Vienna is home to over 360,000 children and young people under the age of 19. Children and teenagers see Vienna from a different perspective and are the experts when it comes to the concerns and interests of their age group. The motivation behind the Werkstadt Junges Wien workshops was to engage these young citizens and give them an opportunity to voice their opinions. Over 1,300 workshops were held across Vienna from February to April 2019 in places where children and young people usually gather – nurseries, day-care centres and schools, youth centres, parks, clubs and associations and many other venues. More than 22,000 children and teenagers thus had the chance to participate and discuss their ideas and wishes for the future development of our city.

Feedback from the youth of Vienna

The young workshop participants were tasked with performing a “service check” on the City of Vienna: What works well? What doesn’t work quite so well? What are your suggestions for improvement? Given complete freedom to choose the topics they wished to address, the youngsters were asked to award medals for positive aspects, issue repair notices for less positive ones and formulate ideas, visions and suggestions for improvement. This input and feedback from the children and young people served as the foundation for the City of Vienna’s Children and Youth Strategy, which was adopted by Vienna City Council in June 2020. The strategy aims to ensure that Vienna is a pleasant place for children and teenagers to live and an environment in which they can thrive.

Working together for a more child- and youth-friendly city

The Vienna Children & Youth Strategy brings together the efforts and activities of all municipal departments, agencies and enterprises under the shared vision of making Vienna a great place for children and young people. Subdivided into nine thematic fields, the Strategy sets out a vision for the future of our city and defines 193 specific measures to be implemented. The Strategy also specifies how the measures in each field contribute to achieving the goals of the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy.

The project was implemented by the Municipal Department for Education and Youth (MA 13) with hands-on support from teachers, youth and social workers, volunteers, and a large number of other municipal departments, organisations and institutions.

Contact

City of Vienna – Education and Youth (MA 13)

E-Mail: werkstadt@wien.gv.at

Website: www.junges.wien.gv.at