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The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of youth participation in organized public spaces on the well-being and social integration of young people in Kazakhstan, with a focus on leisure activities. Through empirical research and analysis, the research aims to elucidate how active engagement in these spaces influences the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of youth. The study involved 420 students from one of Kazakhstan's universities and divided them into the influence and control groups. The research tools were the Youth Well-Being Scale (YWBS) and the Youth Social Integration Scale (YSIS). The influence group demonstrated a significant increase in well-being and social integration. This result confirms the significant positive effect of interventions based on leisure activities in public spaces. The study offers practical recommendations for improving the well-being and social integration of young people. These findings also contribute to the scientific understanding of the gender specifics in this context. The article emphasizes the importance of organizing public space for positive youth development through leisure due to the identified positive effects. Keywords: leisure; public spaces; social integration; well-being; youth

The primary objective of this cross-sectional study was to explore the degree to which 117 pre-service visual art teachers' competitiveness within the education field. A self-reported competitiveness scale (six items distributed between three factors) was designed and validated by the authors based on the focal points of Michael Porter's Five Forces framework. Additionally, the respondents' digital competence was assessed as an auxiliary criterion of educator attractiveness in the art education domain. Both competitiveness and digital skills measurements yielded mediocre scores. Regression analysis showed that respondents' competitiveness perceptions were predicted neither by digital skills level nor by socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, rural or urban background, marital status or whether the student was a graduate or undergraduate. The present study highlights the need for understanding of how visual art majors perceive the sector and evaluate competitiveness among visual art students which itself indicates its sizable contribution to educational research. Other researchers can employ the competitiveness questionnaire introduced to gain deeper insights into the topic or related subjects.