🌍 How Can Young People Build Climate-Resilient Cities?

When we talk about climate change, we often think about melting glaciers, rising sea levels, droughts, or extreme weather. But for many young people, climate change is becoming increasingly visible much closer to home, in the cities where we live, study, work, and build our futures.

A hotter summer can make a neighbourhood uncomfortable or even unsafe. The loss of trees and green spaces can make urban areas feel hotter. Heavy rainfall can overwhelm infrastructure and cause flooding. Poor air quality, limited access to public spaces, and inadequate urban infrastructure can affect people's everyday lives.

This makes climate change not only an environmental issue, but also an urban development issue.

Cities are constantly changing. New buildings are constructed, roads are expanded, neighbourhoods grow, and land is transformed. But how we manage this growth can influence how resilient our cities are to climate change.

For young people, this creates an important question:

What kind of cities do we want to live in and what role can we play in creating them?

Youth participation should not be limited to awareness campaigns or individual actions such as recycling or reducing consumption. Young people can also contribute to discussions about urban planning, public spaces, sustainable mobility, housing, green infrastructure, and how cities respond to climate risks.

Young people bring different experiences and perspectives to these conversations. We know what it feels like to move through our neighbourhoods every day. We notice which public spaces are accessible, where there are trees and shade, where transport is difficult, and which areas are more vulnerable to environmental problems.

But participation also requires opportunities. Young people need spaces where their ideas can be heard and connected to actual decision-making.

This is why I believe that building climate-resilient cities should also mean building stronger opportunities for youth participation in urban development.

🌱 What climate challenges do young people experience in your city?

🏙️ What changes would make your city more sustainable and resilient?

💡 How can young people become more involved in shaping the future of their cities?

I would love to hear perspectives from young people in different cities and countries.

Perhaps our experiences are different, but by sharing them, we can discover common challenges, exchange ideas, and imagine new possibilities for the cities we will inherit and help shape.