Leisure Spaces and the Use of Free Time among Youth in the New City of Ali Mendjeli – Constantine : Field Study of a Sample of Secondary School Students

Our main research questions focus on how school-aged youth understand or perceive their free time, as well as on the ways they occupy this free time according to various social variables such as age, gender, place of residence, and the family’s economic and educational level, among others. Of particular interest to us is the analysis of the meanings and interpretations that young people give to their behaviors during leisure and free time, within a context of socialization and discourses marked by a fear of idleness, which continue to impose a form of hegemony and control and sometimes act as obstacles to the expression of youth autonomy.

Given the lived urban context, our study will highlight the ways in which free time is used and the related issues, on the one hand, as well as the availability of leisure and recreational spaces or services, and the role played by associations and social actors in our cities, particularly in the new city of Ali Mendjeli in Constantine, which constitutes our study site.

We will rely on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies for data collection from a sample of secondary school students. Free time will be defined methodically by comparing it to the dominant time quantitatively (time spent at school), which will allow us to track the practices and activities of school-aged youth during their free time, as well as what they themselves consider recreational.