Lovers and City A Study about Youth and Uses of Public Spaces

There has been a huge concern about the manner of confrontations of different social groups with urban public spaces within urban scholars. Among these social groups, young people have been particularly important. Because they have a tangible presence in the city's public spaces and social life of the city are affected by their presence. This paper examines the uses of public spaces by young people and will pay special attention to the role of social control on use of public spaces. Paper focuses on the study of young people who attend in public places with their friends from opposite sex. We have inspired by theories of urban public spaces such as Oldenburg's third place as well as comprehensive research of Rob White on crime, policing and urban public spaces in Australia in this paper. The main question of the paper is that this particular group of young people choose which public spaces and why? In a qualitative approach, two techniques of observation and in - depth interviews have been chosen for collecting data. Original data collected in interviews with 20 girls and boys who attend in public places with their friends from opposite sex. Results show that parks and coffee shops are preferred urban public places of youth. Formal control would push these youth to out of the way and cozy public spaces.