised youth from informal settlements, are often excluded from political and economic decision-making.While youth can be at the forefront of progressive social mobilisations, their participation has also been instrumentalised for military, political, or developmental purposes. Histories of youth wings in right-wing or ethno-nationalist movements complicate the idea that youth activism is inherently progressive.

This panel moves beyond such binaries to explore how young people experience cities in the Global South and build collective mobilisations toward alternative urban futures. We are particularly interested in questions of:(1)how differences of gender, caste, class, ethnicity, and religion shape or trouble possibilities for youth solidarities; (2)how youth voices, particularly from informal settlements, can be amplified to make collective claims on urban planning and governance; (3)the role of digital technologies in enabling collective claims or generating new inequalities and risks; and (4)how youth leadership and community connection are fostered among increasingly mobile populations.

Drawing from a three-year action research project in India and Nepal, we will offer provocations on how civic media practices can shape meaningful participation of young people as urban citizens, to guide discussion. We invite submissions from scholars, activists, and practitioners working especially around urban informality in the Global South, including papers and creative contributions such as photographs, short videos, or other forms that highlight diverse youth voices, experiences, and aspirations.

This Panel has 2 pending paper proposals.
Propose paper