Re-generation games: The politics of childhood in urban renewal

Both in its ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in its policies on urban renewal, the UK Government has committed itself to realizing children’s participation in decision-making. Critically reflecting on the author’s experience as a secondee from an NGO to a government regeneration project, this paper investigates the politics of childhood in urban renewal, illustrating the gap between rhetoric and reality and examining what needs to change to ensure that children really benefit. It highlights the double exclusion from regeneration processes and outcomes that children on neighbourhood estates experience in terms of social class and ‘generation’. While noting the qualified progress made in tackling class-based exclusion of adults through the development of local accountability, it suggests how this can be complemented by extending accountability to children. Lastly, it asks what roles the big UK children’s charities can play in supporting this.