Listening to the Young : Engaging Children in Citizen Dialouge for Sustainable Mobility

Sammanfattning

This report aims to investigate how children can be effectively included in Skåne County's municipal planning processes, with a particular focus on reducing car dependency. An issue recurring often is planning for children rather than with them, which can be problematic when seeking children’sopinions. There is a lack of research covering this problem in both the Swedish context and countries where the Children Convention is law. The study is based on the theoretical frameworks of intergenerational justice combined with selected Sustainable Development Goals. Using a qualitative approach, the study combines a literature review with fourteen semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis. The literature review maps existing research on children's participation and sustainable mobility, while thematic analysis of interview data identifies further challenges and opportunities. Results of the study exhibit challenges with access to children’s insights, power imbalances and lack of guidelines, while lack of limiting measures for car usage poses a threat to sustainable mobility. Opportunities for including children in planning processes can be created through new initiatives and projects andserve as an inspiration source for the municipality and other authorities. The main conclusions of the study indicate that children's participation is limited due to unclear guidelines, better cooperation, and resource constraints.