Living Labs

How neighbourhoods across Europe are shaping child-friendly cities together.

Urban Living Labs

Five cities. One mission.

Schoolyards, corners, and routes children already use become meeting points for listening, imagining, and testing ideas—together with families, schools, and neighbours.

  • Brussels
  • Lisbon
  • Oxford
  • Groningen
  • Budapest

Each Urban Living Lab has its own story on the ground; together they ask how streets and public space can work for young people—not only around them.

Living Labs

YouthMove15 runs five Urban Living Labs across Europe. Each shaped by its own community context, each asking the same question: how do we build child-friendly cities?

Weekend and regular schooling networks across six participating schools. The living lab explores children's activities around schools as local hubs, co-creates child-friendly ideas with pupils, and involves caregivers and stakeholders beyond the school run.

A lab in a public school in Lumiar, where children and young people face social vulnerability. Activities clarify barriers to active mobility and test temporary, child-led interventions—including tactical urbanism—in nearby public space.

Uses augmented and virtual reality so young people can reshape local streets and experience proposals. Workshops connect schools with partners and public engagement events such as the annual Science Bazaar.

Two peri-urban labs (including Beijum) build on long-term collaboration with lower-income communities. Narrative and game-based methods help children co-design transport scenarios and imagine public space that supports mobility and social life.

Participatory work in two municipality-owned public spaces combines narrative, game-based, and hands-on activities to promote safe micromobility and positive attitudes to cycling, with outreach through nearby schools and families in underrepresented groups.