Ghent, European Youth Capital of 2024

Young people’s voices were louder than ever before. We created a 360° connection between the city, its citizens, and politics, where all perspectives came together and reinforced one another. This project not only gave young people a platform, but also the opportunity to truly co-decide on the city they live in.

As European Youth Capital (EYC), we invited young people aged 16 to 30 not only to reflect on and dream about their city of the future, but also to act on it, shape it, challenge it, transform it, and care for it.

Ghent EYC was conceived as an experiment: a project exploring what drives youngsters, where limits arise, and how we can learn from those experiences. It aimed to bring young people, the city, and politics closer together, while exploring what new ideas emerge and what young people need today.

The topics that brought the city to life

Three topics – engage, empower, care -  formed the foundation for a wide range of projects and initiatives that amplified young people’s voices and increased their impact on the city. From participation in city governance to promoting wellbeing and sustainability, these topics guided the collective ambition toward a more inclusive and active future for Ghent.

Engage

We aimed to involve young people more actively in city life and local governance. By creating initiatives where young people became active communicators with a voice, we strengthened youth participation. Volunteering and active citizenship were encouraged, and youth-focused programming was integrated into city events.

Empower

Our focus was on creating more spaces, better facilities, and strong networks for young people. We worked to make public spaces more accessible, used urban sports as a tool for inclusion and empowerment, improved mobility and accessibility, and promoted European exchange and knowledge sharing.

Care

Mental wellbeing and a sustainable future were key priorities. We worked to improve young people’s mental health and happiness, support vulnerable youth, and raise awareness around sustainability. We also aimed to support and activate girls and LGBTQIA+ youth.

The values that guided us

Diversity, sustainability, co-creation, authenticity, impact, and inspiration were at the core of our approach. These values ensured that the project not only provided a platform for young people, but also created space for real, lasting change in the city and its community.

• Diversity

No group — especially one as large as “young people” — can be treated as homogeneous. We focused on strengthening subcultures, supporting diverse activities, and ensuring representation of different communities.

• Sustainability

We minimized our ecological footprint and focused on initiatives with lasting impact. From the very beginning, Ghent EYC aimed to look beyond 2024. The ambition was not only to sustain initiatives after the title year, but also to share all the knowledge gained throughout the process.

• Co-creation

Young people were not only invited to participate, but also to co-decide. By working radically bottom-up, projects emerged that were truly supported by the community. Young people were given the opportunity to shape their Ghent from A to Z, from ideas and focus to communication and execution.

• Authenticity

If you want to experiment, there is no point in presenting the outcome differently from reality. Everything was communicated as it was, growing organically and reflecting the energy of young people.

• Impact

With a long-term vision and an activating approach, we collaborated with stakeholders and partners to share knowledge and build further on the insights gained.

• Inspiration

We told stories, shared what is alive among young people, and took others along for the ride. We also wanted to inspire those who feel more distant with the energy of youth. The voices of young people were meant to inspire others and to convey important signals.

Looking ahead

The ambition of the City is to remain, in the years to come, a city that continues to actively invest in a number of key themes from the EYC project. At the same time, it aims to remain an important player at the European level, continuously inspiring its young people and youth organisations and connecting them with peers and practices across Europe.

As a city, we hold an Erasmus+ Youth accreditation, which we actively use to lower barriers for young people with fewer opportunities, to make internationalisation more accessible for local youth work, and to strengthen our youth policy and practice through insights and approaches from across Europe.

In doing so, we also address major urban challenges for the future and strengthen our knowledge around current and emerging themes.