Not In The Same World: Topological Youths, Topographical Policies

Abstract

Public attitudes continue to portray youths in Western societies as being passive and disengaged. Critical scholars are largely unanimous in that the misrecognition of and disrespect for young people's everyday experiences and activities form a major reason why they appear detached from politics and public life. Contributing to this debate, this paper traces the everyday experiences of some Finnish urban youths, and argues that their lived worlds differ notably from the worlds of the public administration that seeks to address youths as active citizens. Based on these findings, the paper proposes the pragmatically oriented concepts of “issue publics” and “topological connectives” for rethinking youth participation and democratic life more broadly.

A Missing Citizen? Issue Based Citizenship in City‐Regional Planning

“…Moreover, to be truly democratic, city‐regional planning needs to encompass the politicization of issues as an integral part, to leave space for diversity and divergence, new openings and debate, and citizen‐initiated change (Kallio and Häkli, : 99). With this, we do not suggest a move towards self‐organizing systems and action where giving responsibility to citizens and their collective associations runs the risk of endorsing elites and active citizen groups at the expense of other dwellers, and where the withdrawal of public actors may open opportunities for new powers to exert their needs and values over others (Savini, ; also Kallio, : 583). While such modes of internal change aim at the empowerment of citizens and democratization within complex urban systems, they often lead to biased outcomes (e.g.…”

Smarte Kindheiten

“…Trotz ihrer Bemühungen, mit Kin dern zu sam men zu arbeiten, erfas sen Smart-City-Projekte kaum die hete ro ge n en Le bens wirk lich keiten oder die vielfältigen und weitreichenden For men poli tischer und gesell schaft licher Beteiligung von Kindern, ihre persön lich en Verwicklungen und sozialen Anteilnahmen (vgl. Mayall 2006;Skel ton 2010;Kallio/Häkli 2013;Kallio 2018; Börner/Kraftl/ Giatti 2020). Viel mehr verfestigen sie generalisierende Zuschreibungen und zu kurz greifen de Strategien.…”

Green citizenship towards spatial and lived perspectives

“…Paradoxically, they hold the greatest hope of solving the complex environmental problems, while at the same time appear increasingly reluctant to do so through traditional political means (e.g. Putnam, 2000;Circle, 2002;Kallio 2017;Bartos and Wood, 2017). There is some evidence that the current generation have less interest in environmental issues than earlier generations.…”