CAMPUS Participation in the Youth4Sea Event
27/05/2026
The Municipality of Ferrara was invited to present its youth engagement journey, developed within the framework of the CAMPUS implementation programme, during the Youth4Sea event organised by the Interreg Italy-Croatia Programme in Ancona on 25 May.
Ferrara’s experience was showcased as an introduction to the afternoon Working Table #1, “Your Voice, Our Programme: Shaping Engagement Together”, dedicated to exploring ways to integrate youth perspectives into programme priorities and activities in a more systematic and measurable manner.
Representing the CAMPUS project, Oana Emilia Budau illustrated how the Municipality of Ferrara, with the support of external engagement expert Farah Makki, developed its participatory pathway around the concept of “Future Keepers”. The initiative draws inspiration from the approach promoted by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, which encourages shared responsibility in the protection of the world’s cultural and natural heritage sites. Within the local activities of the CAMPUS project, this concept was adapted to engage younger generations in discovering and understanding Ferrara’s UNESCO tangible and intangible heritage, while encouraging them to imagine collective actions to safeguard it against the impacts of climate change.
Ferrara’s engagement journey was structured into four interconnected stages.
The first activity, “Heritage Stories Lab – Tales of Flânerie”, held on 5 March, invited more than 45 high-school students to explore the UNESCO-listed historic centre through a process of slow and attentive observation. Participants were encouraged to rediscover familiar places by documenting emotions, material details and personal impressions emerging throughout the walk.
The second workshop, “Design Play to Care”, transformed these observations into “loss scenarios” and “care stories”. Students reflected on the potential impacts of drought, flooding, extreme heat and urban transformation on Ferrara’s cultural heritage and local traditions, while also proposing concrete actions and communication messages capable of engaging their peers in heritage protection.
The third step, “Small Keepers”, involved primary school pupils in a simplified and playful version of the same experience. Through a gamification approach centred on a specially designed “gaming dice”, children explored the stories and distinctive features of Palazzo Schifanoia, one of Ferrara’s symbolic landmarks. Each side of the dice corresponded to a different challenge, encouraging participants to observe, interpret and creatively interact with the site.
The final stage, the “Stewardship Circle”, invited students to use the previously developed loss scenarios and care stories as the basis for a collective discussion. These materials were transformed into Dialogue Cards designed to stimulate reflection on additional cultural assets requiring protection, as well as on possible individual and collective actions that could contribute to their safeguarding.
By combining gamification and peer-to-peer learning approaches, the Municipality of Ferrara succeeded in actively involving students in its heritage safeguarding mission, fostering awareness that the protection of cultural heritage must be understood as a shared and collective responsibility.