Across Europe, democratic institutions are under growing pressure. Political disengagement, declining trust, disinformation and polarisation are reshaping the relationship between citizens and public authorities.
While these trends cut across generations, they are particularly visible among young people, many of whom feel disconnected from formal political processes or unconvinced that their voices can influence real decisions.
Cities, however, are uniquely positioned to respond. As the level of government closest to people’s everyday lives, they can test new approaches, build trust locally, and create meaningful opportunities for participation.
In practice, many cities are experimenting with innovative ways to involve young people in decision-making, from youth councils and school participatory budgeting to climate assemblies and digital engagement platforms. By tailoring approaches to local needs and communities, city governments can make participation more inclusive and relevant, ensuring young voices are not only heard but also influence real policy outcomes.
This conviction set the tone for the latest Nets4Dem Democracy Lab, held in Bilbao by Eurocities and the City of Bilbao, where representatives from 19 cities gathered to rethink how to engage young people in democratic life.
As Juan Mari Aburto, Mayor of Bilbao, stated: “We are living in a European environment in which political disengagement, disinformation, and polarisation put citizens’ trust at risk. In response, cities have a key responsibility to reconnect citizens with public decision-making, especially children and young people.”
Cities have a key responsibility to reconnect citizens with public decision-making, especially children and young people.
From concern to co-creation
For Bilbao, this responsibility is already embedded in local practice. The city has invested in participatory budgets, youth panels, and youth-focused facilities and initiatives that recognise young people not simply as recipients of services, but as democratic actors with their own voices.
The Democracy Lab built on this foundation, creating a structured space for peer learning, experimentation and co-creation. Over three days, six challenge cities worked intensively with experts and peers to tackle concrete questions around youth engagement. Each city arrived with a specific challenge rooted in its local circumstances and need for action.
Leipzig explored how the city’s existing digital tools could enhance youth participation in local decision-making, while Milan focused on designing its first Youth Climate Assembly to turn young people’s ideas into actionable climate policies. Valongo aimed to strengthen political commitment and embed youth engagement in municipal governance.
Cascais sought meaningful participation for children in vulnerable situations, including those with disabilities, migrant backgrounds, or low-income families. Leeuwarden looked at engaging diverse youth in complex, long-term issues like housing through structured participation, and Gothenburg worked to involve young people from socially disadvantaged and multicultural neighbourhoods, ensuring participation mirrors the city’s diversity.
Rather than remaining at the level of discussion, the Lab pushed cities to prototype solutions and define next steps.
Cascais: Reaching children in vulnerable situations
For Cascais, the central challenge was inclusion. The municipality sought to ensure meaningful participation for children in vulnerable situations, including those with disabilities, migrant backgrounds, or low-income families.
“Cascais presented the challenge of ensuring meaningful democratic participation for children and young people in vulnerable situations,” explained Ana Almada, Head of Unit for the Promotion of Rights in the Territory, Cascais Municipality. “Our aim was to explore more inclusive, accessible, and child-centred approaches that go beyond school-based initiatives and reach children in their everyday settings.”
Hearing from other cities and experts helped us identify gaps we hadn’t fully considered.
The Lab discussions allowed Cascais to revisit its challenge from new perspectives, particularly in the areas of accessibility, participatory methods, community-based approaches and governance. Peer contributions were essential for identifying gaps and strengthening the city’s prototype developed during the sessions.
As Ana Almada noted: “The discussions with other cities and experts helped us examine our challenge from several angles and refine the prototype we began shaping at the Lab. The feedback highlighted aspects we had not fully considered and broadened our approach.”
Following the Lab, Cascais will move forward with the prototype by launching a small pilot in 2026. The municipality will present the plan to local decision-makers and work closely with schools, community organisations and other partners to ensure effective implementation.
Milan: From consultation to co-ownership
Milan’s challenge centred on designing its first Youth Climate Assembly, developed in connection with the city’s broader climate governance framework. The key question was how to ensure that Assembly meetings effectively capture young people’s voices and translate their ideas into actionable climate policies.
