(Re) centre youths in city planning

Spatial barriers, which translate into transport and data costs, put financial strain on job-seekers

- Stuart Morrison

The African Union estimates that about 60% of Africa's population will live in urban areas by 2030. This highlights the importance of urban spaces in the governance discourse. One of the unique elements of Africa's urbanisation is that, demographically, the cities are very young.

For example, in South Africa, youth (defined as ages 15 to 35) make up just over 34% of the population. Of this percentage, the National Youth Development Agency estimates that roughly 63.4% live in urban areas, specifically in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

Despite young people making up a significant demographic in cities, youth are often excluded from policy and decision-making processes. Furthermore they are more vulnerable to some of the most acute problems that have come with urbanisation such as unemployment, poverty and violence. For instance, according to the most recent Labour Force Survey (Q4 2024) 44.6% of young people are unemployed in South Africa; this translates to roughly 4.7 million people.

As 16 June, South Africa's national youth day, approaches, we should reflect on how we can do better for young people and, more specifically, how our cities can be (re)designed to address some of the key challenges that young people face.

Urban planning is important for how cities function and develop over time. This in turn has an effect on other governance focuses from access to and quality of service delivery, quality of life and addressing socio-economic issues. But cities do not exist in a vacuum and thus decisions that were taken in the past continue to shape the present and future.