Key UC Contacts
What We Did
How can cities support young people to live well in sustainable, low carbon ways? This is a question asked of young people in Ōtautahi Christchurch and six other world cities in a study led by Professor Bronwyn Hayward with Dr Kate Prendergast (Department of Political Science and International Relations). The researchers from seven institutions used focus group interviews, photo diaries, and an online city wide survey to understand the everyday sustainability and wellbeing experiences of 12 to 24 year olds living in Christchurch. Young people told us about the food they eat (and where they get it from), about how they get around the city (and get-away), how they spend their leisure time, what their home life is like, about work and school, about their wellbeing, and political engagement.
Who Was Involved
The study was led by UC with Hayward a Co Primary investigator with the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of Surrey (director Prof Tim Jackson). The study was funded by the UK Economic and Social Research council and involved 365 young people. The survey and focus group results were shared with the Christchurch City Council Libraries, local schools and community groups who have supported this study of young people in Ōtautahi Christchurch and results toured four of the city libraries (Turanga, Halswell New Brighton and Riccarton) in 2020. The study compared the results of Christchurch youth with findings of 6 world cities. Our international research partners w include Akatu (Brazil); National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan); Rhodes University (South Africa); Sweccha (India); University of Surrey (UK).
Why It Matters
Research about young lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch supports a local and global focus on sustainable urbanisation and youth wellbeing. Globally, cities are key sites of resource consumption. Cities cover just three percent of the world’s land, but they account for 75% of the world’s resource use and emissions. Cities are also increasingly youthful places. By 2050, seven out of ten young people will live in urban areas. How young people live in the future in cities will drive much of our sustainability effort. We also know that globally many young people are struggling with mental health and wellbeing challenges. Our research provides insight into the conditions that enable and constrain young people to live well in Ōtautahi Christchurch and identifies pragmatic ways for the city to support young people to live well in sustainable ways.
Learn More
Find out more at:
- https://www.cusp.ac.uk/themes/s1/cycles/ or https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/arts/research/scci/
- Burningham, K., Venn, S., Hayward, B., Nissen, S., Aoyagi, M., Hasan, M. M., . . . Yoshida, A. (2020). Ethics in context: Essential flexibility in an international photo-elicitation project with children and young people. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 23(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2019.1672282
- Nissen, S., Prendergast, K., Aoyagi, M., Burningham, K., Hasan, M. M., Hayward, B., Jackson, T., Jha, V., Mattar, H., Schudel, I., Venn, S. and Yoshida, A. (2020). 'Young People and Environmental Affordances in Urban Sustainable Development: Insights into Transport and Green and Public Space in Seven Cities', Sustainable Earth, 3 (1), 17. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s42055-020-00039-w
- Prendergast, K., Hayward, B., Aoyagi, M., Burningham, K., Hasan, M. M., Jackson, T., Jha, V., Kuroki, L., Loukianov, A., Mattar, H., Schudel, I., Venn, S. and Yoshida, A. (2021). 'Youth Attitudes and Participation in Climate Protest: An International Cities Comparison Frontiers in Political Science Special Issue: Youth Activism in Environmental Politics', Frontiers in Political Science, 3 (107). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpos.2021.696105
- Prendergast, K., & Hayward, B. (Forthcoming). Urban youth wellbeing, citizenship and sustainability. In A. Kamp, C. Brown, T. McMenamin & V. O’Toole (Eds.), Wellbeing: Global Policies and Perspectives. Oxford: Peter Lang.
