Streets for the Youth - online meeting

Yesterday, a partnership meeting of the Streets for the Youth project, implemented under the Erasmus+ program, was held online. During the event, topics such as the legal and financial framework of the project, communication and promotion of future project activities, as well as substantive aspects of the partners' activities within the framework of individual work packages were discussed. The municipalities involved in the project were also presented, in the context of youth activities. A physical meeting is scheduled for next January and will be held in Bruges.

more about the project:

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Streets for the Youth - Online Meeting

Streets for the Youth - the first meeting regarding the youth project under the Erasmus+ program is behind us. Although the official launch conference will take place in November this year, project partners have already met online today to discuss the details of future cooperation.

We talked about the involvement of municipalities, youth participation, various aspects of the partnership agreement, and, of course, the first physical meeting, which will take place in Belgium.

We are very pleased that over the next 2.5 years, we will be carrying out activities directly related to one of the five main directions of our Association's activities, namely social activity, including actions aimed at youth participation and supporting their local activity.

More about the project:

Streets for the Youth project

Below are the design assumptions of "Streets for the Youth":

Project under the ERASMUS+ program, no. KA220-YOU-C70942A0 (2024-1-FR02-KA220-YOU-000245435)

Implementation period: 30 months Implementation time: 03.11.2024 to 02.05.2027 Value: 120,000.00 EUR

Project area: Placemaking in practice; the process of planning spaces with public participation, urban space development together and for the needs of the youth

Main themes: youth in the city, city transformation, city of tomorrow, public spaces for youth, environmental, social and economic changes and transformation, youth participation in local life and spatial planning.

Partnership: 4 partners

Short description: The "Streets for the Youth" project will engage young people aged 15-20 from 4 EU countries (Portugal, France, Belgium, and Poland) in building the city of the future - a city that is flexible, friendly, and resilient, and meets the diverse needs of its users. The project will create connections between young people, urban planning specialists, and local councilors (i.e., those who create the city) so that together they can develop and test consultation techniques for public space development projects.

Context: The cities of tomorrow will not be like those of yesterday. Both small and large cities must change as they face significant transformations: ecological, demographic, mental, and digital. To adapt cities to the world of tomorrow, it is essential to engage their residents, especially young people, as they are the residents of the future. Thus, addressing the placement of young people in public spaces is like "opening a window" to see where young people are, how they move around the city or countryside, and how they use it. To do this, we must consider the diversity of young people (both those who commute and those who stay in one place, as well as places intended for girls, etc.), design spaces that concern them as a whole, not just for recreational purposes, and finally ask the youth for input by recognizing their knowledge about usage (recognizing their knowledge of the city) and by listening to and considering their expectations for the future. Young people can help us respond to transformation challenges and prepare our cities for the world of tomorrow.

Project objectives: Exchange, develop, and test techniques for engaging young people in thinking about the future of their city and its planning:

The project aims to encourage the cooperation of three groups:

  1. YOUNG PEOPLE to participate in democratic life and think about living together by expressing their vision of the city today and tomorrow (usage, needs, challenges to be addressed).
  2. SELECTED REPRESENTATIVES, decision-makers, and local government employees to include public space users, especially young people, in the process of creating or remodeling public spaces.
  3. YOUTH PROFESSIONALS to adopt new techniques for motivating and engaging young people to participate in community life.

Over the 30-month duration of the project, partners hope to contribute to ADAPTING their cities to tomorrow's challenges by MOBILIZING young people, selected representatives, and specialists to address the transformations we must jointly prepare for in cities and rural areas. The project aims to mobilize and empower stakeholders in these matters to give young people a voice in decision-making processes regarding the construction and planning of public spaces, and to enable selected representatives and urban planning specialists to develop their skills in engaging society in public policy. The need to find appropriate means and methods of engaging young people is very high. The aim of this project is to identify, develop, and test youth-friendly and accessible mechanisms and structures that will allow them to actively engage in creating quality public spaces.

Project content: Exchange of practices, joint development of tools for engaging young people and testing in partner areas, connecting selected officials and planning specialists, youth professionals and young Europeans, creating recommendations for communities to facilitate the engagement of young people in public space development projects and strategies.

Target audience: The project is aimed at young people aged 15 to 20 . It is proposed to create an exchange between professionals and young people.