Diagnosing Youth Participation in the Digital Age: Evidence from the Urban Lab Project in Bydgoszcz, Poland

Youth participation is frequently positioned at the centre of digital democracy strategies, yet empirical evidence suggests that the mere availability of digital tools does not automatically translate into meaningful civic engagement. This paper presents a diagnosis of youth participation in Poland based on empirical insights from the Urban Lab project implemented in Bydgoszcz, a city-level initiative designed to stimulate civic engagement through digitally supported participatory mechanisms and collaborative urban governance. The paper examines how young people engage with participatory instruments offered within the Urban Lab framework, including digital consultation tools, online communication channels, and hybrid participatory formats combining online and offline interaction. The analysis focuses on motivations, participation patterns, and perceived barriers, highlighting the role of digital competences, trust in institutions, and the perceived effectiveness of participation in shaping young citizens’ engagement. Findings from the Urban Lab case indicate that while digital tools increase accessibility and lower entry thresholds, participation remains uneven and selective. Engagement is dominated by highly motivated, digitally competent youth, while young people from less privileged backgrounds remain underrepresented. Moreover, participation is often project-based and instrumental, driven by short-term incentives rather than long-term civic identification. Weak feedback loops and limited visibility of policy impact contribute to scepticism toward institutionalised participation and reinforce disengagement among broader youth populations. The paper situates these findings within broader debates on digital inclusion and exclusion, arguing that Urban Lab illustrates both the potential and limitations of digitally mediated participation for youth. While the project creates spaces for experimentation and co-creation, it also exposes structural challenges related to sustainability, institutional openness, and the translation of participatory input into binding decisions. By linking micro-level empirical evidence from Urban Lab Bydgoszcz with macro-level discussions on digital citizenship and youth engagement, this contribution highlights the need for human-centred, trust-building participatory designs that integrate digital tools with face-to-face interaction. The paper contributes to the panel by offering an empirically grounded diagnosis of youth participation and reflecting on how digital innovation can support democratic learning without reproducing existing inequalities.