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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:38 pm
Time: 8:38 pm
Results for at-risk youth (europe)
1 results foundAuthor: Hardiman, Paul Soto Title: Youth and Exclusion in Disadvantaged Urban Areas: policy approaches in six European cities Summary: This volume in the Trends in social cohesion series follows on from Volume 8, which dealt with some aspects of “integration” of young people in urban areas, in particular the implications of the concept and the responsibilities of the various parties (the state, the administrative authorities, politicians, the voluntary sector, mediators, families and young people themselves) in matters of policy. It also considered the limitations of reparation-orientated approaches that treat the question in isolation, being targeted at this specific section of the urban population. The present volume provides two additional studies. The first part, by Paul Soto, offers a reading of the causes of youth violence, based on comparative analysis of neighbourhood integration policies in six European cities: the four west European cities are Naples (the Spanish quarter), Barcelona (el Raval), Amsterdam (Slotervaart) and Derby (Derwent); the two cities in transition countries are Sofia (Fakulteta) and Moscow (the Southern Administrative District). In the second part Frédéric Lapeyre looks at the particular case of Naples’ Spanish quarter. His investigation brings home the complexity of any genuine policy in the matter, which, to restore humanity and dignity to young people’s daily lives, requires that all the players revise their perceptions and action. In a summary of the six case studies, Paul Soto shows that so-called “youth violence”, whether in west or east Europe, displays certain constant features: poverty, disappointed aspirations, lack of prospects, of self-confidence and of confidence in the local environment, official uncertainty, ignorance of the problems, indifference and spatial segregation. The violence manifests itself in the home and in family life, in the street, towards “outsiders”, towards symbols of authority, towards young people’s own community and towards communal facilities and installations. The study examines in detail the forms that violence can take. In the neighbourhoods considered, violence is one response to lack of control over changes that worsen the situation and the social climate: in addition to containing concentrations of poverty, some of it extreme, these are also reception areas for imported poverty in the form of immigrants. A series of questions arises. What kind of policy will enable young people to change their lives in neighbourhoods suffering from identity loss and in which identity building is conflict-based (“us”, the minority in the neighbourhood, and “them”, the majority who live on the far side of the mental and social boundaries that surround young people’s life setting)? What kind of constructive spaces can we provide for analysing and discussing the older generation’s anger and resentment? In what kind of environment are the political decisions being taken? How do politicians respond to the pressure they are under to make tackling local and street violence the priority rather than developing proper long-term education, training and employment policy? Paul Soto’s overview identifies four types of official response, ranging from decentralisation – allocating responsibilities and resources to the level at which the problem is located – to seeking areas in which young people themselves, and the rest of society, could be given greater responsibility. He reflects on how the political sphere addresses this and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches. He shows that no project can be fully successful unless it rebuilds young people’s sense of belonging and sense of identity by reconciling them with their immediate life context (family, school, friends and so on). This part ends with a series of recommendations as regards both methods and indicators for evaluating the situation and setting up mechanisms for intervention and spaces conducive to it. In the second part Frédéric Lapeyre describes the everyday lives of young people in the Spanish quarter of Naples. He offers an interpretation of the interplay between various “life spaces” (physical/public, family/private and relational/public), all of which are characterised by a culture of disorganisation and violence, but also by great vitality and by tolerance of incomers who themselves have been marked by their experience of poverty and despair. The Spanish quarter features a huge concentration of deprivation and the community there has a large proportion of jobless citizens and people on minimum guaranteed income. From an early age the young have to harden themselves against disadvantage and take on an adult role. Their desperate need of protection draws them to the sort of figure who rules by fear, and the dearth of self-fulfilment models is compounded by the instability of relationships. The rejection of social norms is reflected in vandalism, educational failure, membership of criminal gangs and so forth. How is any sort of ambition for something better to be fostered in neighbourhoods like that, and how are people to be enabled to form any kind of life project in an environment where people are constantly afraid both individually and collectively? Details: Strasbourg Cedex: Council of Europe Publishing, 2004. 178p. Source: Internet Resource: Trends in social cohesion No. 9: Accessed June 22, 2013 at: http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/socialpolicies/socialcohesiondev/source/Trends/Trends-09_en.pdf Year: 2004 Country: Europe URL: http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/socialpolicies/socialcohesiondev/source/Trends/Trends-09_en.pdf Shelf Number: 129144 Keywords: At-Risk Youth (Europe)Urban AreasYouth GangsYouth Violence |