Citizens are a key component of the smart city concept. Understanding citizens allows creating sophisticated services and outcomes that are tailored to their needs. This refers also to children and the youth who are an equally important part of society. But, even though singular initiatives can be found that put interest on children and the youth, there exists a gap between knowledge required and knowledge existing on how young people act, move, and live in cities and which urban infrastructure, facilities, and services including ICT they consider important. This owes to the fact that the needs of children and the youth - as for instance outlined in literature - are determined mostly by adults, while the perspective of the youngsters themselves has been less considered. Thus, there are several open questions on smart cities regarding children and the youth: Why at all is it important for smart city initiatives to pay attention to children and the youth? What are relevant aspects to take into account by smart cities in order to become (more) child- and youth friendly? These questions are discussed based on experience gained by work done in the project Youth Map 5020.
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