The potential benefits of public space frequently translate into inequitable social and spatial outcomes for specific groups. Young people in particular are being excluded from public spaces through a range of explicit and implicit measures. In the UK, one significant trend constraining their ability to access such space is the extent to which they are commonly perceived as perpetrators of anti-social behaviour. The perceived levels of anti-social behaviour associated with the ‘ASBO generation’ are exacerbating concerns over youths’ presence in, as opposed to absence from, public space. Synthesising new ethnographic research with existing debates about the relationship between young people, anti-social behaviour and public space, this paper argues that it is necessary to address the multifarious discursive processes and material practices influencing young people’s use of public space. The paper demonstrates how, as opposed to eradicating young people from public space, Community Wardens in Dundee often provide them with the opportunity for positive and meaningful encounters with places (and people) in their local communities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AminA.MasseyD.ThriftN. (2000) Cities for the Many Not the Few. Bristol: Policy Press.
2.
BannisterJ.FyfeN.KearnsA. (2006) Respectable or respectful? (In)civility and the city, Urban Studies, 43(5/6), pp. 919–937.
3.
BrownD. M.FyfeN. R. (2010) Renaissance, reassurance and restoration? Community wardens and the urban realm in Scotland, Journal of Police Studies, 16(3), pp. 307–322.
4.
BurneyE. (2005) Making People Behave: Antisocial Behaviour, Politics and Policy. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
5.
ColemanR. (2004) Reclaiming the Streets: Surveillance, Social Control, and the City. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
6.
CrawfordA. (2006) ‘Fixing broken promises?’ Neighbourhood wardens and social capital, Urban Studies, 43(5/6), pp. 957–976.
7.
CrawfordA. (2007) Dispersal orders, in: NewburnT.NeyroudP. (Eds) Dictionary of Policing, pp. 192–194. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
8.
CrawfordA. (2008) Dispersal powers and the symbolic role of anti-social behaviour legislation, The Modern Law Review, 71(5), pp. 753–784.
9.
CrawfordA.ListerS. C. (2004) The Extended Policing Family: Visible Patrols in Residential Areas. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
10.
DavisM. (1990) City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. London: Verso.
11.
DeucharR. (2010) ‘It’s just pure harassment… As if it’s a crime to walk in the street’: antisocial behaviour, youth justice and citizenship—the reality for young men in the East End of Glasgow, Youth Justice, 10(3), pp. 258–274.
12.
DonnellyD. (2008) Municipal Policing in Scotland. Dundee: Dundee University Press.
13.
Dundee City Council (2006) Dundee antisocial behaviour strategy. Dundee City Council.
14.
ElsleyS. (2004) Children’s experience of public space, Children and Society, 18, pp. 155–164.
15.
EvansB. (2008) Geographies of youth/young people, Geography Compass, 2(5), pp. 1659–1680.
16.
GoughK.FranchM. (2005) Spaces of the street: socio-spatial mobility and exclusion of youth in Recife, Children’s Geographies, 3(2), pp. 149–166.
17.
HelmsG.AtkinsonR.MacleodG. (2007) Editorial: securing the city: urban renaissance, policing, and social regulation, European Urban Regional Studies, 14, pp. 267–276.
Home Office (2004) Defining and measuring anti-social behaviour. Home Office, London.
20.
Home Office (2007) British Crime Survey. London: HMSO.
21.
ImrieR.RacoM. (Eds) (2003) Urban Renaissance? New Labour, Community and Urban Policy. London: The Policy Press.
22.
InnesM. (2004) Reinventing tradition? Reassurance, neighbourhood security and policing, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 4(2), pp. 151–171.
23.
JohnstonL. (2003) From ‘pluralisation’ to ‘the police extended family’: discourses on the governance of community policing in Britain, International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 31(3), pp. 185–204.
24.
JohnstoneC.WhiteheadM. (Eds) (2004) New Horizons in British Urban Policy: Perspectives on New Labour’s Urban Renaissance. Aldershot: Ashgate.
25.
JuppE. (2007) Participation, local knowledge and empowerment: researching public space with young people, Environment and Planning A, 39, pp. 2832–2844.
26.
LeesL. (2003) The ambivalence of diversity and the politics of urban rennaissance: the case of youth in downtown Portland, Maine, USA, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27(3), pp. 613–634.
27.
MackenzieS.BannisterJ.FlintJ.MillieA.FleetwoodJ. (2010) The drivers of perceptions of antisocial behaviour. Home Office, London.
28.
MacLeodG. (2002) From urban entrepreneurialism to a ‘revanchist city’? On the spatial injustices of Glasgow’s renaissance, Antipode, 34(4), pp. 602–624.
29.
MaloneK. (2002) Street life: youth, culture and competing uses of public space, Environment and Urbanization, 14(2), pp. 157–168.
30.
McVieS.McAraL. (2010) Youth crime and justice: key messages from the Edinburgh study of youth transitions and crime, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 10(2), pp. 179–209.
31.
MillieA. (2007) Tackling anti-social behaviour and regenerating neighbourhoods, in: AtkinsonR.HelmsG. (Eds) Securing an Urban Renaissance: Crime Community and British Urban Policy, pp. 107–124. Bristol: The Policy Press.
32.
MillieA. (2008) Anti-social behaviour in British cities, Geography Compass, 2(5), pp. 1681–1696.
33.
MillieA.HerringtonV. (2005) Bridging the gap: understanding reassurance policing, Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 44(1), pp. 41–56.
34.
PainR. (2006) Paranoid parenting? Rematerializing risk and fear for children, Social and Cultural Geography, 7, pp. 221–243.
35.
Scottish Executive (2003) Building strong, safe and attractive communities: a consultation document on other community based initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour. Scottish Executive, Edinburgh.
36.
Scottish Executive (2007) Use of Antisocial Behaviour Orders in Scotland. Scottish Executive, Edinburgh.
37.
Scottish Government (2008) Review of antisocial behaviour strategy. Scottish Government, Edinburgh.
SquiresP.StephenD. (2005) Rougher Justice: Young People and Anti-social Behaviour. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
43.
TravlouP.OwensP.ThompsonC.MaxwellL. (2008) Place mapping with teenagers: locating their territories and documenting their experiences of the public realm, Children’s Geographies, 6(3), pp. 309–326.
44.
UTF (Urban Task Force) (1999) Towards an Urban Renaissance. London: E and F N Spon.
45.
VerkaikR. (2005) The Asbo generation, The Independent, 20June, p. 10.
46.
WellerS. (2006) Situating (young) teenagers in geographies of children and youth, Children’s Geographies, 4(1), pp. 97–108.
47.
WilsonD.SharpC.PattersonA. (2006) Young people and crime: findings from the 2005 offending, crime and justice survey. Home Office, London.
48.
WoolleyH. (2006) Freedom of the city: contemporary issues and policy influences on children and young people’s use of public open space in England, Children’s Geographies, 4(1), pp. 45–59.
