Young participants at the first edition of the Territorial Forum, held in Jardim Campo Belo, Campinas, on 24 August 2024.
On 24 August 2024, Jardim Campo Belo, in the southern region of Campinas-SP, hosted the first edition of the Youth Forum’s Territorial Forum. The event marked the beginning of a series of gatherings devoted to active listening and to strengthening young people as protagonists in spaces of dialogue, bringing together diverse voices to discuss challenges, share lived experience and co-create collective solutions.
Held at the OSC Vovó Nestor, the gathering opened with an exercise led by Punka, a young leader of the Youth Forum 2024 governance committee. The activity invited participants to choose words representing their identities or aspirations, culminating in a collective poem read aloud. This moment created an atmosphere of belonging and connection, setting the ground for the conversations that followed.
The young people present debated central questions, organised along two broad lines: the challenges of everyday life and proposals for confronting them. Among the topics discussed were accounts of police violence, the scarcity of cultural spaces, barriers to entering the labour market and political disengagement. The solutions proposed included decentralising and creating cultural facilities, running continuous programmes for young people, and public policies that promote inclusion and social justice.
Jardim Campo Belo: Challenges and Potential
Jardim Campo Belo, close to Viracopos International Airport, has historically been marked by socio-spatial inequality. With around 50,000 inhabitants across 19 neighbourhoods, the territory faces precarious public services, high rates of social vulnerability and one of the highest homicide rates in the city (XVIII Congress of Scientific Initiation – Unicamp, 2010). These adversities are bound up with a history of disputes over the right to housing, reflecting residents’ constant struggle for dignity and access to basic rights.
Within this same context of disputes over the basic right to housing, the Territorial Forum underlines the transformative potential of local young people. Young residents of Jardim Campo Belo showed resilience and a desire to occupy spaces of dialogue, bringing concrete proposals to confront everyday difficulties. The event reaffirmed the importance of spaces dedicated to listening, allowing young people to voice their realities and contribute to building meaningful social change.
Reflections and Commitments
The Territorial Forum – South Region was a milestone in strengthening the young people of Campinas. By opening space for dialogue led by young people, the event reinforced the need to build a future in which rights are guaranteed and the social participation of young people is recognised as essential to transforming territories.
Continuing these gatherings is essential to widening the positive impact of youth leadership. Among the priorities identified are improving the quality of basic services, such as energy and sanitation, and promoting projects that value the role of young people as agents of change.
As Silva (2020) points out, urban conflicts in Jardim Campo Belo reflect the urgent need for public policies that respond to local challenges. And the young people who took part in the Territorial Forum left a message: they want to be heard and to lead the building of actions and narratives that bring about fairer futures for their territories.
Written by:
Débora Cristina da Paz, Project Manager of the Youth Forum 2024
With rapporteur contributions from:
Jefferson Rodrigues, young leader of the Youth Forum 2024 governance committee
References
- A urbanização de Campinas-SP e os recentes conflitos urbanos na região do Jardim Campo Belo.
- XVIII Congresso de Iniciação Científica – Unicamp.