Children and youth in cities

This workshop aims to present CYCLES for Sustainability, a global research project by UNEP and SLRG aimed at advancing our understanding of consumption among children and young urban consumers aged 12 to 24 living in 21 cities in the 21st century. CYCLES for Sustainability aims to shed light on the complex processes of urban youth consumption, to better inform policy makers, city planners, youth advocates, schools and businesses who are working to meet the needs of young city residents, and to support children and young people to achieve more sustainable lives.

• Share and agree upon the project’s broad objectives and the research aims of the global survey, including the proposed cities, design, methodology, and content of the new survey, highlighting how it builds on the Global Survey on Sustainable Lifestyles (GSSL) – a survey that involved 8000 young urban adults from 20 countries, which was jointly developed by UNEP and the Task Force on Sustainable Lifestyles (led by the Swedish Ministry of the Environment) in the framework of the Marrakech Process on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP);
• Present the project’s infrastructure and means of implementation, including the proposed timeline of activities and milestones, identification of funding strategies and potential international, regional and national partnerships; 
• Gather insights on existing relevant youth and sustainable lifestyles research and highlight research gaps by regions to better inform regional priority areas in sustainable lifestyles; and 
• Establish the survey’s advisory panel members, identify outcomes and activities of this panel and the most effective means of communication, particularly for the next two years (2014-2016).

Participants

• Read more about the SLRG CYCLES project
• Sustainable consumption and lifestyles? Children and youth in cities, in World Social Science Report 2013: Changing Global Environments, International Social Science Council/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2013).
• Executive Summary of the UNEP Global Survey on Sustainable Lifestyles: Visions for Change: Recommendations for Effective Policies on Sustainable Lifestyles (UNEP, 2011). Full document can be accessed here.