Social Village Development: Junge Täler
- Partners: Erzgebirge Jugend Atlas team and Oberwiesenthal aktiv e.V. (Wiesenthaler Wohnzimmer)
- Topics: place-making, rural development, Youth participation, and Co-Creation
- Key Actors: Local people aged 10–18 and cultural and educational actors in the region
- Outputs: participatory map of Oberwiesenthal and concept for a youth advisory board
- Timespan: January 2025 – December 2026
How can a hybrid sufficiency trail be designed to help residents and visitors alike understand sustainable lifestyles and integrate them into their daily routines?
Finding direction
In Oberwiesenthal, a small town in the Ore Mountains, many young people face a lack of perspectives. Demographic change, the climate crisis and the decline of traditional industries present major challenges for the region. Junge Täler responds to this situation as a collaborative project that opens up new spaces for participation. Young people aged 10 to 18 develop their own future scenarios, build networks and learn tools to help them actively shape their region.
Co-production with community, research and design
The project is a joint initiative by three partners: The association Oberwiesenthal aktiv e.V. with the Wiesenthaler Wohnzimmer (WoWi), the team of the Erzgebirge Jugend Atlas and KITE. Together, they combine local networks, participatory design and critical mapping. KITE coordinates the project and develops co-design methods, digital platforms, and formats for documentation and dissemination. The shared foundation: understanding the future as a space of lived experience – shaped with young people, not for them.
Self-organisation compass
Since the start of the project, low-threshold and creative formats have laid the groundwork for a future self-organization compass, a tool informed by this pilot to support youth-driven citizen participation. Through photography, video, mapping, and other activities, young participants explore and question their surroundings, imagine alternative futures, and test ways to collaborate and drive change. These experiences reveal how young people initiate, shape, and sustain local engagement. The compass will distill these insights into a transferable toolbox that turns lived experience into actionable knowledge. It offers inspiration, orientation, and practical methods for youth to claim space, build alliances, and help shape their communities.
KITE Project Team
Iva Karabatic, Alexander Müller-Rakow, Miriam Lahusen, Jamila Kurtenbach und Susanna Ehrenberg
Projektpartner
KITE Design Research GmbH · Oberwiesenthal aktiv e.V. (Wiesenthaler Wohnzimmer) · Erzgebirge Jugend Atlas
Funded by
the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL)