NAVIGATING THE NEIGHBOURHOOD : How youths deal with displacement and life in a deprived neighbourhood

According to many scholars and policymakers living in a deprived neighbourhood has a negative impact on youths’ social outcomes. Youths in deprived neighbourhoods do worse than their peers in ‘better’ neighbourhoods because of such factors as high levels of crime, negative role models, peer influences, stigmatisation and the lack of institutional resources. The existence of deprived urban neighbourhoods leads many governments to adopt policies of urban restructuring aimed at changing the socio‐physical structure of these areas. Such policies often take form in the demolition of social rented dwellings and the displacement of residents. Whereas a considerable number of studies have investigated the experiences of adults, we know little about how youths experience this policy of urban restructuring, or about how they perceive and use their neighbourhood. By means of in-depth interviews, mental mapping and photography this study provides insight into the complexity of the effects of the neighbourhood and displacement on youths (12-19 years) from deprived neighbourhoods in Utrecht, Rotterdam and Chicago. Specifically, three knowledge gaps in the existing literature are filled. That is, it provides insight into (1) youths’ perceptions of forced residential mobility; (2) how youths can negotiate their neighbourhood environment, and (3) the role of parenting. First of all, it was found that youths’ experiences with forced relocation were mixed. Youths had a better chance of moving to better housing than youths who moved voluntarily and they were more satisfied with their new dwelling compared to the old one. However, a large number of moves took place from one deprived area to another deprived area. Moreover, youths’ perceptions about the move itself were not that positive, because they had to get used to a new neighbourhood. Secondly, the study shows that youths actively negotiated neighbourhood space. Youths were active agents who had their own activities, their own social networks, their own spaces and their own perceptions of these spaces, which in turn influenced how the neighbourhood impacted on their social outcomes. How youths could negotiate neighbourhood space was related to neighbourhood perceptions and power relations in public space. Thirdly, parenting played an important role in moderating the impact of the neighbourhood on the social outcomes of youths. The study showed that the same neighbourhood can influence parenting in diverse ways. Parents living under similar neighbourhood conditions had divergent views about their neighbourhoods as places for their children to grow up in, which resulted in diverse parenting practices. Two additional conclusions can be drawn based on this study. Firstly, it is crucial to include individuals’ subjective perceptions of their neighbourhood in neighbourhood effect studies and acknowledge that place can have multiple meanings. Perceptions of the same neighbourhood differed among both youths and parents, and these perceptions were important in guiding their socio‐spatial behaviour. Secondly, relations between youths and their neighbourhood should be seen as reciprocal. Youths define, contest and transform neighbourhood space in diverse ways. The behaviour of youths influences the lives of others in the neighbourhood and played a role in the construction of neighbourhood space