A Place of Their Own in Turbulent Times

“As a teenager, you don’t always want to share a room with your mother, brothers and sisters.” Marianne van Bochove doesn’t have to think long when asked why the Creating a Place for and with Ukrainian Youth project is so important. As part of the Urban Social Development research group, she works with Ukrainian young people at reception centres in The Hague and Zoetermeer to create a place where they can relax and spend time together.

Being able to participate. Being taken seriously. Having a say. That is what social justice means to Marianne. “Equal opportunities also mean removing structural barriers. As a researcher, you can ask questions and write down what is going wrong, but you can also design and build with the young people. In this project, we want to give a voice to people who are often not heard and let them decide what happens. And yes, of course, we also document our findings in a report.”

When you give young people trust, a lot of good things happen.

Reception centres often come with all kinds of rules, uncertainties and dependencies. That is precisely why the researchers felt it was particularly important to give the young people responsibility in this area. It worked out very well. “We tend to think in terms of risks, but when you give young people trust, a lot of good things happen.”

A place of their own for teenagers

The project began in The Hague, at a reception centre for people from Ukraine. Previous research by lecturer-researcher Stefanie Schuddebeurs had shown that teenagers in particular felt the need for a place of their own. There were already play areas for younger children, but there was hardly anything for teenagers. “And this is precisely the stage when they are developing their identity,” Marianne explains. “As a teenager, you don’t want to be around your family all the time. You need some space of your own.”

A colourful wall and a table tennis table

The team got to work together with the young people, starting with conversations and mood boards. What colours do you like? What is missing here? Then the real work began. A partition wall was installed in an existing room, and Built Environment students worked with the young people to brighten up the space themselves. A few of the girls, for example, created beautiful murals. With sponsorship from several Rotary Clubs, they bought second-hand furniture, as well as a table tennis table and a projector.

The space is now being used extensively, exactly as intended. Young people meet there, watch films or come to play table tennis. Student assistant Anastasiia Navaliana lives at the reception centre herself. As a researcher, she monitors how the meeting place is being used: do the young people feel a sense of ownership, and do they keep the space tidy? The answer is yes.

Even at weekends

The project’s approach is distinctive, with young people and researchers actively working side by side. “Sometimes I even go there at the weekend. You have to adapt a little to the young people’s schedules,” Marianne laughs. “Working together like this is incredibly valuable. These young people happen to be living in the same place, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they naturally connect with one another. While building together, you can feel a sense of community developing, both among the young people themselves and between them and us.”

A covered outdoor space in Zoetermeer

The same process is now taking place at the reception centre in Zoetermeer, where the young people are slightly older and more often male. They wanted a covered outdoor area where they could sit and stay dry. After all, as one of the boys observed, “The Netherlands is a beautiful country, but it rains every five minutes.” So together they chose a garden shed with a covered area, which they are now assembling.

As a researcher, you sometimes see potential problems, but then the principle really is: the young people decide.

For the researchers, the key is learning to adapt. Marianne explains: “Sometimes you see potential problems when you hear their ideas. For example, we would have preferred just a canopy rather than a shed that can be locked. We want the space to remain accessible to everyone. But the principle really is: the young people decide. It is their place.”

That other shade of green after all

There was also a discussion about the colour of a freshly painted wall in The Hague. Green, yes, but not this shade of green. “It might seem like a small thing,” Marianne says, “and we were so happy that the wall had finally been painted. But what matters is that the young people feel: we had a say in this, this belongs to us.” And so the young people repainted the wall in the other shade of green.