Urban Sports Challenge ERASMUS+
Project description
In many European cities, young people’s involvement in shaping public spaces is low, despite increasing efforts to place local people’s needs at the heart of urban planning. There is often a lack of public spaces where young people can get involved and feel at home. Furthermore, ongoing urban development and densification often result in sports facilities, in particular, being relocated to the outskirts of towns and cities. The aim of the Urban Sports Challenge project is to empower young people to create their own urban spaces at three different locations, where they feel safe and accepted.
The project pursues two overarching objectives: the redesign of infrastructure and the promotion of young people’s active participation in shaping public spaces. Furthermore, the project focuses on building the capacity of youth workers within the three partner organisations to effectively support young people in initiating, organising and implementing their own projects.
A key component of the project is an Urban Design Bootcamp, which offers participating young people the opportunity to develop their own ideas with the help of experts in the fields of urban planning and project management. From these ideas, three projects will be selected to receive seed funding to turn their visions into reality.
The Institute is supporting the project by developing a continuous MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning) process. This includes the development of a holistic and participatory MEL concept, which enables information to be gathered on the project’s inputs, outputs and medium- and long-term impacts at various target group levels, and ensures the quality of the project. The focus is on the extent to which spaces for young people have changed and what the partner organisations have learnt from supporting a youth-led project.
