Streets for the YOUTH

ERASMUS+, nr KA220-YOU-C70942A0 (2024-1-FR02-KA220-YOU-000245435)

Project Streets for the Youth will engage local authorities and young people aged 15-20 from 4 EU countries (Portugal, France, Belgium and Poland) in building a vision of the city of the future - a city that is flexible, friendly, and resilient, and meets various user needs. It will create connections between young people, urban planning specialists, and local councilors, so they can jointly develop and test consultation techniques for public space development projects.

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 transitions. To adapt cities to the world of tomorrow, it is essential to involve their residents, especially young people. 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 these spaces. To achieve this, we must consider the diversity of young people (mobile and non-resident, spaces for girls, etc.), design spaces that address them as a whole, not just for recreational purposes, and finally, ask for their input by recognizing their knowledge of usage (acknowledging their understanding of the city) and by listening to and considering their expectations for the future. Young people can help us respond to the challenges of transformation and prepare our cities for the world of tomorrow.

Project Objectives:

• Exchange, develop, and test techniques to engage young people in thinking about their city's future and in its planning, and encourage cooperation among three groups:
  1. YOUNG PEOPLE: To participate in democratic life and think about communal living by expressing their vision of the city today and tomorrow (usage, needs, challenges to be addressed).
  2. ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES: Decision-makers and local government employees to include public space users, especially young people, in the process of creating or redeveloping public spaces.
  3. YOUTH PROFESSIONALS: To adopt new techniques for motivating and engaging young people to participate in community life.
• Exchange practices, jointly develop tools to engage young people, and test them in partner areas. Connect elected officials and planning specialists, youth specialists, and young Europeans, and create recommendations for communities to facilitate youth involvement in public space development projects and strategies.

Funded by the European Union

Support given by the European Commission for the production of this publication does not constitute acceptance of its contents, which reflect only the views of the authors. The Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained in this publication.