The article considers the formulation of research problems in social participation of youth in urban development and search of theoretical grounds for its further scientific development. The relevance is determined by the request to understand the directions of transformation of institutionalized practices for working with young people in the management system of cities, educational organizations, culture and social protection, which increasingly come into conflict with the lives of young people. The purpose of the article is to reveal the existing research perspectives of urban youth involvement in the socio-cultural development of cities in order to determine the characteristics of social participation phenomenon and develop theoretical provisions of the youth participation management concept. The theoretical research is based on the results of detailed scientific publications review devoted to the problems of youth, social participation and activity of young citizens in the urban environment. The scientific novelty of the article is determined by the following provisions: the author's interpretation of the phenomenon in the course of conceptual analysis is developed, its theoretical frameworks are outlined; the structure of youth participation in the context of management is specified. After analyzing the research of Russian and foreign scientists, we have formulated the theoretical provisions of the management concept, which will form the basis of the methodology in the interdisciplinary project at the next analytical stage. Social participation of young people is seen as an involvement of youth in constructive social practices of everyday life aimed at satisfying the public interests and needs of the young people. Youth participation is defined as a continuum of practices involving young people as responsible citizens, where social and political actions of young people are intertwined. The “right to the city” claimed by young people causes an obvious need to develop conditions for its implementation in both charitable (social) and political (civil) activity, which do not exclude, but seriously strengthen each other. An overview of current research presented in the article can be considered as a basis for developing the methodology of sociological and management projects in the problem field identified by the authors, and used to justify specific research methods.