Description
Recent social movements following the aftermath of the Arab Spring in the city of Amman have illustrated the central role of human agency and the urban public space as a platform signifying the public struggle for democratic transformation. The current political and urban landscape in Amman calls for (re)shaping urban discourse and (re)structuring power relations and urban policies while taking into account its diverse sociodemographic characteristics. This paper presents the voices of youth participants (aged 18-35), who make up the majority of the total youthful population across the diverse host and migrant community in Amman, in response to the tightening grip of systemic processes, tokenistic forms of engagement and pressing social, economic and political inequality –in relation to the urban public space. Additionally, this paper presents youth participant perspectives on how urban public space can serve as a platform for democratic transformation and its influence on building or hindering social cohesion and inclusion, as it intersects with notions of identity, belonging and active citizenship. Drawing from constructivist approaches, this paper argues that mobilizing youth in urban politics and activating the public space as a platform for social, cultural and political activity are instrumental for shaping planning processes and fostering democratic transformation. Furthermore, the argument highlights a need for such a mechanism to be treated by governance structures as an asset as opposed to a threat to social order. The analysis shows that the central argument of this paper is conductive for governance structures such as Greater Amman Municipality, to support their capacity to create the sustained institutional and physical space to support mobilization in urban politics and in urban public space and in doing so to gain public trust and collaboration, which are essential to building a Just City.