Sabrina Montibello, Power Up project manager for the City of Milan, reflected: “The Lab helped us clarify that one of the latent needs in our co-creation process with youth, to ensure that their proposals are actionable, was to help them frame their contributions in the complex system of interactions between public, private, and third-sector actors.”
During the Lab, the Milan team developed a stakeholder map to make this system more visible and understandable for students.
Alice Casiraghi, Power Up project officer, explained: “We developed a map of all actors during the Lab that we refined and used interactively with the students in the second meeting of the Youth Climate Assembly to understand which connections and actors they can leverage for their proposals.”
By strengthening young people’s understanding of how decisions are made and who is involved, Milan is shifting from participation as consultation to participation as co-ownership.
Leeuwarden: From complex to concrete
The city of Leeuwarden, currently developing its Youth Platform and ‘Code Young’ participation framework, faces a structural question: how to involve young people in complex policy issues that require time, depth, and sustained engagement.
At the Lab, the city team designed a prototype called ‘Dive-Deep Thursdays,’ a structured three-week process aimed at translating broad youth consultations into smaller, intensive co-design sessions.
The model brings together young people, policymakers and experts to break down dense issues such as housing into manageable discussions, culminating in prototypes that are validated with a wider youth group before being submitted to decision-makers.
The approach also experiments with a multi-tiered motivation system, combining motivation with practical recognition, such as certificates, school credits and collective rewards. Leeuwarden use the Lab as an opportunity to develop their operational ideas on how their Youth Platform could work in practice.
Learning by doing
Cities today face complex challenges, such as disinformation and declining trust in institutions, which can weaken democratic life if not addressed.
Experts played a key role in guiding and challenging city teams throughout the Lab. Agnieszka Płoska, Youth Changemaking Manager at Ashoka Poland and mentor at the Democracy Lab, highlighted why innovation is essential. “Cities today face complex challenges, such as disinformation, declining trust in institutions, and civic disengagement, which can weaken democratic life if not addressed,” she said.
“Traditional participation methods often fail, especially for those who feel unheard or excluded. That is why cities need innovative approaches that make participation more meaningful, inclusive, accessible, and relevant in everyday life.”
She also stressed the importance of starting early. When young people experience agency and see that their voices matter, they are more likely to stay engaged and contribute positively to their communities.
“Encouraging civic responsibility from a young age helps cities build resilient and inclusive democratic cultures for the future,” added Płoska.
Investing in democratic culture
The Democracy Lab in Bilbao demonstrated that Europe’s cities are not waiting passively for solutions to the democratic challenges they face. They are experimenting, learning from one another, and co-creating new approaches tailored to their local realities.
As Aleksandra Ziętek, Nets4Dem Project Coordinator at Eurocities, concluded: “The Democracy Lab is about turning concern into concrete change. Cities are not starting from zero, they already have participation structures in place.
“What we do here is help them stress-test their approaches, learn from one another, and leave with prototypes they can immediately adapt and implement with young people at home.”
We help cities stress-test their approaches, learn from one another, and leave with prototypes they can immediately adapt.
By connecting political commitment, practical prototyping and peer learning, the Democracy Lab reinforced a shared message: engaging young people is not a symbolic exercise, but a long-term investment in democratic culture, institutional trust, and social cohesion.
If democracy is to remain resilient in the face of contemporary pressures, it will be strengthened not only in parliaments and constitutions, but in classrooms, neighbourhoods, and city halls, with young people actively shaping the future of their communities.
_____
The Nets4Dem project’s Democracy Lab took place in Bilbao from 10-12 February 2026. Find out more about the Nets4Dem project and the latest Democracy Lab.
And download photos from the event. If you want to use a photo, please mention that it is copyright of Eurocities.
The Nets4Dem project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EU Horizon. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
