Growing up in cities in the early 21st century

As we celebrate 50 years of research in the field of people-environment studies, it is timely to recall the seminal work of urban planner, Kevin Lynch. As a researcher at the forefront of people-environment relations, he published “Growing Up in Cities” (GUIC) in 1977 – a UNESCO funded project that investigated adolescent use and perceptions of their urban environment in four countries: Argentina, Australia, Mexico, and Poland. Twenty-five years later, in light of increasing urbanisation, Louise Chawla revisited the original study, expanding upon the original sites in Melbourne and Warsaw, to include Buenos Aires, Bangalore, Johannesburg, Northampton (England), Trondheim (Norway) and Oakland (California). The UNESCO funded project led to the publication of “Growing Up in an Urbanising World” in 2002; emphasising active participation of children and youth in planning and urban design. The continual expansion of our cities infers that young people are growing up in a changing urban environment. In 2020, we plan to revisit the GUIC projects and seek to honour the spirit of the two original studies, developing a wider research context as it relates to young people and contemporary urban life. Following the research trajectories of Lynch and Chawla, the 2020 project continues to advocate for empowering youth through meaningful participation, emphasising and implementing inclusive cross-site youth engagement and evaluation. It supersedes the original studies focusing on contemporary issues around urbanisation, globalisation, digital practice and global warming. Interdisciplinary teams and their respective approaches accommodate site specific considerations and develop methodologies that take advantage of the opportunities and availability of contemporary technologies. This paper seeks to present the beginnings of a third international collaborative GUIC project, presenting possible theory and associated methods that examine young people’s use and perceived value of contemporary urban space globally.