{"id":259820,"date":"2026-08-05T18:34:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T18:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/259820\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T18:34:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T18:34:37","slug":"philadelphia-teens-call-for-more-gathering-spaces-as-malls-parks-turn-them-away-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/259820\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Teens Call for More Gathering Spaces as Malls, Parks Turn Them Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia<\/a> teens say they’re being barred from common public spaces like malls, campuses, parks, and fast-food venues, fueling calls for \u201cthird spaces\u201d where youth can gather without heavy supervision. Now, a group of local students is lobbying city leaders to invest in specific gathering spaces where youth are actually welcome.<\/p>\n

To that end, the students are producing a video segment for PSTV, the School District of Philadelphia’s television station, highlighting what researchers refer to as \u201cthird spaces,\u201d places other than work or school where people can spend time. Experts say third spaces can reduce stress, boost confidence, and improve academic motivation.<\/p>\n

Riyaz Brown-Cheeseboro, 17, told Chalkbeat Philadelphia<\/a> that when she walked into Center City’s Fashion District mall earlier this year to do some afternoon shopping alone, mall security asked her to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked me for an ID, they walked me away, and I didn’t really know why,\u201d Brown-Cheeseboro said.<\/p>\n

Other teens reported similar sentiments across places such as Center City parks and other venues. They also noted that many city-operated spaces for young people are not well maintained.<\/p>\n

According to the Northeast Times<\/a>, in 2017, the city invested more than $500 million to refurbish 72 recreation centers, parks, and libraries through the Rebuild project. Just a little more than half of these projects were completed nearly a decade later, according to a 2026 progress report.<\/p>\n

The debate about what to do with youth comes as juvenile crime charges fell about 20% from 2024 to 2025. It’s a trend that some advocates say should shift emphasis toward creating welcoming spaces rather than tightening policing.<\/p>\n

Capt. Brian Sprowal of the 22nd District said that while police provide necessary safeguards for large groups of young people, he supports teens gathering. \u201cI’m all for a meeting up, I’m all for kids being kids and doing what it is they like to do and engaging,\u201d he told the Times. \u201cHowever, sometimes history has shown us that without that supervision or without that guardianship, things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its defense, Philadelphia currently hosts sanctioned teen events like takeovers and Summer Night Lights, and offers evening resource centers, according to the Times. Despite these offerings, young people say they favor unstructured spaces such as the Field Teen Center and Ginger Arts Center for casual social time.<\/p>\n

The student documentary on \u201cthird spaces\u201d will be screened, alongside other participant work, at WHYY on Wednesday, Aug. 5, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Registration is free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia teens say they’re being barred from common public spaces like malls, campuses, parks, and fast-food venues, fueling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-259820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}