Youth engagement in sports park Bruges
Context and background
Just as the year before in Prague (CZ), Porto (PT) and Amsterdam (NL), we worked with the CommunuCity EU project for another deployment this year. This time, closer to home in Bruges (Belgium) and focusses specifically on youth engagement and multicultural participation.
Specifically, we worked on the sports park Daverlo in the Bruges sub-municipality of Assebroek. The sports center Daverlo includes a large sports hall, a cultural hall, café, playground, skate park and various outside areas. The park neighbours different housing types, schools, after school programs and more. The park also hosts youth clubs and many sporting activities from schools and organised sports.
Our challenge? To engage young people and young people with a migration background about the future of the sports park.
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About CommuniCity
CommuniCity is a transformative citizen-centred project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Programme. CommuniCity and its consortium of partners works together with tech companies and providers, organisations, cities and their residents to develop innovative technical solutions to overcome digital, urban and social challenges.
The CommuniCity project launches three rounds of Open Calls that provide grants for up to 100 innovative pilot proposals. This project is one of the selected submissions for the Second Round.
For more information, visit: https://communicity-project.eu/
What were the objectives of this project?
The deployment of the Citizen Dialog Kit (CDK) here aimed specifically to:
- Gather insights into the perspective of young people regarding the current sportpark and wishes for its future.
- Insights that can be a starting point for future masterplan.
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How was the youth engagement deployment carried out?
From January to March, we jointly shaped the use case and survey design with the city team. This phase started with introducing the CDK approach and sharing best practices for situated participation, helping align expectations around what in-situ feedback can and cannot deliver. Together with local stakeholders, relevant topics and specific locations were selected to ensure the questions would be meaningful in their physical context. These discussions resulted in a first draft of the survey.
The deployment and fieldwork ran from April to June and combined qualitative and quantitative methods. Interviews with local residents provided additional context and helped interpret the responses collected via the devices.
Two CDK devices were installed for 4,5 weeks (from 30 April to 2 June): one at a playground next to a small community centre, and a second near a skatepark adjacent to a larger indoor sports and cultural building (see map above). This setup allowed the project team to compare participation and responses across different types of public spaces and user groups.
Continues below the chart of engagements per day.
Engagement overview
Participation showed a clear and familiar engagement pattern. As expected, there was a strong peak in the first week after deployment, when the devices are typically noticed the most.
After this early surge, participation settled into waves, with recurring peaks on Wednesdays and during weekends. Across both sites, most interactions took place in the afternoon. Again, this is typical for recreational and community spaces.
In total, 710 surveys were started and 502 were completed in only 4,5 weeks with two devices. This means that 70% of participants completed the full survey, which is a high completion rate and notably above the other CommuniCity projects (between 45% and 60%).
The total number of started surveys was very similar at both locations, but the skatepark site (“CDK 2” on the map) performed better in terms of both volume and completion rate. A possible explanation is the different audience profile, with fewer very young children at the skatepark.
Participants answered an average of 10 questions each, which is also in line with our prior experience and usual advice.
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What were the insights from the deployment?
The survey revealed many useful insights how the park is currently used, and the distinct audiences it serves in different areas.
Demographics
The demographic profile of participants was strongly shaped by the locations. Across both sites, the majority of respondents were under 18 years old. Precisely hitting our intended audience.
Both locations primarily reached local residents: most participants indicated they lived within a 15-minute travel distance. The skatepark showed a slightly broader reach, as it attracted more respondents from 15 to 30 minutes away. This suggests it functions as a destination beyond the immediate neighbourhood.
Language
We presented the survey in Dutch and English to expand our inclusivity. Language data from the survey supports this actually worked. More than 25% of respondents indicate they speak a language at home that is not Dutch! This is a significant share and underlines the relevance of low-threshold, language-aware participation tools.
This result relates to the core objective of the project: testing whether situated, physical participation tools can reach audiences that are often underrepresented in traditional participation processes.
Continues below the charts of gathered responses.
Current use
The park is primarily used for sports and play, with clear differences between the two locations. Play emerged as the most frequently selected activity overall, skating was strongly associated with the skatepark, and listening to music appeared slightly more often at the playground.
Future interest
What is currently missed is more playground equipment 33.2% at the playground and more skating or other sports 38% at the skatepark. As was expected due to the removal in recent past, basketball scores highest for missed sports.
To support social gathering, the wishes are split very evenly, with 13% to 14% choosing for either benches and chairs, barbecues, pick-nick tables, or more roof cover. For play, the clear winner is more climbing and balancing equipment.
Reflections on youth engagement
By placing the devices in everyday environments and minimizing language and digital barriers, the case study aimed to explore how inclusive feedback collection can work in practice. The high share of non-Dutch home languages confirms that this approach can successfully engage a more diverse local population.
Partners
- Municipality: Bruges
- Funding: CommuniCity (Funded by the European Union)
