Ep. 483: Youthful Cities: Attracting and retaining a young population
Guest: Robert Barnard, Co-founder and President of Youthful Cities
How a city attracts young adults to live and work matters.
Robert Barnard, the founder of Youthful Cities, says, “Young adults are vital today and into the future. Attracting young people is important. Equally [as] important is retention – that is, keeping their residents in the city.” On that account, Vancouver is good at attracting but not so good at retaining.
This is a problem, says Barnard. “The vitality of a city is embodied in the young people it attracts to live and work. The key to attracting young people is ensuring cities meet their needs and today, those needs include housing costs, transportation and a commitment to values such as the environment. Essential to keeping those same people are liveable salaries and affordable housing.”
According to Barnard, “COVID-19 dramatically impacted young adults' ability to secure jobs and job skills.” That, in turn, will compound the already decreasing ratio of working-age young people to seniors. Barnard goes on to say, “The impact of the pandemic also means young people have higher levels of debt and housing insecurity.” Youthful Cities has developed a research program called DEVlab, which examines the workforce and skill development gaps of 15- to 29-year-olds impacted by COVID and how to meet those needs.
We invited Robert Barnard of Youthful Cities to join us for a Conversation That Matters about how we engage young people in the building of better cities.
Want to learn more about our guest?
Check out their profile on our partnered program, Careers That Matter!
