All Paths Leading to the Library: Youth Mobility and Community-Based Planning

Abstract

In the context of a community-based planning process to relocate a neighborhood public library in Madison, Wisconsin, this research examines youth’s everyday mobility to improve their access to public space. Through an analysis of field notes, cognitive maps, and interviews with fifth and eighth graders, researchers find that youth move relatively independently every day while using different place-making strategies. The research also finds that mobility options among youth are racialized experiences with important implications in accessing services like the library. The article identifies library planning as an important process for building inclusive community spaces.

Foundational Knowledge and Skills in Community Development: A Comparison of Educator Perspectives

“…Discussions of community development have alternatively focused on community-based and equitable approaches to planning on one hand (Brand 2015; Rosen, O’Neill, and Hutson 2018; Sarmiento and Duarte 2015; Zapata and Bates 2017), or real estate, economic development, and housing policy on the other (Anacker and Niedt 2019; Cabrera and Najarian 2013; Kane and Weber 2016; Morales 2009; Mueller et al 2011). While not mutually exclusive, the two sides of community development’s representation in planning reflects often divergent understandings and approaches to the field that typically emphasize either “community” or “development” in community development practice.…”

“If you're in a community together, then you're basically a family”: Perceptions of community among a predominantly African‐American/Black youth cohort in a semi‐rural region in the Southeastern United States

“…Participatory mapping projects have revealed that youth are sensitive to inequalities in their local environments and able to articulate ways the space around them is racialized around inequities (Goodman et al, 2019; Sarmiento & Duarte, 2019; Teixeira & Zuberi, 2016). Other studies have found that youth who have engaged in critical space mapping become more aware of how their environments create or restrict opportunity through their participation in such activities (Akom et al, 2016; Johnston et al, 2020; Rubel et al, 2017).…”