Young People’s Role in Creating Sustainable Cities

Abstract

This chapter considers the role of young people in developing and sustaining resilient sustainable infrastructure in cities. Discussions can often focus upon physical infrastructure, with less focus on human infrastructure, and when the latter is considered it is often in terms of families and geographical networks. Young people’s networks are often more mobile, less geographically specific, but provide strong, innovative communities in which norms and preferences are being tested and set. Engagement with young adults offers a productive opportunity for learning and for transformations in relation to the resilience of the wider community and the individual’s resilience. This chapter draws upon the award-winning Bristol Green Capital: Student Capital research data, the Bristol Learning City project and wellbeing and relational thinking literature to explore the relationships between SDG 4 learning, engaged activity and wellbeing, the significance of partnerships (SDG17) as an outcome in its own right and argues that the capacity of young people to play a change agent role in developing city sustainability (SDG11) is undervalued.