Global Perspectives on the Absent Presence of Marginalised Children and Young People in the Public Realm

Abstract

This paper introduces a collection of papers drawn from a session sponsored by the Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group at the Annual International Conference of the RGS-IBG in Cardiff (2018). This subsequent dossier seeks to advance our understanding of the ‘absent presence’ of marginalised children and young people in the public realm. The idea of an absent presence has permeated many fields of geographical scholarship and generally refers to the influence that is exerted by something that is not physically present (anymore); this can be an idea, object or person. The empty playground visualises such an absent presence in children's geographies. The three papers in this dossier discuss children and young people in public spaces in respectively the Netherlands, New Zealand and the US. The dossier closes with a commentary that reviews the theoretical, conceptual and substantive learning that has emerged across the papers.