The world is gradually becoming witness to the disenfranchisement of youth. This is partially due to a global unrest in relation to the economic system creating a more complex societal equilibrium, placing young people at a disadvantaged socio-economic position with heightened youth unemployment, and also due to political distrust, a decline in values and socially-oriented causes as well as reduced belief in bottom-up social change. At the same time, the role of youth in development and decision-making is marginalised and/or undervalued and so the gap between local, regional, national and international development and youth engagement widens. The purpose of YouChange is to recruit young people with fewer opportunities to act as ‘change makers’ in their communities to conceive and carry out local strategies for socio-economic development, utilizing disused spaces (land recycling).