ABSTRACT
Exploring the ways in which youth use and occupy geographical spaces is an important strand of research for the field of youth studies. Work in this area raises important social, cultural, and political questions and suggests that access to space both reflects and produces social arrangements (see, e.g., Goss, 1993; Hil & Bessant, 1999, p. 44; Shildrick, Blackman, & MacDonald, 2009; Vanderbeck & Johnson, 2000). For many youth, the suburban shopping mall has become an important material and symbolic space where they learn to negotiate relationships, participate in the workforce, discover citizenship rights, engage in creative expression, and perform acts of resistance (see, e.g., Anthony, 1985; Flint, 2006; Gray, 2007; Vanderbeck & Johnson, 2000; Voyce, 2006). Malls are also places where youth experience independence and explore the limits of this. Within this context, the suburban shopping mall has become an important point of departure to understand how youth engage with various spaces and how adults challenge this utilization by governing their autonomy. Research in this area, then, highlights critical issues and tensions around citizenship, consumption, spatiality, access, exclusion, and regulation (Valentine, 1996b).
