Vienna Children's and Youth Strategy with Eight Themes

The Vienna city government presented the second Vienna Children's and Youth Strategy on Monday, which is intended to serve as a guideline for projects and measures in this area from 2025 to 2030. The goals and topics were created based on a survey of 2,030 children and young people aged five to 20 last autumn, as well as the ideas and demands collected at the most recent Children's and Youth Parliament with more than 300 delegates.

"Children and young people are the experts of their living environments"

"We do not want to decide over their heads," said Deputy Mayor Bettina Emmerling (NEOS). "Children and young people are the experts of their living environments." The goal remains to make Vienna the most child- and youth-friendly city in the world. The kids surveyed by the Institute for Empirical Social Research (IFES) were already quite satisfied with their city. 86 percent stated that they like or really like living in the federal capital. Leisure activities, the public transport network, and the cityscape particularly appealed to them.

But there is, of course, still a need for action: More playgrounds, more greenery, less individual traffic, more and better public transport, an affordable life, and also safety were the most frequently mentioned topics. With the results of the survey and the parliament, eight thematic areas were defined in the strategy: climate, nature and environment, public space and mobility, leisure and culture, education and school, work and finances, health and social issues, community and safety, as well as democracy and participation.

Vienna Children's and Youth Strategy to pass City Council this week

Emmerling, SPÖ councilor Marina Hanke and her NEOS colleague Dolores Bakos emphasized in unison that the respondents especially demonstrated social commitment and conscience. "The young Viennese are not only focused on themselves, they look to the left and right," Hanke put it. It also emerged that participation in democratic processes is very important to the kids. Therefore, the children's and youth parliament remains a fixed point, assured Emmerling. Speaking of representation: The children's and youth strategy is set to pass the municipal council this week.

Implementation starts afterwards: The delegates of the children's and youth parliament work out an action plan every year, which is to be discussed with city politics. The implementation is then checked by the parliament as well as the children's and youth advocacy. For this year's children's and youth parliament, you can still register until October 24 via junges.wien.gv.at.

ÖVP and Greens Criticize

Criticism came on Monday from the ÖVP and the Greens. The latter were still in the city government five years ago during the presentation of the first children's and youth strategy. The youth spokesperson of the Vienna Greens, Theo Löcker, accused the city officials of being negligent in implementing the 193 measures of the first strategy. The new strategy contains "only generally held formulations and vague statements." Löcker: "This is quite the opposite of what the children and young people wanted in the 2019 participation process." Therefore, a "new, broad, participatory process like in 2019" is needed.

The ÖVP mainly criticized that with the announced fare increases in public transport "exactly the opposite is being implemented" of what young people want from the city, as VP club chairman Harald Zierfuß emphasized. "As the Young ÖVP Vienna, we have been demanding a uniform public transport annual pass for students in Vienna for years, and that it be uncomplicated, fair, and above all at the same price."

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.