Negotiating Alternative Public Spaces: The Spatial Encounters of Young People in the West Island of Montreal

Abstract

This thesis engages in an initial exploration of the spatial experiences of older youth in the suburbs of the West Island of Montreal. Adopting a Lefebvrian spatial lens, the goal of this thesis is to outline the characteristics of the lived experiences of older middle class youth in a constructed suburban environment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in a largely Anglophone college with students aged 18 to 19 years of age. I begin my thesis by reviewing the literature on urban youth geographies, aimed at analyzing the influence of the built urban environment. I argue that the suburban experiences of older youth varies from those of children, inner city youth, and marginalized youth who are most represented in the literature. Then, I present the important considerations of doing research with youth participants and the ways in which my conceived methods were altered during my fieldwork, leading to adjustments in sampling, and subsequent impacts on the conclusions of this thesis. I continue by presenting the themes that emerged during the interviews, which I illustrate by sharing the reflections and everyday experiences of participants. From these accounts, I draw links between the similarities and differences among participants, the literature, and Lefebvre's theories. In this analysis, I reflect upon the differences between available youth literatures and the young people from my sample, leading me to further explore broader literatures that enable me to contextualize more characteristics of my sample and concepts related to the lack of illegitimate spaces in the suburbs, the significance of private space in the suburban environment, play, resistance, and the use of alternative spaces, in a way that differs from the accounts from marginalized urban youth literatures. I argue that the young people from my sample feel less marginalized, therefore engaging in less obvious forms of resistance, while still finding ways to shape their identities and play while being limited by some of the conditions of the built suburban environment.