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Five cities, five ecosystems, one journey across Italy
Each stop on the route brings a different perspective to the Youth4Climate flagship event. Together, these city chapters form a journey across some of Italy’s leading institutions, sectors and environments shaping climate action.
Milan is the starting point of the journey and a natural place to open the route. As the city where Youth4Climate was launched in 2021 during Pre-COP26, it carries strong symbolic value and offers a dynamic ecosystem of universities, private sector actors and innovation spaces. This stop sets the tone for a journey focused on how youth-led climate solutions can connect with visibility, partnerships and scale.
Participants will open the journey through a mix of plenary exchange, scaling-oriented discussions and thematic sessions across Milan’s innovation ecosystem. They will engage with universities, companies and sector leaders working across sustainable fashion, oceans, resilience and private sector innovation, while exploring how youth-led solutions can connect with funding, partnerships and real-world implementation and scaling pathways.
Bologna brings a systems perspective to the route, focusing on how science, data and institutional collaboration can support climate solutions at scale. With its strong research ecosystem and links to climate intelligence, infrastructure and public services, it offers a setting to explore how evidence and implementation can work together.
Participants will explore how data, climate intelligence and systems thinking can inform decision-making and implementation. Through institutional exchanges, technical discussions and site-based learning, this chapter will focus on the role of research, utilities and public systems in supporting practical climate action.
Venice represents one of the most distinctive chapters of the route. As a city shaped by water, heritage, design and climate vulnerability, it offers a powerful setting to explore adaptation, urban futures, cultural ecosystems and blue thinking. This stop focuses on how climate solutions can engage with cities, creative sectors and place-based innovation.
Participants will explore how climate action connects with urban resilience, design, architecture, ocean literacy and cultural identity. Through visits, exchanges and meetings with academic and creative actors, this chapter will focus on how place-based innovation can respond to environmental change while rethinking the future of cities and communities.
Naples brings a hands-on innovation dimension to the route, with a focus on how digital tools, applied research and entrepreneurship can support climate solutions in practice. Through its universities, training ecosystems and research centres, it offers a setting to explore how technology and innovation can respond to real challenges in areas such as food systems, sustainable development and climate resilience.
Participants will engage with academic, scientific and private sector actors working across agritech, ocean-related research and innovation. This chapter will focus on how research, entrepreneurship and sectoral partnerships can help move solutions from idea to application in areas such as food systems, technology and the blue economy.
Rome is the final stop of the trip, bringing the full cohort back together in a setting shaped by policy, diplomacy and institutional engagement. As the home of UNDP Rome Centre and a hub for institutional, diplomatic and policy engagement, Rome provides the space to reflect on the route, strengthen visibility and connect the experience to broader partnership and next-step opportunities.
Participants will reconnect as a full cohort, engage with institutional and policy-oriented actors, and take part in the final public-facing moments of the programme. This chapter will focus on visibility, recognition and next steps, linking the experience of the route to future opportunities for partnership, learning and scale.