Let's take a closer look at three common dilemmas and arguments that often arise when addressing the issue of youth participation in decision-making. For these important assertions, we've created a small library of some of our most important arguments.
Youths are leaving the municipality anyway
Our argument:
The sense of belonging to a municipality has several components, such as its everyday culture, its local traditions and rituals, the story they share, the local community and the place itself — its size, its quality, its colours, forms, and most importantly, the needs it reflects. Therefore, it’s important to design our settlement environment to reflect the needs of every age group - to have safe and playful places for kids, to have comfortable places for the elderly, to support the life-work balance of adults and to not miss from this rank the young people either. Participatory planning — when we involve the actual users in the design process — with young people helps us understand their needs and design a municipality where they feel more connected, at home, can gain meaningful memories, and want to return after they need to leave. 
Youths are not ready to take part in decision
Our argument:
First of all young people are not at all a homogeneous group; they are very diverse in many ways. In every age group, we can find super engagers who are very well prepared to express their opinion and also to influence others. Municipalities can find them on social media, in schools, in civil organizations, and on the streets. If found, these youngsters are potentially easier to get engaged, but we should not forget that they are not the only ones to be involved. If you want to create a representative and colourful youth participation structure, you must invest and make efforts to find and involve a diversity of youth groups (based on social background, education, colour, belief, gender etc.), and also diversity of competencies. Some young people may need more preparation and empowerment to have their say, and it requires a safe space in which they can make mistakes and they can openly reflect on their learning. For this, they need trained and experienced youth workers who can provide the necessary support and space. Municipalities are in the best position to create and maintain the conditions of youth community work and youth participation in the local community.
“Youth aren’t interested in politics.”
Our argument:
Young people are interested in community issues and public life if they are asked the right questions, if they are offered adequate spaces and adequate structures, if they are supported and respected, if they are really listened to, and if their opinions and ideas are taken into real consideration.
The usual mistake we observe is that municipalities offer young people something that lacks transparency, meaning and impact, sustainability or mutual respect, which is not based on their needs and visions.
Before trying to involve young people in community decisions, municipalities should ask themselves, ‘Why do we want to involve youth in decisions?’ and ‘What kind of impact do we want to see?’.
The greatest risk of engaging young people in community decisions is to reproduce unwanted social-political behaviours and misleading community patterns that are errors of the existing system and the status quo.
Thus, the greatest opportunity, on the other hand, is to exceed the mistakes of our present and provide space for young people to learn to do it better.