Youth Participation in Transportation Planning: The City of Toronto’s Youth Engagement Strategy

Utilizing the principles of critical discourse analysis (CDA), I decode the power relations embedded in the 2015 City of Toronto’s Youth Engagement Strategy report to allow for a solid understanding of the framework used by planners in their proposed “engagement” with youth and in (dis)locating “transportation” in their planning (or non-planning) for youth. With the report stating transit and transportation as the leading issue the youth care about, I argue the misconception that the youth of today are not concerned with transportation planning. The traditional adult-oriented approach to transportation planning has served the youth by default, and this is very concerning. The youth deserve to be invited into the decision-making process as well as informed as to the impact of their participation. We cannot call for youth participation if that participation does not have meaning. The City of Toronto’s Planning Division needs to invite youth voices if they are prepared to listen to them. Youth participation is a promise we make to young people. Their idealism, strength, and creativity are a gift to us, and we need to treat it as such.