The Future is Now: Supporting Children and Youth as Changemakers for Sustainable Cities
Keywords:
children and youth, changemaking, adultcentrism, children's citizenship, public spaces, citizen participation, Lima, Peru, cities, sustainable developmentAbstract
This article advocates recognizing and catalyzing children’s participation in advancing sustainable development. This is not only because young people’s actions for improving their communities are rarely taken seriously, but also because their status as minors makes their participation different from that of adults. The analysis is based on the experience of ANIA – a Peru-based civil society organization – and the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima in implementing institutional changes to engage children and youth as changemakers. This is to help them build a sustainable city, as well as to support their contributions and making them visible. This case demonstrates that participatory processes need to be adapted to target audiences. For young people, this means changing the mindset of public servants to overcome their bias and be open to diverse views. This includes designing processes that enable them to express their views in unique ways, while allowing adults to translate responses into policy implications, as well as defining clear pathways for action. Considering that which is accessible to children is likely accessible to everyone else, the article ultimately proposes that young people’s participation and quality of life can be used as a powerful indicator of sustainable development.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Vanessa Vargas
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