Conceptualising street youth lived resilience in African cities

Datos Bibliográficos

ID19224846
AutoresLorraine Van Blerk (0000-0003-1792-2354, University of Cape Town, autor de correspondencia), Janine Hunter (0000-0002-8718-2243, University of Dundee), Wayne Shand (0000-0002-1901-562X, Center for Global Development), Badru Bukenya (0000-0002-6851-795X, Makerere University), Lucy Jamieson (0000-0002-4821-4433, University of Cape Town), L Theron (0000-0002-3979-5782, University of Pretoria)
Año2026
Páginas1-15
Fecha de publicación2026-05-29
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaChildren s Geographies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1473-3277 • E-ISSN: 1473-3285
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14733285.2026.2673859
OpenAlexW7162804473
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas38

Youth, embedded in street life in African cities, experience multiple daily and longer-term stressors which impact their socio-economic circumstances and capacities to meet their basic needs. Urban contexts of high unemployment, inequality, and poverty result in homeless youth, often with incomplete schooling, unable to secure a decent living through hustling in the informal economy, access safe spaces to sleep, nutritious food, and subject to violence or arrest. Yet, street youth are resilient, employing creative tactics to overcome challenges and build strategies for life endurance. This paper draws on 18 focus groups with 199 young people living on the streets in three diverse African cities to explore the nuances of their resilience. When exposed to significant stress, street youth mobilise relational, institutional, and contextual resources to be resilient. The paper, therefore, conceptualises resilience as a lived process that goes beyond traditional understandings of personal resilience, over space and time. Street youth ‘lived resiliencies’ are grounded in the social and economic fabric of cities and are deployed to overcome multiple difficulties. The paper concludes by translating co-responsibility for street youth lived resiliencies towards policy and practice communities

Lived experience · Narrative · Placemaking · Psychological resilience · Resilience (materials science) · Vulnerability (computing) · Homelessness and Social Issues · Resilience and Mental Health · Urban and Rural Development Challenges