Parma European Youth Capital 2027

The dossier of the ducal city awarded in Europe. A concrete recognition resulting from the great synergy between the city administration, the youth community and the network of associations.

Parma will be the European Youth Capital in 2027. The news was announced by the European Youth Forum, the international youth organization that has chosen the Parma dossier as the best proposal to stimulate youth participation and strengthen the European identity of our city.

The project described in the dossier aims to reduce the generational gap and improve the quality of life of young people through a series of thematic initiatives organized in eight “Squares” and four “Paths”, promoting active participation, social inclusion and sustainability. These “Squares” and “Paths” will be both physical and symbolic spaces to facilitate meetings, discussions and concrete actions for a more inclusive and sustainable future for Parma and Europe.

The project described in the dossier aims to reduce the generational gap and improve the quality of life of young people through a series of thematic initiatives organized in eight “Squares” and four “Paths”, promoting active participation, social inclusion and sustainability. These “Squares” and “Paths” will be both physical and symbolic spaces to facilitate meetings, discussions and concrete actions for a more inclusive and sustainable future for Parma and Europe. Since the origins of its urban creation, the Piazza has been a place of active participation and politics, but also of discussion, meetings, market, food and economy; Diversity meets in the square and paths transform the landscape. With this metaphor, our project will offer various opportunities to young men and women who will experience the squares as a place of democratic and meaningful participation.

The candidacy dossier is entitled “Parma, a great square for Europe” and is the result of a broad participatory process that involved hundreds of girls and boys under 30 and more than two hundred local and national associations. The proposal envisages a collaborative and inclusive approach that extends beyond 2027, to create a permanent platform for dialogue and participation between young people and society, capable of concretizing the protagonism of the city’s youth community.

The dossier was presented by the Municipality of Parma together with JEP Junior Enterprise Parma, in collaboration with the Parma Youth Commission and the National Youth Council and with many local, regional and national realities that have networked.

The candidacy process began in 2023 and last spring Parma was selected – the only Italian city – among the five finalists for the title of European Youth Capital 2027.
For Parma it was the first time in the final, where it overcame the cities of Chișinău in Moldova, Fuenlabrada and Málaga in Spain, Skopje in North Macedonia.