The child as citizen: Experiences of British town and city centres

Abstract

The current state of town and city centres in the UK is a matter of growing concern for a range of professionals and politicians. In general, recent studies about town and city centres have not concentrated on the experiences of users and potential users. A 27‐month research project which investigated young people's use and perception of their town and city centres in the UK was undertaken at the University of Sheffield. Over 2000 young people were involved with questionnaires and focus groups and this paper reports, from the qualitative work, on towns and the developing child, the developing civic identity, civic values, towns as resources and who the town is for, together with implications and conclusions from the work. Young people are significant users of their town and city centres and yet they feel that they will not be heard and their opinions not valued.