<< Background >>The number of people living in urban areas is always on the increase and the countries involved in this project are no exception. All countries making up this project, are experiencing extensive urbanization resulting in young people becoming more and more detached from nature, agricultural land and farming. Young people are accustomed to buy their foods from supermarkets where everything is packaged and ready for use. Few young people have the possibility and knowledge to grow their own crops also because the spaces they live in does not allow this. This has resulted in the belief by young people that food grows on supermarket shelves rather than in the fields. This reality is also resulting in the consumption of food that we have no information on its origin, might have traveled long distances to reach us and has also been treated to remain fresh. This calls for a greater push towards the farm-to-fork concept. Indeed, through our project, the young will be able to make use of place, even if small, in their home, balconies, classrooms, public gardens and rooftops to grow their own crops, herbs and other vegetation. Many young people further distance themselves from nature due to the rushing lifestyle of urban centers, where sufficient green spots often lack. Distancing from nature, which was escalated during the COVID-19 quarantine period, has caused people to suffer from various physical and mental diseases, which may possibly recover from only through reconnecting with nature (Baral, 2020). As a result, young people seem to have underdeveloped the sense of environmental culture, which includes the acquisition of conscientious attitude towards nature, the mindset to realize and appreciate the artistry and richness of the environment, the ability to organize environmentally competent actions, to adopt an active lifestyle, and express intolerance to manifestations that act against nature (Ernazarov, 2019). The need for young people to reconnect with nature is critical, because all young people are citizens that share the responsibility of ensuring natural sustainability, thus they must develop a relationship with nature and invest in its protection. What also rises as a need is to promote awareness in young people about the origin of food and the process behind it. If young people were more aware of what it takes to grow, harvest, process and distribute a single vegetable, it will prevent them from developing food waste behaviors. At the same time, cities cannot provide enough green spaces for citizens, while the ones already established are not used at their full potential and are not maintained properly. A report has showcased that urban green spaces are regarded as contributors of improved quality of life of citizens (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). If young people had the chance to get actively involved with these urban green spaces, the benefits towards them and the city as a whole will be of utmost significance. The establishment of common gathering and interaction spaces for young people will also make them develop social bonds with each other, as they lead a beneficial environmental project. The needs that were raised for this project came from a literature review that we did online and also from research that we did amongst our young people were we directly assessed the level of knowledge that our youth have when it comes to knowledge on how food is produced and where it comes from and also knowledge about different crops and vegetables. The research that we did amongst our young people complimented the results of the research that we did online where it came out in a clear manner that projects similar to this one are greatly needed.<< Objectives >>The main objective of the 7th EAP is that by the year 2050, ‘we live well, within the planet’s ecological limits. Our prosperity and healthy environment stems from an innovative, circular economy where nothing is wasted and where natural resources are managed sustainably and biodiversity is protected, valued and restored in ways that enhance our society’s resilience. Our low-carbon growth has long been decoupled from resource use, setting the pace for a safe and sustainable global society. Cities often share a common set of problems such as poor air quality, high levels of noise, greenhouse gas emissions, water scarcity and waste. Addressing these problems means working together. Therefore, the EAP aims to promote and expand initiatives that support innovation and best practice sharing in cities. The aim is to ensure that by 2025, most cities in the EU are implementing policies for sustainable urban planning and design and are using the EU funding available for this purpose. The objectives that we will be working to reach in this project are: 1)The reconnection of young people with nature as let nature act as a healing power for the young people that we will be working with2)Help the young people realize from where those their food comes from and what does it take for food to grow. This will lead to a better aopreciation for the farmer and his work as well.3)Introduce the farm to Fork concept and how we can make use of that to fight Global Warming.4)Increasing the sense of responsible, active citizenship in participating young people and highlight the importance of establishing and maintaining urban green spaces for gardening. We will also cerate the sense of community as they will be working together as a community to make sure to take care of their common garden5)Young people will reconsider their preferences relevant to food waste prevention and cultivate a mindset that promotes.6)We will provide holistic, hands-on experience to youth and youth workers that will benefit them in their personal and occupational, while also the organization which can develop future agricultural projects together.7)Municipal public spaces will flourish with more and renovated green spaces which will be maintained frequently by young people themselves, and potentially there will be crops of edible plants that the municipality that these spaces reside in can be distributed to various social projects.8)The digital novelties to be developed during the project (platform and mobile application) will become potent tools that participating organisations can utilize for further agricultural projects and initiatives.<< Implementation >>This is a project that will take two years to flousirh. In these two years, partners will be working on the creation of 5 project results that will be beneficial for the young people that they work with, other young people communities and also for the public in general.The consortium partners have come up with the most innovative and engaging ideas to make the above ambitions come true. By combining everyone’s expertise and ambitions, the following activities and project results will be actualized during the project’s lifespan: PR1. State of the art and platform of urban sustainability and green space utilization: This PR regards a comprehensive research that will provide a holistic image of the available green spaces in the involved cities and their potential of exploiting these spaces to create youth-led gardens. The research will also include a report on all the recommended plants that can be planted in each area and how young people can be involved in agriculture. The research will escalate into an online platform, in which there will be an interactive map with all the green initiatives collected in each country, and with the option for young people to fill in ideas regarding urban green initiatives that they can develop. The materials from the research will shape the basis for the following Results by giving a clear vision of the different needs to base the work in.PR2. Video guides on urban sustainability and farming: Having all the important technical information established, a series of video tutorials will be created that are aimed at teaching young people about the concept of urban sustainability, the importance of the SDGs and how they can actively take part in agricultural activities in their area. All different tutorials will form a comprehensive video guide that will be piloted locally before its implementation.PR3. Interactive urban sustainability and farming application: All deliverables of the project will be encapsulated into an app that will be developed for the scopes of the project. The app will include the state of the art highlight facts and the video guide that all young people who will download the app can access for free. The video guide will be accompanied by an asynchronous e-learning module where young people will watch the videos and take a short quiz or submit a video response to test their knowledge. Each video will have its own evaluation quiz and young people who manage to complete all different learning units will receive a certificate of completion compatible with the ECVET standards. The contents and screens of the app will continually evolve as the project progresses and new initiatives develop after its successful completion. PR.4: Public Green Space Interventions: The technological innovation and the educational aspects of the project will lead up to actual practical use by involving trained young people into the renovation and establishment of green spots in public spaces. All organisations will reach out to local stakeholders and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with them so that young people (and later the whole community) can establish these spaces. PR5. Sustainable cookbook publishing: After the exploitation of green spaces by young people, a cookbook will be issued that will contain traditional food recipes from all participating countries. This book will be developed as the result of a youth exchange that will happen in the end of the project, where young people that took part in previous parts of the project will utilize the different plant species that they grew in their urban landscape to create traditional food recipes for participants of the project, as a pan-European celebration of the project’s accomplishments. During this youth exchange, a “master chief” style competition will be organized, where the participants will create the most sustainable and delicious recipe, with local chiefs being invited as the judging committee, and th<< Results >>The main result which is expected from our project is that students will become aware that they can use urban spaces to grow their own crops. This result is linked to the other outputs of his project:1. All the partners are coming from urban and heavily populated areas, thus students are not very much in touch with nature. The knowledge gained through hundreds of years of agriculture is being lost since students are detached from the natural environment due to extensive urbanization. This project will equip the youth with basic skills that will enable them to make better use of the spaces they have inside their homes, balconies, rooftops and back gardens where available. The young people will learn how to pot crops, will receive basic soil information, when to plant seeds and when to harvest amongst other skills. This will be done in all the partner countries who are also working to address the Environment Action Programme (EAP). This will bring back the knowledge which farmers passed from one generation to another.2. Youth will also become aware that if they want to, they can choose to further their studies and take agriculture as their future career path. In all the countries involved farmers are concerned because their profession is dying out due to lack of interest from their immediate families and the general public. Farming is wrongly perceived as a lesser type of job. Youth will increase their awareness about the importance of having people working the fields since it provides the community with fresh and nutritious food and reinforces the concept of farm-to-fork.3. The young people will also increase their environmental awareness since they will learn that in urban places there is an alarming lack of green spaces. All the countries involved are experiencing an increase in construction, thus the importance of creating these green pockets are becoming increasingly important. The youth will understand the benefits which green areas have on a physiological and psychological levels.4. Another expected result will be that during this project is that the young people, will learn more about the origins of food and appreciate more the local produce which is fresher and accessible to the students. The youth as part of this project will also learn how to prepare basic food recipes using the food which they will grow in their homes, schools and other urban places.5. To ensure sustainability and to reach a wider audience beyond the participants who are directly involved in this project, a website and a mobile app are going to be developed. The website and mobile app will be designed to reach different audiences but with special and particular focus to school aged young people. The website and the app will include tutorials on basic agricultural skills such as basic preparation of soil, preparing a tray for seeding, plants /herbs which are easy grown indoors, transplanting of seedlings, watering of trays and plants, monitoring of crops, reporting of plant growth and growth difficulties, harvesting of crops, presenting crops to a market/audience, basic Nutrition information, nutrients and supplements, recycling everyday material to use for pots, recycling food leftovers to use as pit as nutrients and using spaces around us - new ways of planting using walls and balconies. 6. Throughout this project the partners will talk with more potential associated partners to reach more students. All partners will be encouraged to disseminate information about this project with the general public. The website and app will be free for everyone to use with tutorials and videos showing the public how to start farming their own city.