Moving, Mapping, Imagining: Youth-Centered Methods for Understanding and Envisioning Mobility

Abstract

Adolescents hold extensive knowledge about their independent travel experiences and aspirations, yet mobility research rarely elevates the voices and visions of youth. This article explores the potential of mobile, map-based, and projective methods to enhance understanding of youth mobility needs and to inform supportive, place-responsive public realm interventions. Based on a participatory research project involving thirty-nine adolescents aged eleven to fifteen in a dense Los Angeles neighborhood, this research demonstrates how moving, mapping, and imagining in collaboration with youth participants can advance justice in both planning processes and in public spaces that support young people’s mobility and urban agency.