ABSTRACT
‘Full participation of young people in civic and political life is an increasing challenge, in light of the gap between youth and the institutions’. This chapter discusses the assumption that the strong presence of and guidance by adults is a major reason why many young people do not engage in formal youth participation. It is based on data on formal settings of youth participation collected in the framework of project ‘Spaces and Styles of Participation’ in eight European cities: Bologna, Eskisehir, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Manchester, Plovdiv, Rennes and Zurich. The chapter provides a brief review of existing research on adult-led youth participation. It outlines the methodology underlying the analysis of data before introducing the analysed settings and contextualising them in the respective city contexts and local constellations of youth policy. The chapter analyses empirical data from ethnographic case studies.
