Italy
participants
The event, designed to create a space for meeting, relating, listening and dialogue between young people, between young people and the city, between young people and the municipal administration, celebrated the closing of the European year dedicated to young people (2022) with a format entirely designed for them, also with the intention of laying the foundations for a long-term path with and for the city's young people.
The first part of the day opened with the Youth City Lab, a participation workshop in which students, divided into small groups, were asked to imagine a youth-friendly city by constructing the spaces of a youth centre with specific uses, activities and initiatives they would like to see realised. It was a moment that aroused great interest and enthusiastic participation and that allowed councillors Katiuscia Cassetta and Marco Caldarelli to gather ideas and needs from the audience of young people, which will form the basis for a broader reflection on the city's youth policies and the next steps to be taken.
During the Youth Talks instead, the students listened to the testimonies of some young people who shared their experiences of study, training, work, volunteering and activism in Europe. Specifically, Laura D'Amore and Giacomo Krueger (Unimc) presented our section, ESN Macerata, with a focus on the activities of the local network; Agata Wojtalik (our Polish student) talked about her Erasmus study experience in Macerata; Benedetta Mazzieri and Letizia Conte (Unimc) shared the motivation that led them to participate in an Erasmus Study and an Erasmus Traineeship respectively and the professional and human growth that marked their experiences abroad; Adriano Bertone (Ambassador of the National Agency for Young People in Umbria) encouraged the young students to inform themselves and take part in the European programmes and projects dedicated to them by illustrating the most common ones and finally Simone Mengoni (member of the Network of Local Councillors) shared his experience as a local councillor and underlined the importance of taking an active part in the life, including the political life, of one's own community.
