Abstract:

Since youth participation today has become a topic of great interest for social research (Ackerman et al., 2003; Eide&Kunelius, 2021; Ojala, & Lakew, 2017), the aim of this contribution is to explore the significance of the articulated theme of participation in relation to communication strategies (Retta, 2012) and thus the pedagogical possibilities (Milner, 2009) this connection offers.
To this end, the methodology used within the B-YOUth Forum, a participatory research laboratory open to young people aged between 14 and 25 and mainly related to the themes of participation and public space, will be presented. B-YOUth Forum is promoted by the University of Milan-Bicocca as part of the MUSA (Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action) project, financed by the Ministry of University and Research as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Italy).
Considering the relevance of the theme of participation in the European and international scenario and policies (UN, 1989; Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2009; 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2015), a pedagogical and geographical exploration of concepts such as “participation” itself (Sinclair, 2004; Cornwell, 2008; Thomas, 2007; Walther, 2018) and “public spaces” (Percy-Smith, 2010) has been conducted, by using participatory methodologies (O’Kane, 2008; Welty & Lundy, 2013; Christensen & James, 2017) and artistic and digital languages (Butler-Kisber 2010; Clark, 2012).
B-YOUth Forum thus provides an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between participation and communication since it creates real opportunities for youth to experiment different forms of participation by the fruitful dialogue and exchange with institutions and the partners of the project network. The stakeholders have been and are currently involved in the shared content production, generating an environment able to put into dialogue different tools and languages such as radio, visual production, public events.
Young people were directly involved in communicating the ways through which youth may participate in public space, out from advertising and marketing logics and being instead interested in sharing and disseminating the results, the meanings and the methodologies of the research (Mazman & Usluel, 2009). In this regard, the tools used included social media and web-radio.
Social media have not to be considered only as platforms for content consumption but also, and more interestingly, as virtual spaces for production and exchange of new and shared languages and assumptions (Veletsianos & Navarrete, 2012).
To this end, B-YOUth Forum may offer and foster occasions to involve young people in the production and the critical rethinking of meaningful and engaging communication tools that can be conceived as participatory processes per se.

Keywords:

Participation, communication, participatory research.