Spaced‐out? Young people's agency, resistance and public space

Abstract

This article draws on Foucault's claim that power is invariably accompanied by resistance. We argue that the recent academic discourses about space have tended to position young people as the hapless and passive victims of the state and/or of corporate and globalizing economic forces. While it is true that young people are subject to increased policing in public and private domains, we argue that it is important not to loose sight of young people's ability to actively resist such impositions, and to carve out new, meaningful spaces for themselves. Drawing on the idea of resistance, we consider some of the strategies young people use in asserting and redefining their presence in urban space.