YoungWalkTheTalk

RDI platform: Smart Well-Being, Smart City

Language: Finnish

Project description

The YoungWalkTheTalk project was born from a challenge that arose in various events, occasions, and projects, where young people wanted more youth-oriented content and meeting places between local youth in Vaasa and the Vaasa region. In the project, the production of content, from ideation to the final result, is done through co-production, and the content is produced where young people can easily access by walking, cycling or using public transport.

The project conceptualizes a) an organization that is created between young people and the stakeholders who support them and b) the operating model and process of co-production, through which the ideas are put into practice. Conceptualization takes place through co-production pilots.

Goals

The project’s goals are divided into three parts:

1. Conceptualization of a permanent co-creation implementation organization so that it produces added value for potential financiers, such as the city, educational institutions, companies and associations
2. Conceptualization and piloting of the citizen co-creation operating model and process, as a result of which young people ideate, plan and implement a new, more international and multicultural, sustainable and comfortable Vaasa and the Vaasa region
3. Piloting the process of co-production during 2022 in premises that are easily accessible for young people near the city center

Results

The presentation of the first pilots and concept plans will take place at the YoungTalk event in August 2022. The event is also the starting point for the process of youth co-production. The goal of the YoungWalkTheTalk project is to show how, through the co-production of young citizens, the city of Vaasa can be made more multicultural, interesting, and lively for both locals and young people coming to Vaasa. The practical results are intended to be widely presented, so that the permanent operational organization can begin its operations at the beginning of 2023.

A permanent operational organization and a developed operational concept with toolkits and practical examples is a very important part of the city of Vaasa’s goal of carbon neutrality, and international recognition in the field of co-creation. The project creates a concept that is a key part of a sustainable and responsible city, which young people get to do themselves. The concept is designed in such a way that it can be replicated in other municipalities in the region and can also be expanded to other groups of citizens.