Over 1,300 young people across Bhubaneswar and Jaipur have helped co-design safer, healthier and more inclusive public spaces. They're now partnering with both cities to make this a permanent part of urban planning.

Bhubaneswar, 26 June 2026: More than 1,300 adolescents across Bhubaneswar and Jaipur have helped reimagine streets, parks and community spaces, and are now demonstrating mechanisms through which young people can partner with cities and communities to shape healthier and more inclusive public spaces. These efforts are at the centre of Shaping Healthy and Inclusive Cities with Adolescents, a youth-led showcase at Suryansh Hotels & Resorts in Bhubaneswar.

Convened by Auom Impact and Consulting in partnership with WRI India[AS1.1][AS1.2], the event brought together adolescents, practitioners, educators, civil society organisations and residents to explore how cities can better integrate young people's perspectives into public space planning and champion a stronger role for young people in shaping cities.

Adolescents aged 10–19 make up more than one-fifth of India’s population, yet their everyday experiences are often missing from how cities plan streets, parks, playgrounds and community spaces. Poorly designed or inaccessible public spaces can limit opportunities for play, social connection, learning, mobility and well-being, particularly for girls, persons with disabilities and those from underserved communities.

The event featured an exhibition that highlighted how adolescents can help create safer, more welcoming spaces for everyone, when given the right tools. The event marked the culmination of the Safe, Vibrant and Healthy Public Spaces project, a three-year initiative that placed adolescents at the heart of public space planning in Bhubaneswar and Jaipur. Under the aegis of Fondation Botnar’s global Healthy Cities for Adolescents initiative, the project is led by WRI India, with Aaina and Humara Bachpan Trust anchoring the work in Bhubaneswar, I-India and Magic Bus India Foundation in Jaipur, and Auom Impact and Consulting as the learning partner.

In Bhubaneswar, young people have helped create spaces that serve diverse community needs, especially for adolescents with disabilities (AwDs). Aaina has developed an inclusive model for public spaces prioritising[RT2.1][AS2.2] the needs of girls, women and AwDs. Through an Adolescent Federation platform, anchored by Humara Bachpan Trust, adolescents are leading parliament-style debates, surfacing their peers' concerns, proposing solutions, and staying engaged with other youth and civic authorities city-wide.

In Jaipur, young people are taking forward these conversations at I-India's Public Space Lab through open houses, collaborating with communities to understand civic solutions and opening channels of communication with municipal authorities. Magic Bus India Foundation's school clubs use simplified training modules to make public space development a part of everyday school life.

"As Indian cities grow, the young people who will inherit them must have a say in how they are shaped. Adolescents have shown they can be thoughtful contributors, not just users, of shared spaces. By embedding neighbourhood-scale decision-making into city planning, we can create solutions that are more targeted, locally owned and responsive to community needs. The future of cities depends on making young people’s participation a lasting part of how we plan and build," noted Prerna V. Mehta, Associate Program Director, Sustainable Cities – Urban Development, WRI India.

The event featured installations, games, artwork and adolescent-led storytelling, with youth champions from Bhubaneswar and Jaipur sharing the ideas they helped inspire. The showcase also welcomed learnings from the Resilient Cities for Adolescents project in Ghana, offering an international perspective on how young people are leading change in cities.

In Bhubaneswar and Jaipur, young people contributed designs for six sites, resulting in improvements such as additional shade, seating, play equipment, greenery and accessibility. Their work was informed by WRI India's Public Spaces Assessment Framework (PSAF), a practical tool designed to help communities and city agencies understand public spaces from an adolescent perspective and act on those insights. Alongside offering simple, low-cost models for public space improvement, young people are leading workshops to help cities adopt the PSAF and adapt these models for different contexts.

"Adolescence is a crucial stage of brain development. Becoming equal participants in city decision-making at this early age shapes their civic ownership. Through this project, adolescents have now learnt to identify complex community issues and collaborate on solutions. We only hope they take this forward more strongly into adulthood, becoming courageous and inclusive leaders,[AS3.1]” said Sri, Founder, Auom Impact and Consulting.

Media Contact

Arundhati Sen, WRI India | [email protected]

Satbhan Singh, WRI India | [email protected]

About Auom Impact & Consulting by Insomanywords

Auom Impact and Consulting designs and strengthens interventions addressing complex and wicked problems faced by the marginalized in humans and beyond humans. Recognizing that every social problem is a behavioural problem that is part of the web of dynamic, interconnected systems of individuals, beliefs and larger context of community norms, policies and structures, Auom integrates applied behavioural science, systems thinking and future foresight, to design and strengthen interventions that are committed to drive positive socio-ecological- environmental impact. https://www.insomanywords.space/

About WRI India*

WRI India, an independent knowledge organisation registered as India Resources Trust, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. Through research, analysis and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods and enhance human well-being. Know more: wri-india.org

* Please refer to WRI India only as “WRI India”, and not World Resources Institute India, nor World Resources Institute, nor WRI-I, nor any derivation thereof, regardless of language, nor other name that deviates from “WRI India”.

About Magic Bus India Foundation

Magic Bus is an NGO working in the field of education and skilling space in India. Founded in Mumbai in 1999, magic bus works with young people living in poverty, taking them from a childhood full of challenges to a life with meaningful livelihoods. They work with young people’s ecosystem (parents peers, community and local institutions) to create a network of support for them. https://www.magicbus.org/about-us.php

About I-India

I-India is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established in 1993. I-India’s mission is to provide care, love and development for children living on the streets of Jaipur. They assist children with their immediate challenges, such as homelessness, malnutrition and illness, while also developing their attitudes and skills so they can make a better future for themselves. https://www.i-indiaonline.com/abt_ii_overview.htm

About Aaina

Aaina, which literally means ‘mirror’, is a voluntary organisation, based in Odisha, India. The organisation was conceived as an effort of a few socially sensitive people who came from different backgrounds, charged with the vision of working with the vulnerable sections of the society and addressing issues giving rise to such vulnerabilities. In this context, persons with disabilities, children and women became the core focus areas of the organisation.  https://aaina.org.in/index.asp

About Humara Bachpan Trust

Humara Bachpan Trust (HBT) is a not-for profit organization advocating for safe and healthy living conditions with improved socio-economic status of communities living in poverty. It is led by children, youth and women who identify the issues, prioritize them and propose solutions to address those issues before the appropriate authorities. The focus of their work is creating an enabling built environment, public -civic engagements, community participation in urban and rural governance and empowerment through enterprise and entrepreneurship.

https://www.humarabachpan.org/