The role of youth in the sustainable urban development: diagnosis of problems and prospects.

The issues of how internal resources and social activity within urban community influence sustainable city development is highly relevant today. In this context, youth are recognized as resources and active participants in shaping and transforming urban spaces. This engagement is facilitated by involving members of youth organizations in social governance processes. A systematic and coordinated interaction between urban communities and government authorities is used to coordinate development goals, to determine priorities and to address emerging challenges. Besides that, it enables a transition from passive management to a more integrated involvement of all potential participants in social governance, clearly defining their roles in tackling urban development issues. This study aims to identify the reasons for low social activity among youth, evaluate their readiness to address social problems in cooperation with authorities, and assess their actual participation in governance. Furthermore, it seeks to determine mechanisms for socially regulating youth communities’ influence on sustainable urban development. The methodology is based on the synthesis of ideas created in the fields of sociology and urban studies, including studies of youth and their activity, social management, urban space, which have found justification in the domestic and foreign scientific researches devoted to the inclusion of youth communities in the development of the city. The empirical basis of this study is a survey conducted among students (n = 380) to examine their social activity and willingness to engage in solutions for urban development. Additional to this, a structured analysis of official websites of youth organizations reveals the features of youth communities’ organization, functioning, and interactions with city’s governing bodies. The study identifies social governance issues associated with youth involvement in city development, determines the potential for youth participation in urban decision-making processes, and proposes an action plan to engage youth in activities that promote harmonious urban development. The theoretical justification, empirical verification and identifying the mechanisms to stimulate youth activity offer practical value for enhancing the effectiveness of youth organizations. The results obtained can be useful to researchers studying this issue, as well as practitioners involved in designing and implementing municipal youth policies.

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