Amarante leads the PLAYFUL-ED pilot: building a city that learns from (and with) its children

As both a project partner and the pilot city of the European project PLAYFUL-ED, Amarante hosted a three-day programme (27–29 November) designed to test a simple but transformative idea:

cities become more inclusive when adults (planners, teachers, parents, and public authorities) learn to listen to and be guided by children’s perspectives.

Funded by ERASMUS+ and implemented by the Municipality in partnership with Area Europa and Urban Foxes, PLAYFUL-ED is developing a capacity building approach that supports adult education for intergenerational that make children’s insights visible and meaningful within urban planning.

DAY 1
Setting the groundwork: institutions come together

On Thursday, 27 November, the programme began with a full day of stakeholder engagement, bringing together representatives from: municipal departments (urbanism, mobility, public space, education, culture); school leaders and teachers; parent associations; parish councils (juntas de freguesia); local organisations and partners, among others.

This meeting was essential to creating a shared understanding: children’s visions matter — and adults across all levels of governance must be ready to hear them, value them, and act on them.

This cross-sector alignment is the foundation of PLAYFUL-ED’s “full-circle approach”: creating spaces for children → listening to what they say → integrating their insights into municipal thinking.

DAY 2
Children explore the city as experts of their own experience

On Friday, 28 November, pupils from the 1st and 4th grades of EB1/JI No. 2 took to the streets of Amarante’s historic centre with their teachers.

They observed, mapped, and discussed the places that feel safe, welcoming, confusing, or challenging, using stickers, post-its and drawings designed to activate spatial awareness and curiosity. As one of the 1st-grade teachers noted, the children quickly embraced her proposal to see themselves as “the architects of the urban space,” eager to see their ideas taken seriously and turned into real improvements.

For the 4th-grade pupils, a particularly meaningful moment emerged when they placed a “no cars” sign in front of their school. Seeing vehicles pass by only a minute later left them visibly frustrated. They genuinely believed their sign would have an immediate impact. This simple episode revealed something profound: children naturally expect the city to respond to their actions, and it reminded us, as adults, of the importance of imagining and testing different scenarios when designing urban environments.

This day generated the raw insights: the lived experiences that only children can provide.

DAY 3
Adults learn to see through a child’s perspective

On Saturday, 29 November, parents and guardians were invited to participate in their own walk and workshop. Using inverted periscopes, adults experienced the city at a child’s height: discovering how scale, visibility, and movement change dramatically from a lower viewpoint.

This exercise helped adults recognise that many obstacles, risks, and opportunities in public space are invisible from an adult perspective.

The session concluded with a joint reflection at the Amarante Cine-Teatro, where adults confronted the difference between how they think children experience the city and how children actually experience it.

Promoting child-centred urban planning

For Ricardo Vieira, City Councillor for Urban Planning, “children’s participation is essential to the project’s success. Their perspective helps us understand how they experience the city and must be integrated into municipal planning and decision-making processes. With PLAYFUL-ED, we reinforce our commitment to participatory, people-centred urban policies, moving towards a more inclusive and future-ready city.”

As we like to say, a city that is child-friendly, is a nice city for us all!

What Comes Next

The insights collected from children, teachers, families, and local authorities will now feed into the next stage of the PLAYFUL-ED project, helping us to refine the project's toolkit, fostering new ways to incorporate children’s needs and aspirations into planning practices.

News about the pilot (in portuguese)

https://www.cm-amarante.pt/amarante-lidera-projeto-europeu-para-tornar-a-cidade-mais-amiga-das-criancas/

https://www.cm-amarante.pt/eventos/playful-ed/