Blam and de Koer found a common ground built on shared values of democratic participation, inclusion and active citizenship,rooted in practices that connect youth work, community building and cultural regeneration. Beyond Building aims at strengthening new transnational collaborations and translating shared values and practices into innovative youth participatory and sustainable practices. The project builds on: • Participatory building practices: Both organisations work with collective construction and design, where young people, professionals-in-the-making and community members co-create spaces. Building is not only a technical act but also a social one – a setting for encounters, peer-to-peer learning and collective experimenting. Through these practices, young people gain ownership of public space and are encouraged to take responsibility in shaping their environment. • Non-formal learning: Both organisations treat the building site as a learning environment. Skills are transferred in practice, ranging from teamwork and intercultural exchange to craftsmanship, design and civic participation. Reflection and dialogue are embedded as essential parts of the process, ensuring that participants not only build structures but also learn to articulate and share their experiences. • Regenerative and sustainable approaches: De Koer focuses on vernacular and regenerative practices, while Blam reactivates abandoned or underused heritage sites through adaptive reuse. Both share a commitment to circularity, working with what is already there and making use of local or recycled resources. This approach introduces young people to ecological awareness and practical sustainability, making them more conscious of the impact of their actions in both local and global contexts. • Community-driven urban regeneration: De Koer’s principle of “constant temporariness” and Blam’s adaptive reuse of Morticelli both embrace the unfinished, the evolving and the negotiated character of urban and social spaces. These approaches highlight the value of process over product and of flexibility in responding to community needs. They place the community at the centre of design and implementation, creating accessible and inclusive spaces where youth can meaningfully participate. • Artistic and cultural activation: Both organisations link building with culture. Scenography, artistic interventions, festivals and events are integral to the spaces they create. The result is not only functional but also imaginative, symbolic and narrative: spaces that tell stories and allow young people to express themselves creatively. • Youth empowerment: Both organisations prioritise young people as active agents. Blam supports youth leadership in cultural regeneration, while De Koer enables youth to gain confidence and competences through hands-on building. In both cases, youth are not treated as passive beneficiaries but as co-authors of the process. → By collaborating through this youth exchange we want to share and broaden our common ground, creating a space where young people can collectively explore building practices that are artistic, circular and regenerative. We respond directly to the needs observed in both contexts: in the Brugse Poort in Ghent, young people face a lack of inclusive public space and often experience stigmatisation; in the popular neighbourhood Mutilati-Bastioni in Salerno, young people don’t have dedicated spaces where to meet, experiment and actively engage in their local context, and the city’s cultural offer is lower than the national average. Through the exchange, we aim to build bridges between these two communities and to empower young people to see themselves as drivers of change. Our objectives are: • To strengthen youth skills in construction, collaboration and intercultural dialogue, while creating a bridge between the communities of Blam and de Koer. • To make sustainable and collective building practices accessible to young people, equipping them with methods and attitudes that can be transferred to their future personal, educational and professional paths. • To connect Belgian and Italian youth through a hands-on, non-formal learning process that addresses both urban regeneration and inclusive public space, and to foster long-term networks that support active youth participation at local and European level. • To empower young people with fewer opportunities by creating an accessible and safe environment in which they can learn, contribute and take leadership roles. → In this way, the project not only offers a transformative experience for the participants involved but also strengthens the role of youth work in shaping inclusive, sustainable and creative urban futures.