Background

Participants aged between 14-20 years from 8 different countries participated in the YouthCamp in Ballerup, Denmark  2011  (http://www.youthcamp2011.eu/). None of the participants were from the area that the game focused on.

Objectives

 
The purpose of the game was to come up with ideas on how Ballerup Centrum could be a more attractive place for youth in the future. Ballerup is facing challenges regarding how to improve city life, and ensure that people want to stay there.

The ideas would function as inspiration for city planners who are currently working on getting ideas on how to develop Ballerup for the year 2020, called vision 2020.
 

Winning idea

Youth Start-Up
 
A lot of young people dream of a future as an entrepreneur, or of realising their ideas, but very few of them know where to go and how to start up. At the same time, Ballerup municipality is wondering how to improve their city. Our idea will give the youth of Ballerup the tools needed to start up businesses that will improve life and the city of Ballerup.
 
About the idea
This idea promotes cooperation between the university, the municipalities and væksthuset? in Copenhagen, which works on giving people the tools to start up their own company. So the municipality will give ideas and suggestions on what needs to be improved in Ballerup; the students will find solutions to the problems and vækstuhset will provide, coaching, start-up tools, seminars and business plans teaching.

This idea will make it possible for students in Ballerup to actually stay there and use their skills to create value for the city. In the long term, Ballerup could be an attractive place to move if you would like to start up and run a business. It would also mean more investment in the city and more economic value for the municipality.

Winning ideas from the other teams

Giant Chess Park

Playing a game is a fun way to interact with people you don’t know. The Giant Chess Park will bring the local residents from Ballerup together and give them an alternative to staying at home or leaving the city.

About the idea:
A challenge for Ballerup is the lack of activities in the city, meaning that people prefer to stay at home or take the train to Copenhagen. This means that something needs to happen in Ballerup in order to make the city come alive and provide natural meeting points for local people and students. Ballerup has a lot of green spaces, so why not use them to organse activities, put out benches, set up free wifi, and a giant chessboard in the cente, which would be a new and fun attraction for Ballerup.
 
This idea is easy to implement and would have a lasting impact on the life of the city. Maybe the next chess world champion would be in Ballerup.
 
Ballerup Dive

Ballerup has many cultural centres like cinemas, museums, and especially great sport facilities, but unfortunately they are not known to the students at the higher educational institutions that only see Ballerup as a place to study. Ballerup Dive is an idea that can open student’s eyes to why they should be spending more time in the city, and maybe even considering moving there.
 
About the idea.
Ballerup Dive is an initiative that gives students at the higher educational institutions an opportunity to 'Dive in to' and discover what Ballerup has to offer them. The activities in the city are being incorporated as a part of the introduction in schools. The idea is that from the start, student's view using Ballerup’s cultural offer as a natural part of studying in the city.
 
Ballerup Dive could be created in various ways. One solution could be as a cross-education activity day that strengthens students relationship to others in Ballerup, and at the same time give groups of students a common connection to one or two offers in the city.