When: 16/09/2012 - 23/09/2012

Where: Tirana, Albania

Who: Youth and Environment Europe, Environmental center for Development Education and Networking

Article about the Youth Exchange

Young people from all over Europe came to Tirana for the youth exchange 'Give Pedestrians Their City Back', which took place from the 16th to 23rd of September 2012.
The Youth Exchange 'Give pedestrians their city back' aimed to share experiences and best practices about the concept and various actions on green cities and also to develop cooperation and common awareness raising actions (campaign) that shall be afterwards implemented in several European countries.

Objectives:

• To exchange and share information, knowledge, experience and ideas in the topic of green cities and public information and participation;
• To share experience and examples of good and bad practices from the different countries by methods of non-formal education;
• To encourage the development of green skills and behaviors;
• To provide young people with the opportunity to learn from each other and to learn by doing;
• To cooperate together and design an international campaign on how to influence decision makers into a green thinking;
• To inspire creativity and entrepreneurship in the youth field;
• To provide space for networking and planning common activities for the future.
• The purpose of organizing this project is that, often the sustainability aspect of urban planing is forgotten, as well as the right of public to be informed and to participace in decision making. There are different examples from different countries of the public spaces being invaded by business interest. There are huge differences between districts, dying centres of historical importance, there is problem with transportation, unsafe streets and many more.

Project's activities were built upon above mentioned rationale and included practical workshops, outdoor activities, environmental games, presentations, methods of non-formal education: interactive workshops - learning by doing, creative activities, reflection in small groups, discussions, simulation games, role plays, group work and more. On 22nd of September the participants joined a street action linked to the EU mobility week, and particulary to the World Carfree Day.

Impressions of participants:

Anja Wilken, Germany:
The youth exchange in Tirana concerning mobility, traffic, pedestrians and sustainability could not have been in a place better than Tirana. The city inspired us participants and we could directly apply our knowledge and "put it into practice", wherefore the information and impressions of the week will stay in minds. Thanks for this extraordinary week!

Filipe Magalhães, OPE, Portugal:
It was a unique experience for me to live a week in Tirana together with young people from different countries and learn a lot about other cultures and customs. From my perspective this Youth Exchange was very productive and there was a great knowledge sharing. Group work and training have high quality and thus the main objectives have been met because together we can find a way to make the city more appealing to pedestrians. I hope that a similar project arises in a few years and we can analyse the evolution of the city on environmental issues.

Photogallery

Pictures from the Youth Exchange

English translation of the press release that was spread to Albanian media

Participating organisations:

• Youth and Environment Europe, Czech Republic
• Environmental center for Development Education and Networking, Albania
• Oddzial Akademicki Polskiego Towarzystwa Turystyczno-Krajoznawczego w Krakowie (OA PTTK), Poland
• NaturKultur /FOEJ-Aktiv, Germany
• Organizaçao para a Promoçao dos Ecoclubes, Portugal
• Young Researchers of Serbia, Serbia
• Center for logistics and transportation, Montenegro
• DEM, Macedonia

Contact person: Lira Hakani, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Funders: