Contested Space: ‘Youth’s Experience and Appropriation of Marseille’s Inner City District’

Abstract

This thesis aims to acknowledge the importance of the urban environment in youths’ engagement with their surroundings. The case of Saint-Charles station, among other finding, will provide insight on this matter. By doing so it opts to expand our knowledge on the dialectical relationships between people and their environment. It questions if the current positioning of youth in a climate of fear and suspicion influences the way they are treated in public space. Furthermore I explore how regulatory regimes such as processes of urban regeneration, and on a more local level surveillance teams at Saint-Charles station, exert control over youths’ ability to freely engage with their surroundings. I draw to a close by emphasizing the need to recognize youth as a highly diverse and heterogeneous group