VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

This paper will focus on the urban livability of Drumchapel, a deprived neighborhood in Glasgow as experienced by young people living there. Urban livability refers to the makeup of a city or urban environment and the resources it provides such as economic opportunity, walkability, public transport and more (Badland and Pearce, 2019. )I will share my observations from my PhD fieldwork, and reports from young people of their neighborhood and how it influences their everyday life including schooling, relationships with authority and the overall city of Glasgow, and their self-esteem. Drumchapel, was founded as one of the housing schemes for overspill in the city of Glasgow. These housing schemes on the periphery of the city were built quickly and now are being recognized as environments contributing to social detriments of health. The young participants have made negative comments about Drumchapel, citing the lack of streetlights, unreliable buses, antisocial young people and lack of amenities in the community. This literature demonstrates the components of urban livability, things that the young people report Drumchapel lacks. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the lack of urban livability within the neighborhood is negatively contributing to how young people are treated as well as how they see themselves. Sharing the data collected thus far, I will discuss how the participatory nature of this research and collaborative data collection methods frames young people to be involved in changing their communities and contributing to the overall discussion of the relationship between place and wellbeing.