YOUNGSPACE

Accorging to the European Youth Goals, young people need access to youth-led physical facilities and infrastructures in their communities (youth spaces) to support their personal, cultural and political development. European countries have different civic cultural and multifunctional spaces for young people: they are usually autonomous, open and safe, accessible to all, offering professional support for development and ensuring opportunities for youth participation.
The positive effects that these places have on young people and on society more widely can be manifold: they encourage participation in culture and social processes, they foster entrepreneurship, they allow for inclusion of individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds or disabilities, they allow for renovation of peripheral and rural areas, they play an important role at the local level to foster active engagement of young people.
In consideration of this, 8 organizations from 6 european countries come forward with common goals and interests in developing an exchange of experiences and good practices focused on civic cultural and multifunctional spaces for young people with a focus on exchanging (1) management models of hybrid spaces for youth participation and (2) public policy supporting these experiences.
Through this process, YOUNGSPACE aims to create a long lasting international network of local stakeholders interested in sharing practices, public policies and management models, in order to strengthen actions and resources to achieve social innovation, socio-cultural activities and civic engagement of young people.