Young peoples participation in urban governance

Executive summary

Young people play a crucial role in shaping the future of their cities, yet their voices are often marginalised in urban governance processes. This report presents findings from the first phase of the Co-producing Digital Platforms for Youth Inclusive Urban Governance (YUP) Project, which has explored how young people (aged 10-24) in Surakarta (Solo) and Denpasar in Indonesia, and Bar Elias and El Mina in Lebanon take action in their cities, and the barriers and supportive factors they encounter in doing so. The YUP Project research also specifically looked into the opportunities and challenges that digital platforms imply for young people’s participation in their cities. 

The research was conducted through mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, including focus group discussions, interviews and a survey of 4,248 young people. A key component of the YUP Project was the active involvement of young citizen scientists, who were trained to conduct surveys, and to research case studies within their own communities, as well as to co-analyse the research findings. Their participation brought both valuable youth-led insights to the research, and also aimed to build local capacity for ongoing youth-led initiatives in the four cities. 

Young people participating in the research expressed a deep interest in urban issues, with education, economic opportunities, health (including mental health), and environmental sustainability emerging as top concerns in common across the four cities. In Indonesia, some of the main themes that young people voiced concerns about were the quality and affordability of education, the intense competition for jobs, and the environmental consequences of rapid urban development and tourism. In Lebanon, youth participation was shaped by economic marginalisation, political exclusion, and the need to navigate governance structures heavily influenced by sectarian interests, and was also shaped in response to the war emerging at the time of the research. 

Despite their strong interest in urban issues, young people face significant barriers to engagement in formal governance processes. Many lack direct opportunities to participate in decision-making, particularly those from groups such as refugees (in Lebanon) or migrants (in Indonesia), and those from economically disadvantaged communities. Young people’s areas of interest in urban development, and modes of participation, were strongly influenced by gender, with girls and young women more concerned with issues of mental health, and with the need for safe spaces in cities: they were also more subject to family and community controls on their city-shaping activities. In Lebanon, a deep distrust of government institutions has led many young people to become disengaged from traditional governance structures, turning instead to social media and grassroots activism as alternative spaces for civic engagement, and instead work with non-governmental, community and religious initiatives. In Indonesia, while government-led youth participation initiatives exist, they often fail to align with young people’s priorities, leaving them to seek more informal and self-organised channels for activism and advocacy. 

The research confirms that there is a potential role for digital platforms in enabling young people’s participation in the four cities, highlighting a number of specific elements of young people’s digital lives that would need to be factored in. The most widely-used hardware by young people in the four cities is the smartphone. However, while this was widely accessible among young people, some groups faced specific challenges from consistent and reliable access (with cost and intermittent service particular problems in Lebanon) and from restrictions on independent use, with parental control being strongly influenced by age and gender. While young people valued the opportunities that digital platforms offer for a range of activities, including communicating with others, studying and learning skills, accessing information and news, and posting online, they had concerns about the safety and governance of digital spaces, expressing worries around cyber-bullying, false information, and the control of digital platforms by providers. In relation to the potential role for digital platforms in supporting young people’s participation in cities, a key preference expressed was for digital platforms that are linked to, rather than displacing, face to face interactions between young people (and other city stakeholders). 

The findings underscore the need for inclusive governance mechanisms that recognise and support youth participation and give some hints to the role that digital platforms could play. As the YUP Project moves into its next phase, the focus will shift toward co-producing digital platforms that bridge the gap between young people and urban stakeholders. By designing participatory tools that reflect young people’s needs and realities, the project aims to create sustainable models of engagement, enabling young people to collaborate with city stakeholders (such as municipal authorities, NGOs, and civil society actors) and to influence decision-making.

Authors

Ramona Abdallah, Riccardo Conti, Joana Dabaj, Tom Greenwood, Andrea Hawawini, Sara Maassarani, Daniel Oviedo Hernandez, Ahmad Rifai, Andrea Rigon, Anugrah Rawiyah Salma, Asri Septarizky, Hasanatun Nisa Thamrin, Julian Walker

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  Young peoples participation in urban governance an analysis of findings from four cities in Indonesia and Lebanon.pdf