Participation as a Possible Strategy of Post-Disaster Resilience: Young People and Mobility in L'Aquila (Italy)

The aim of this paper is to present the early results of a survey conducted by a group of young people, aged between 16 and 30, on the subject of mobility in the area of L’Aquila, which was deeply affected in its urban and territorial configuration following the earthquake that struck the city in April 2009. The group is called “Move Your City” and was created as part of a European project on Youth Participatory Budgeting promoted by the Department of Participation of the Municipality of L’Aquila. The use of participatory methodologies is based on the idea that problems cannot be dealt with without taking into account the points of view of those who are affected by them. In this respect, young people represent the category that is most affected by the current problems of mobility in L’Aquila. With a participatory approach and through post- disaster resilience strategies, the team involved 1,240 students upper secondary schools and universities, with the aim to prepare a report on urban mobility in relation to the student habits in terms of leisure and places of socialisation. The second stage of the research involved high school students, leading, through techniques of participation, the return of the questionnaire results.