Due to the financial crisis of most of the european countries and the following austerity measures many big scale development projects in cities have come to a halt. In reaction, the past years have seen an increasing number of initiatives, projects and organizations, that tackle urban problems and challenges in a bottom-up manner. These actions are making use of the city’s diversity, they promote sustainable smart cities, they create new forms of entrepreneurship, they create new public spaces. They stand for a new idea of active citizenship. These activities have been the breeding ground for a new market of small scale businesses in the urban field, that will grow and become more important in the future of cities in Europe.The educational system for young people willing to work in the ‚urban arena‘ has not yet adapted to the current developments. Architects, Urban Planners, Designers, Urban Sociologists, Human Geographers, but also young people coming from the crafts, are not prepared for engaging in the city, due to a lack of practical knowledge, which would allow them to directly target issues themselves in initiatives, working-groups, small self-initiated businesses, etc.. Instead, they learn how to plan a city top-down, to analyze and target issues from the office-desk, and not from the field, and to plan housing and public spaces without involvement of stakeholders (such as potential users, local administrations, local protagonists). As a result of the disparity between education and the potential of becoming a self-employed protagonist in the city created a youth unemployment in the abovementioned sectors adding to the overall figures of youth unemployment in Europe.The importance of the city for Europe’s future and the gap between education and the employment opportunities in the urban field are the reasons behind establishing a network of partners from 6 european cities, that offers learning opportunities for youth to become active, self-employed protagonists in the ‘urban arena’.The CityToolBox Network (CTB) aspires to close the gap and to allow future professionals in the urban field to gather practical knowledge in the field of citizen-driven activities to connect them among each other, to broaden their awareness for challenges in the city, and most of all to empower them to become agents of change themselves. In the frame of strategic partnerships we will develop an educational program for youth based on an OER - learning platform called CityToolBox. The platform supports ICT-based teaching and training and will present ‘Best Practices’ in the field of self-initiated urban change. The practises are coming from each partner organisation and are ongoing projects, that have already been implemented and tested in each partner’s local context. The ‘best practices’ are going to be documented, described and abstracted to the quality of a manual: so the local method of changing an urban situation becomes a ‘tool’ that can potentially be applied by others in other contexts. These ‘tools’ are documented in various forms appropriate to attract and motivate youths to apply and test them in their own local urban environment. CTB changes the way youth conceive their role in the ‘urban arena’. It will take them out of the ‘waiting queue’ for an uncertain labor market in the urban field, and will offer them tools to become pro-active citizens.
CityToolBox.net (CTB) is an online learning platform that encourages citizens to take action in the city. It supports young people to gather the practical know-how to start up citizen-led initiatives. The toolbox gives local agents in urban areas the opportunity to share their own community projects and learn from others. This way they become self-employed protagonists in the city, in line with the motto ‘CIY - Change It Yourself!’. CTB collects examples of ‘best practices’. On the platform, initiatives share their community projects by filling out a simple form. They explain how their project was created, funded, communicated and executed. Their expertise is translated into hands-on ‘tools’: clear steps that anyone can use to start a similar bottom-up activity in their own neighbourhood. The toolbox contains all relevant information for a successful project: funding possibilities, important legal frames, communication strategies, or simply anything to not forget. Citizens around the world can easily access the tools and apply them in their own local context. CTB aspires to bring together like-minded people in an online network of bottom-up initiatives. Young entrepreneurs, engaged neighbours, creative practitioners and city enthusiasts exchange ideas and experiences to broaden their awareness for challenges in the city. An increasing number of projects and organizations that tackle urban problems in a bottom-up manner have come up in the past years. Such initiatives make use of local cultural and socio-economic diversity, rethink urban decision-making processes, create attractive public spaces, and generate resilient and inclusive economies. By sharing knowledge with each other, small-scale local projects can have a big scale impact on the urban areas of Europe. Europe is one of the most urbanized continents in the world. The number of people living in cities keeps growing rapidly. This provides opportunities for experimentation and innovative thinking. However, it also causes challenges such as unemployment, child poverty and ethnic segregation. Among the consequences are urban inequalities, loss of social cohesion and spatial conflicts. Several European cities have tried to tackle such urban problems in a bottom-up manner but with limited success. Young people nowadays learn how to organize a city top-down, and city administrations do not offer the adequate knowledge and skills to actively involve them in urban planning. CTB aims to close this gap. It reacts to the current need for participatory planning and community involvement in European cities. The platform allows future urban professionals to acquire practical knowledge in the field of citizen-driven activities. As such, CTB mobilizes young citizens to become agents of urban change and build a city, that is created and sustained by citizens and there for enjoys greater acceptance and identification. The Beta Version of CityToolBox was launched in May 2017. CTB is now fully functional providing more than 25 tools and a fast growing community. The network just teamed up with the MitOst, Actors of Urban Change network in order to create common future activities such as the first CTB Lab in Athens. The project was initiated by: KUNSTrePUBLIK e.V. in Berlin (Germany), House ! Society (Hiša!) in Maribor (Slovenia), Place Identity in Athens (Greece), Open Territory Foundation in Lublin (Poland), In Places in Zagreb (Croatia) and 4is Platform for Social Innovations of the University of Aveiro (Portugal) Within the CTB project the following main activities have been executed: - Development of the CTB Online-learning platform (www.citytoolbox.net) with Beta Launch in 2017 and improvements until project end in July 2018 - 2 Multiplier Events (Berlin, May 2017 and Aveiro, May 2018) - 3 Transnational Project Meetings (Maribor, April 2016, Berlin, May 2017 and Aveiro, May 2018) - Evaluation activities (lead by 4iS) - Communication and dissemination activities (lead by Place Identity and KUNSTrePUBLIK) - Project and financial management (all partners, lead by KUNSTrePUBLIK and Support by HISA) - Networking activities by all partners