I was involved in the group work on architecture and infrastructure issues. During the introductory part we got acquainted with the map of Kirkenes town and development plans of the municipality. After that we went into the streets of Kirkenes and investigated the objects and buildings seen on the map. Those places and sites, which in our opinion are in need of improvement and reconstruction, were filmed or photographed and marked in the city plan. I was pleasantly surprised that our group had so many good, innovative and realistic ideas for the town development.

Other groups, which worked with cultural, spare time, tourism and marketing issues, got acquainted with the potential tourism sites and supplemented the project web page with new ideas for articles and its structure. Throughout the conference there were more and more new ideas and enthusiasm generated and what’s even better, these plans and suggestions were presented to the representatives of local mass media and the municipality administration. The group work was facilitated by professionals who were able to listen to what young people were saying.

During the conference there were also some presentations about the youth participation level in the local community processes; the future of the Barents Sea region was introduced by a journalist Morten Jentoft. A very exciting presentation about the development possibilities of Kirkenes town was given by an expert on spatial planning issues, Mike Fuller - ….. .

We were also informed about, and could compare, the progress of PIPE project in other countries. In the frame of PIPE, LATVIA project we have established a youth entrepreneurship class; young people are going to elaborate business plans and research papers according to the development plans of Cesis city. Soon the local identity research group will be formed and its main task is to find out and define the strength of Cesis region in order to make it more attractive for young generations and visitors.