Rethinking conceptualisations of adult-imposed restriction and children's experiences of autonomy in outdoor space

Gender differences in teenage alcohol consumption and spatial practices

“…The focus group discussions reveal how the ongoing processes of appropriation and dispersal in teenagers' spatial practices are not just regulated across generations (Benwell 2013). The 22 teenagers who we spoke to, and particularly the boys, described how it is not just adults who were fearful and frightened by young people in urban contexts, young people were also wary of their peers (Bromley and Stacey 2012;Cops 2013).…”

“…Yet the ambivalence of childhood and youth is that their emerging subjectivities are subject to constant surveillance and restriction (Valentine 1996a). While this ongoing tension between freedom and control is by no means a recent phenomenon, there is a tendency in both popular discourse and empirical research to present it as a topical and defining condition of childhood and youth and one that is constantly under threat (Benwell 2013;Karsten 2005). There is no fixed sense of a place for children and young people but generally the expectation is that both policy and everyday inter-generational encounters are closing down their access to public spaces (see for example Breitbart 1998;Collins and Kearns 2001;Driskell, Fox and Kudva 2008).…”

“…In recent years these liminal drinking practices have been targeted as anti-social behaviour and subject to increasing control which has seen teenagers' access to public space curtailed. The regulation of teenagers' independent mobility and their appropriation of public space has been an important theme in children's geographies in recent 3 years, which has documented how public spaces are being foreclosed for children and young people (Benwell 2013;Jones 2000;Tucker and Matthews 2001). In this paper, we compare the experiences of girls and boys to examine if the push towards more regulation of teenagers in public space is also gendered.…”

Including babies and toddlers: a new model of participation

“…However, from a participative perspective it might not always be helpful to view the regulation of space and its use in terms of an adult vs child narrative. While seeing the benefits of affording children the possibility of engaging independently with their environments children may not want or be able to encounter these environments alone (Benwell 2013). Benwell argues for a more interactive understanding of adult-child relations that takes into account that protection is often appreciated by children and helps them to feel secure in unfamiliar places.…”

Changing children's geographies

“…Smith 2013). In the Global South, this emphasis on public space is also seen, but more attention has also been paid to the ways young people whose parents have either passed away, are ill or not immediately available are linked into wider family and institutional networks and systems (R. van Blerk 2012;Benwell 2013;Riley 2013).…”