Children's spatial engagement can still remain somewhat overlooked as an explanatory tool in the context of policy and practice, despite our knowledge of childhood as both socially constructed (James and Prout, Reference James and Prout1990) and spatially disparate (Matthews and Limb, Reference Matthews and Limb1999: Matthews, Reference Matthews2003). Responding to the call for more policy relevant discussions, this book successfully fuses the ‘useful’ with the: ‘interesting, enabling, inspiring, vibrant, exciting, affecting, and cool’ (Horton and Kraftl, Reference Horton and Kraftl2005: 133). Usefully underpinned by the interdisciplinary New Social Studies of Childhood and the sub-discipline of Children's Geographies, the shaping of children and young people's lives by the often under-discussed spatial dimension is clearly demonstrated. With government strategies argued as inherently spatialised, a symbiotic relationship with space, place, scale and networks is also cemented through a comprehensive range of policy themes. Subsequently, this book is likely to be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in a range of disciplines, including human geography, social policy and social work.

Organised into three themes, this coherent volume furthers our understandings of how childhood and youth can both impact, and be impacted by, policies and practices. In part I the geographical impact of national policy design and implementation is examined. Jessica Pykett juxtaposes English citizenship education with neuroeducation in chapter 2, critically evaluating the context of learning spaces within schools. In chapter 3, Nicola Ansell, Flora Hajdu, Elsbeth Robson, Lorraine van Blerk and Elodie Marandet use youth policy strategies from Malawi and Lesotho alongside UNESCO guidance to examine youth policy, neoliberalism and transnational governmentality. With evidence of governmentality in youth policy, they connect wider disparities with national policy incoherence and deprioritisation. In chapter 4, Bethan Evans and Emma-Jay Honeyford consider how sustainable development policy connects with children and young people in the UK. While examining the ‘temporal logic’ of policy participation, the prevalence of future adulthood manifestations remain apparent. Finally, the informal education of youth work is examined by Richard Davies in chapter 5, discussing how ethical, spatial and temporal dimensions can provide alternative understandings to dominant political discourses, such as the behavioural modification of abject youth.

Part II considers how education and employment policies can influence children and young people's daily lives, starting with chapter 6 where Gavin Brown discusses the impact of widening participation policies on low income young people in the UK. Aspirational discourses are contextualised through different scales, with notions of ‘broadening horizons’ being suggested as more useful. In chapter 7, Susie Weller considers the impact of educational policy on children's geographies. The interaction between national level policies and local social capital is examined, with the spatial reach of educational journeys suggested as reproducing social inequalities. In chapter 8, Jo Pike and Derek Colquhoun discuss how children's health and well-being is symbolised through school meal policies, with the territorialisation of childrens’ lunchtimes suggested as supporting healthy eating agendas in the UK. Finally, in chapter 9, Isabel Cartwright calls for a more symbiotic relationship between formal educational settings and local communities, using a spatially flexible, informal educational lens to critique UK and Western formal education.

The third part of this book examines the geographical impact on children and young people's daily local lives through the policy process, starting with chapter 10 where John Barker considers children's participation in transport planning. Considering scale with mobility, ‘nested’ hierarchical spatial approaches are challenged, with the call for increased interconnectedness. In chapter 11, Laura Novo de Azevedo argues for an increased critical engagement of young people in the primarily adult domain of Brazilian heritage conservation, highlighting widespread benefits that could be available through the abandonment of piecemeal involvement. In chapter 12, Alexandra Cox discusses notions of responsibilisation within US criminal regulatory spaces. It is suggested how more meaningful and holistic considerations of convicted young people's growth and development could be made within a system often found to be rigid. In chapter 13, Eleanor Jupp examines how English Sure Start Centres connect with both the home lives of users and a wider policy context. To effectively nuance provision in England, an increased consideration of ‘parenting geographies’ is suggested as crucial. In chapter 14, Peter K. Mackie provides a socio-spatial exploration of youth homelessness in Wales, using the under-represented perspectives of place, networks and mobility to argue for improvements in choice, the meeting of needs and equality. In the penultimate chapter by Amy Norman, dominant discourses of HIV/AIDS in South Africa are examined, with an increased consideration of holistic childhood-centred policies usefully suggested.

A real strength of this book is its use of each chapter as a springboard, allowing distinctive conceptual issues to be introduced and then developed. The successful fusion of pertinent geographical concepts with varied policy sectors also heightens the importance of this text, raising its appeal to a wider audience. Such strength is strongly underpinned by the editors’ convincing arguments in the first and final chapters for an increased dialogue between the inextricably connected areas of policy, practice and Children's Geographies. Although Kraftl, Horton and Tucker describe the dual themes of critical geography and critical discourse analysis as permeating this volume, its breadth and coherence also mark it out as critical reading for a robust understanding of the lives of children and young people. Aspiring to foster discussions with: ‘academics, policy-makers, activists and community groups’ (Kraftl et al., 2012: 269), the accessibility of these very important discussions has in no way forfeited their quality.