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Description
The project responds to the needs of young people for active participation in decision-making and shaping public unused spaces that young people have defined in youth strategies. The lack of public spaces in which young people can participate has led to several social problems going on for years: public spaces for young people with no participation of youth; low level of trust in decision makers, lack of information and insufficiently developed knowledge and skills for their inclusion in social processes. All this contributes to the situation where young people are the key stakeholders in community development while the society develops urban planning without consulting them.
It is important for every city to include all residents in the development processes, especially youth who have the potential to create it. It is the “ownership” over public spaces, including parks and streets, that is the key factor for social inclusion. Through the obtained information and developed knowledge through interactive participatory workshops, young people will develop the skill of critical thinking about shaping publicly unused space in the local community. Through art-based methods, they will conduct placemaking of the space and design its presentation to acquaint the general public with the ways and possibilities of youth participation in decision-making on social issues, creating partnerships with all relevant stakeholders (City, conservators). The results of the project will show that young people are key stakeholders for effective decision-making in the local community, which ultimately contributes to the development of society as a whole. By creating public space in the city, they also contribute to the urban development of the city, participate in important decisions for the local environment, but more importantly become more active and responsible members of society who also advocate transparent decision-making in public space planning
Summary of project results
Creating a space for young people in which they can express themselves creatively and strengthen their capacities for responsible participation in the community is an important element of the development of society, but also of the individual. The responsibility lies with local governments and young people as citizens. But this process becomes unfeasible when the element of young people as active and responsible citizens is missing. An even bigger problem arises when the local self-government leaves out young people as equal participants from the entire process. In Karlovac, there are spaces for young people, which unfortunately do not meet their needs, due to an omission on the part of the City, which did not include them in the process of creating the space, for whom the space is actually intended. During consultations and workshops on the development of the new City Program, young people on the one hand are still dissatisfied with the entire process, while the City on the other hand states the need to involve young people in decision-making. This way creates continuous mistrust in the political system, which, in addition to the problem of low self-confidence of young people and their lack of information, also leads to reduced involvement in decision-making processes. The problem continues to spread, especially among children who are marginalized (members of the Vladimir Nazor children''s home), who are separated from their families, victims of domestic violence, and in recent years some of them have been migrants (Syria). By working with these children and young people, we saw that they do not participate at all in the social life of the community, and especially in the shaping of space and local government decisions about public places for young people. Their level of self-confidence and information is so low that they do not participate at all in the life of the local community, which at the same time they form and to whose problem solving they can respond adequately if they are given the opportunity and if they are finally included in decision-making processes.
In order for young people to be actively involved in the development of the community, they need to be given knowledge, information and skills to strengthen their self-confidence, develop critical thinking and, as active individuals, take an equal position in society. Precisely, this age-adjusted work methodology has proven to be an example of good practice, because empowered individuals who best recognize their own needs act on real problems and solve them. With mentoring and strengthening of skills/knowledge, they directly contribute not only to the development of active citizenship, but also to the empowerment and development of the entire democratic society.
Project "Citizen interventions in public spaces – decision making through placemaking", empowered young people for civic activism, critical thinking, urban planning and design of public spaces through interactive and participatory workshops. Through practical work and the use of methods of urban pedagogy, three public Art Galleries in unused spaces in which content for young people will be exchanged, and at the same time will serve as an example to the local self-government about the ways and possibilities of involving young people in decision making on social issues.
Key results defined and achieved in the project:
1. Education for civil and human rights is supported
2. Systematic support and empowerment of vulnerable groups was provided
3. The mobilization and engagement of citizens was promoted
4. Improved knowledge and skills of young people for active and responsible participation in the local community through critical/creative thinking
5. Young people encouraged to a modern way of thinking about public spaces for the purpose of developing the local community through artistic interventions in the space
6. Strengthened democratic culture, civic awareness and civic engagement
Through designed and implemented educational participatory workshops on active citizenship and civic participation, critical thinking and the importance of participation in society, project improved the knowledge and skills of young people in the aforementioned area, but also encouraged them to think about public spaces as places of social development. In an interactive way, with lots of examples and exercises, their competencies and civic engagement were developed with an emphasis on the importance of respecting diversity among all stakeholders involved in the creation of public spaces (respect for human rights). In the first part, the users received information and knowledge, developed skills and started planning, which led to the realization of all the mentioned results, and in the second part of the implementation, they applied everything learned in a practical way in order to implement the intervention of shaping public spaces for youth content. During this process they communicated with many different stakeholders; public administration regarding obtaining a permit for the use of public space; secondary schools about obtaining permission to use the space they own, participants who came to the opening program (they conducted creative workshops), with the media about the implementation of the galleries themselves. In this way, they developed their self-confidence in communicating with important stakeholders in society who make decisions, thus becoming active members of society themselves who influence the making of these public decisions in the local community. At the end of the workshops, under the mentorship of a political scientist, they developed a policy document for decision makers with presentation of their work and the importance of including young people in society and with recommendations for inclusion in further public strategies (City strategy for youth and cultural strategies). The final achievement is young people who are educated, have knowledge and skills as well as developed self-confidence for active participation in the life of the local community. By connecting the bearers of the formal education system (schools, education center), informal education (associations), public authorities (City), the media and the wider public (participants), young people were shown the importance of their involvement in community development through the design of public spaces that are inclusive for all groups of citizens (respect for equality and human rights of all citizens), which are considered the most valuable achievements of the project.