Youth participation in environmental issues: A study with Italian adolescents

• Authors: Sonia Brondi , Mauro Sarrica , Alessio Nencini
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The present paper aims to stress the role that young people play as ‘actual citizens’, actively engaged in constructing the meaning-and-actions that define their own participation in the community. The case examined is the Chiampo Valley, in the North-East of Italy. This area is the most important tannery district in Europe and has serious problems concerning industrial waste management. By means of a questionnaire, we focus on the way 229 secondary school students perceive themselves as members of the local community, on what they see as being priorities in their own context, and on the contributions that they may make to addressing environmental issues. The results suggest that it is important for local institutions to give a voice to young people-as they themselves require-by developing participatory processes in institutional decision-making regarding environmental policies and-in general-the life of the community.

Keywords

EN

youth participation; environmental issues; sense of belonging; social well-being

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 390-404

Dates

published

2012-07-01

online

2012-06-25

Contributors

author

Sonia Brondi

• Institution University of Padua

author

Mauro Sarrica

• University of Rome

author

Alessio Nencini

• University of Verona

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/s13374-012-0032-1