Oikeus oleskella?

Hengailua kauppakeskuksen näkyvillä ja näkymättömillä rajoilla

Abstract

In shopping centres, boundaries between public and
private spaces are often blurred. In this article, the
interpretations of appropriate ways to use space
are discussed by analysing both formal and informal
regulations considering young people’s hanging out.
The Kamppi shopping centre, located in the city centre
of Helsinki, is used as a case in this research. The
empirical material consists of young people’s interviews,
researchers’ observations and of some interviews
conducted with representatives of the shopping
centre and the police. Young people’s presence
has caused confrontations between the surveillance
personnel and the young people themselves. In this
article, visible means to exclude certain people from
the shopping centre are investigated and some more
hidden codes of conduct are analysed. Strategies
of exclusion have been justified by the size of the
crowds of young people, the noise they make and
the space they take from other people. The article
is concluded by raising questions of young people’s
position in the contemporary society where their
free mobility and their independent use of space
are often problematic. Hanging out challenges the
idea of scheduling young people’s free time. By doing
so, it also highlights the meaning of social interaction
in the process of identity construction in young
people’s lives.