Youth and hYbrid street Cultures

Abstract

For young people, urban public space comprises a field of sociability and creativity, used as a stage for the development of a series of practices that unfold outside the competence of the adult world and its institutions. The generalization of the internet and mobile devices has had an impact on how space is lived and represented today by young people. What was traditionally understood by the social sciences as “youth street cultures” cannot be thought of as existing only in physical space, but equally as possessing a virtual extension. We speak, therefore, of “hybrid street cultures,” which navigate between the offline and online world. This article assesses the theme based on a review of the literature and the data from diverse research projects developed over the last decade.