- TO CULTIVATE A NEW GENERATION OF YOUNG PROFESSIONALS in the fields of architecture, urban development, design and cultural project management and related disciplines who can foster youth-led dialogue in their communities and become active citizens. Place for Play aimed to: - raise the youths' awareness of the importance of human and social considerations required for place-making in human-centred design, - increase their culture of research, - open their minds to interdisciplinary cooperation, - impart informal and non-formal skills and - foster their engagement within communities. - TO FOSTER PROXIMITY BETWEEN THE YOUTH SECTOR AND HE through non formal training paths and engagement of learners from different disciplines in informal learning settings so that education goes beyond the acquisition of formal qualifications, cultivates creative transfer among different disciplines and different levels in education and up the professional status and social position of youth organisations by augmenting their training and service offer, their relevance in the youth’s future as professionals and as engaged citizens. - TO GENERATING NEW SPACES FOR CULTURAL OPERATORS in children's playgrounds through augmented use for social cohesion.
The pandemic highlighted a renewed need to access to new open spaces, parks/playgrounds for children and facilities which are not always equipped and able to accommodate various and increasing needs of the communities. This is why the project involved young people from the communities in local and cross border community consultation activities to bring in fresh ideas and approaches from various disciplines to propose the revisiting of design and repurposing of children’s playgrounds as a renewed space for socialising and education, inclusion, cultural and inter generational exchange. Place for Play brought human-centred urban development mindsets that place children at the centre of Design Thinking so that cities and urban living spaces are more child-friendly. Value propositions by present and future young professionals involved in the project activities also sought to make playgrounds new urban spaces in which cultural operators can operate to meet social needs that the COVID-19 crisis made us more aware of therefore for communities to become stronger and more resilient by providing a sense of belonging for all. The project also brought informal learning to supplement formal education and a new synergy between youth and HE.