Cities, as dense sites of heightened interaction between diverse groups, often exhibit in concentrated form the tensions of poverty, inequality, and exclusion. Within the urban context, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as New Urban Agenda (NUA) aim to solve issues such as discrimination, unequal public space access, higher risk for the spread of communicable disease, disparities in education access, poverty, and hunger. If scaled-up, successful urban projects and policies have the potential to improve the lives of many, of whom a significant proportion are children and adolescents. Additionally, urban diversity provides a population with a wide range of backgrounds that could provide crucial perspectives in strategizing effective solutions that address the context of lived experience.

The power of voice is central to personal agency. Involving youths in the innovation of a new urban design that improves residents’ quality of life is essential not only to holding the urban spatial and social systems accountable for their role in reinforcing disparities of income, safety, health, opportunity, education, and housing, but also to fostering a generation of active participants in building a sustainable future with the resources to pass on an even better future to their own children.

By 2050, it is estimated that around 68% of the world’s population will live in cities and urban areas. It is already evident in the Asia and Pacific region that the number of urban dwellers are growing year on year as people migrate to cities to study, work and live. It is also apparent that the region is currently experiencing a youth bulge, where there’s a vast and growing population of young people (between the ages of 18-30), primarily in low and middle income countries. The youth population of Asia and the Pacific is now estimated at 1.1 billion, which accounts for around 60% of the total population.

Hence, young people are active partners for the realization of the SDGs especially as they are recognized as important partners in the United Nations’ New Urban Agenda (NUA) that aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, and resilient (SDG 11). In addition, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Compact on Young People in Humanitarian Action recognize young people as key partners in advancing resilience to ensure disaster preparedness, reduce risks when disaster strikes and as key contributors in all phases of humanitarian response. Young people continuously identify emerging issues, offer solutions, and support evidence-based action to accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.