Putting Teens at the Center: Maximizing Public Utility of Urban Space through Youth Involvement in Planning and Employment

Laura Lawson
Berkeley Youth Alternatives Community Garden Patch and Youth Employment Landscape Program
Berkeley, California USA

Marcia McNally
Berkeley Youth Alternatives Community Garden Patch
Berkeley, California USA

Citation: Lawson, Laura and Marcia McNally (1995). "Putting Teens at the Center: Maximizing Public Utility of Urban Space through Youth Involvement in Planning and Employment." Children's Environments 12 (2): 45-65. Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

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Abstract

Including teens' needs in the planning and maintenance of urban open space suggests new methods of layering utility and maximizing benefit to teens and community. Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA) offers two programs that attract youth through employment, and as a result provide at-risk teens with income, job-training, safe after-school activity and self-esteem. This paper discusses the BYA Youth Employment Landscape Program and BYA Community Garden Patch. Program descriptions and evaluation provide future direction for similar projects.

Keywords: youth employment, multi-functional urban open space, youth market garden, landscape maintenance program