Where is a Philadelphia teenager supposed to hang out?

As hundreds of teenagers gathered at the Fashion District one night last week, so did the police. What happened next is disputed, even among the police; some officers initially said the kids threw rocks and stomped on cruisers, while other police reports had no mention of this kind of disorder.

But after the chaotic evening, one thing was clear: There are not enough safe and accessible public spaces for teenagers and youth to hang out in Philadelphia.

“Are there opportunities for young people to come together and engage with things that they wanna engage in?” said Marcía Hopkins, director of youth advocacy at the Juvenile Law Center. “I would say [in] our city, there’s not that many spaces for [that].”

Finding a public space to hang out or meet up with friends is hard for anyone in Philadelphia right now. If you’re an adult, there are always restaurants and bars to fall back on, but what options does a high schooler have?

Center City businesses have been known to display signs discouraging using backpacks or shopping in groups. Other businesses, such as the Round1 arcade, require an ID for admission. These are clear signals to groups of young people: They are not welcome here.

Nikia Owens, president of the nonprofit Campaign for Working Families and a former city employee overseeing youth outreach, put things simply:

“They don’t have hardly anything for young people here.”

Compared with other large cities, Philadelphia does not significantly invest in public spaces. The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit working on public space preservation, publishes an annual “ParkScore” index report, comparing the park systems of the 100 most populous American cities.

In 2022, Philadelphia ranked 32nd overall, highlighted by the fact that 95% of Philadelphians lived within a half-mile of a park, one of the best marks of any city. But Philly fell behind with its monetary investment — TPL calculated that the city spent only $73 per capita on parks and recreation, while the national average is $98.

“It means that our public spaces don’t get the kind of maintenance that they require, which makes them less attractive to hang out in. It means that they close maybe when they don’t need to be closed,” said Conrad Benner, creator of the popular StreetsDept photo blog.

“You can’t even go to a lot of the rec centers and play in the yard because there’s needles and other things,” said Owens, also a former youth probation officer. “So that’s not really a viable space.”

One public space that seemingly would be ideal for teenagers hanging out after school or on the weekends is the Free Library, with safe, accessible locations and ample programming. But even with recent increases to the Free Library budget, the entire system is massively underfunded and offers limited hours, still reeling after budget cuts in 2020.

School closures contribute to this lack of space, too. In 2012 and 2013, the School District shuttered 30 schools, mostly in North Philly and West Philly. That meant closing large spaces that are entrenched in those communities, which could otherwise have been used as a gathering space after school or on evenings and weekends for students and their families.

“Are they really analyzing if our city has spaces where young people can actually celebrate or enjoy themselves or be in large numbers [safely]? I don’t know if they’re asking that question,” Hopkins said.

“Public spaces require public funding,” Benner said. “We need federal dollars, we need state dollars, and we need people in positions of power to really champion that.”

» READ MORE: Philadelphia is allowing its libraries to wither and rot | Opinion

The lack of financial investment and commitment is one part of the problem, but Owens explained that building more adequate public spaces for teenagers also requires a shift in mentality. Adults with the capacity to make these changes have to listen to youth and design spaces and amenities that they actually want to engage with.

“You have to meet kids where they are,” she said.

Owens suggested indoor skating rinks or teen-only clubs as possibilities for new spaces in Philly. Benner mentioned an arcade, but he also knows that the answers can’t come from just the minds of adults.

“I don’t know what kids want. I don’t know what kids are doing,” he said. “If we really want to create spaces that are for kids — talk to the kids, build it with the kids.”

That means trusting the city’s youth. Owens says she believes that the city or small-business owners shouldn’t avoid building spaces because they think kids will end up defacing or mistreating them.

“You have to meet kids where they are.”

“We say, ‘Kids, they don’t know how to act. They don’t know how to treat stuff.’ But we never give them an opportunity to do that,” she said, explaining how not having these spaces communicates a similar message to youth. “‘You’re not worthy of these things.’”

Owens said that investing in these spaces and trusting youth to shape and maintain them shows Philadelphia’s next generation that they matter. A well-maintained, fully staffed, accessible library or arcade is more than just that; it is evidence that someone cares about them.

“You have to get these kids and [then] have caring adults that are gonna speak life into [them] and encourage these young people so that they don’t turn to the gang in their neighborhood, or turn to X, Y, and Z,” she said.

“Now, don’t get me wrong, you’re not gonna save everybody. But I tell you one thing, you’re gonna save a lot of ‘em.”