“Young people are future city leaders…they should be considered as important stakeholders in the development planning of cities as each decision taken will affect their lives” – Gadjo Emmanuelle Laurinda, FCC Champion, aged 25 (Future Cities Challenge, UN Habitat)
Cities in Europe have always been shaped by a number of factors, from history, to politics, to physical landscape, but it’s the generational makeup of cities that has become more relevant and influential than ever before. UN Habitat predicts that by 2030, a mere 7 years in the future, 60% of urban populations will be under the age of 18, creating what’s called a ‘youth bulge’. This puts the year 2030 as a potential tipping point in favour of young populations; you may have heard the phrase “the future belongs to children”, but it’s in fact our cities that will soon belong to young people.
The challenge today is how to “renew the social contract” and engage this growing demographic of young people in the transition towards climate-responsive cities. EIT Urban Mobility youth participation projects provide replicable models and examples of how this can be done. For instance, projects like Bicycle Heroes, 4I4U, FURNISH-KIDS, FURNISH – protegim les escoles, Open Nature and Greenovate all show the power and the potential to invite young people to test their ideas and have a voice in urban development. In addition to these programmes, EIT Urban Mobility is providing city governments and local stakeholders with policy recommendations, for instance with its ‘Urban Climate Adaptation in the Nordics’ report.
Co-designing our futures
EIT Urban Mobility youth participation projects aim to empower young people to not only ideate, but also implement, solutions to real life urban challenges; in other words, they offer young people the opportunity to take their rightful place as urban stakeholders.
In 2022, Bicycle Heroes brought together over 230 children with 35 local stakeholders across government, industry and civil society to generate ideas for youth-oriented cycling spaces across Dublin, Lisbon and Rome. In total 30 ideas were proposed by the children, resulting in some impressive follow-up activities: in Lisbon, children’s voices were given a permanent seat at the table with the establishment of a new consultative Children’s Council; and in Ireland, 40 students pitched to the Lord Mayor of Dublin and other decision makers, resulting in the deployment of more staff in the school transport section – an important factor to support safer infrastructure for children to cycle to school. In the case of the latter, Dublin Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy commented: “I am delighted to listen to the ideas of young people who are enthusiastic about improving the experience of cycling around the city. I cycle myself and I welcome these ideas to make cycling safer and more enjoyable in our city and communities.”
It’s clear that the Bicycle Heroes programme has left a resounding positive impact beyond its initially projected mobility solutions. Most importantly, the project stakeholders have realised the value of incorporating youth voices and perspectives to design more inclusive infrastructures for all ages. The concept has also been presented at major conferences such as Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress (EIT Urban Mobility’s flagship event co-organised with Fira de Barcelona), POLIS, and Child in the City and Velo-City to inspire replication in new urban contexts.
Similarly, the 4I4U project has successfully engaged 300 students between the ages of 15-23 years, connecting them with local stakeholders (teachers, city leaders, and industry experts) and equipping them to be actors for the future. The students from Toulouse and Barcelona attended educational seminars to learn innovative and sustainable mobility concepts, participated in hackathons to develop youth-oriented solutions to key city challenges, and prototyped tactical urbanism concepts on their campuses. As part of these activities, one group of college students even developed an app “MAPPO” which tracks the impact of different types of journeys (taken by car, metro, walking) on air pollution, and introduced the app and the principles of sustainable mobility at a local high school.
These types of activities that were conducted through 4I4U have had a noticeable impact on the participants and their interest in sustainable mobility. For example Gorka Pradas, a Masters student in Urban Mobility, explained: “The project allowed us as students to learn from each other and reflect together on understanding the complexities and challenges of urban mobility and develop skills for designing urban solutions. It has also made me more willing to pursue my studies at the European level or to consider a profession in the urban mobility sector.”
Open collaborations for open spaces
As part of the EIT Community New European Bauhaus, EIT Urban Mobility is also supporting projects such as FURNISH-KIDS, FURNISH – protegim les escoles, Open Nature and Greenovate, which focus on diversifying outside spaces with input from young people.
In the case of FURNISH-KIDS and FURNISH – protegim les escoles, pilots were run in five European cities (Espoo, Barcelona, Budapest, Guimarães and Milan) between 2020-2022, aiming to re-configure streets into newly imagined public spaces. Two examples of the beautiful creations springing from this project can be found in Barcelona. The first involves the co-design and installation of benches, playing structures and a wooden ‘nest’ outside Entença primary school (image below) while the second encompasses the assembly of a snail-shaped structure on Gran Vía, both made using locally-sourced natural materials. In the case of the snail structure, the dynamic changed from 97% of people just ‘passing by’, to a new scenario where 60% of citizens were ‘passing by’, 20% were ‘chatting’, 10% were ‘playing’ and 10% were ‘sitting’, as a direct result of the installations. Activities like this show the power of everyday interventions within the urban environment to surprise, activate and bring people together.
The Open Nature project, also based in Barcelona, immersed children in forest and co-design workshops with experts from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia to rehabilitate dense urban areas, resulting in art installations fashioned from sustainably harvested local wood. Similarly, the Greenovate project galvanised young people and architects to revitalise the town centre of Kozani in Greece with window boxes and planters, leading to a stronger sense of belonging for citizens.
Guiding local policy
EIT Urban Mobility has also co-designed a catalogue of policy recommendations and best practices for city governments, collaborating with organisations like the Nordic Council of Ministers. These 11 policy recommendations serve to inform local authorities and other actors as they transform public spaces, ensuring that citizens, including young people, are included in the process.
Shaping urban futures together
“Engaging with youth is not just something that sounds good. It is an essential way to ensure that we design cities that are welcoming to families and children, that we generate awareness and instil more sustainable habits from a young age and that we build civic capacities for youth to shape the future.” says Julienne Chen, Head of City Partnerships at EIT Urban Mobility.
It’s clear that empowering young people to co-design urban spaces and mobility solutions, as proposed by EIT Urban Mobility’s projects, brings with it multiple benefits for a range of stakeholders. Not only does engaging young minds bring fresh ideas to the table, it increases citizen satisfaction, reduces the cost for local governments and creates inclusive urban spaces for everyone.
Looking towards an inclusive urban future, readers can already read the catalogue of best practices and policy recommendations co-created by EIT Urban Mobility, which serves as a guide on how to transform public spaces and include young people in the process.
