Youth e-participation as a pillar of sustainable societies

Public inclusion is recognized as essential in local government decision-making processes. Popular web based tools not only ensure wide e-participation with increased acceptance among citizens, but can also be used to target long term sustainability by attracting and actively engaging the youth. This paper presents a comprehensive approach aiming to empower youth in the process of urban planning using a combination of game based learning, co-creation, simulation modelling and design thinking. The proposed methodology attracts the youth by presenting the urban planning problem using their favourite game Minecraft. The final model is a collaborative effort between citizens and experts during which the participants are unobtrusively educated on sustainable urban design. The results of its implementation in a public space design case study in Prishtina, Kosovo show that the youth responded very positively to the possibility of empowerment and learning how a popular game can be used to help the community, while other participants considered the input and ability to use the e-tools essential for joint expression of ideas. In conclusion, by making the effort to transform projects in modern innovative game-like experience attractive to the youth, the local government invests in long term sustainability. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.