Főoldal

This project explores how art-based participatory placemaking can support children’s rights in tourism-driven urban environments. Developed through a pilot workshop in Porto’s historic Ribeira district, it investigates how children can be meaningfully involved in reflecting on and reimagining public space.

Through an intergenerational co-design process, children and their parents engaged in storytelling, mapping, and creative interventions using azulejo tiles - a culturally embedded medium that also reflects the tensions between heritage, tourism, and everyday urban life. The workshop created a space for participants to articulate spatial experiences, negotiate memories of place, and imagine more inclusive futures for the riverside.

Rather than focusing on permanent physical transformation, the project emphasises process-based spatial reflection and democratic learning. It demonstrates how small-scale, temporary artistic actions can function as tools for civic awareness, cultural dialogue, and participatory urban imagination.

The concept was developed by a Budapest-based research and pedagogical team (Borbála Marosán and Boglárka Varga) and implemented with local support in Porto through collaboration with a design practitioner (Clara Vieira Rodrigues from Designedin) facilitating community outreach and contextual engagement. The initiative was realised within the framework of the Culture Moves Europe programme, fostering cross-border exchange on children’s rights, participatory design, and socially engaged cultural practice.

STEP 1

Introduction through a drama-based reflection on the riverside

The workshop began with a warm-up phase inspired by drama pedagogy. Recalling water-related movements, memories, and stories helped initiate a shared reflection on the riverside and the Ribeira district.

During the discussion, generational differences in perception quickly became apparent. Parents still remembered a time when the riverside functioned as an important meeting place and an integral part of everyday life. Children, however, have grown up in a very different city - for them, this area is primarily a space for tourists, which they rarely visit.

STEP 2

Exploring the place

through images

The second activity focused on a collective analysis of photographs taken on location. These images conveyed different narratives about the city. Participants were invited to express the feelings and thoughts that arose while looking at the photos by leaving a visual mark on them - this could take the form of a drawing, a written note, or any other creative addition. Younger participants were also encouraged to use emotion stickers to reflect their impressions and intuitions about each location.

One of the most powerful moments in this process was a mother’s recollection: pointing to a specific location, she described how, as a young woman, she used to regularly sunbathe there with her friends along the riverside - whereas today, she no longer feels comfortable to do so.

STEP 3

Reimagine the riverside

During the creative phase, the children received new photographs of the riverside area, By freely altering these images they transformed the palce according to their own wishes and ideas showing how the place should look and feel in their eyes.

Their imagination was guided by a few leading questions, such as: What would you like to do by the river? What kinds of activities or functions do you imagine there?

In this task, the children created their own envisioned environment. Their drawings reveal how they would like to use the riverside, and what they feel is missing from it.

STEP 4

Designing with Tiles

After completing their drawings, the children were asked to choose their favorite design and adapt it onto one or more ceramic tiles. To support this process, they received grid templates that helped them redesign their drawings according to the dimensions of the tiles.

This is how, for example, a six-year-old boy’s idea for a skate park on the riverside emerged.

Another example is a twelve-year-old girl’s plan for an adventure park, where instead of the existing cable cars along the riverside, people would slide across on stretched ropes.

STEP 5

Closing circle

As a result of the workshop, the completed works were mounted onto a plywood board and temporarily installed in the studio courtyard. This was followed by a closing circle, during which participants shared the ideas behind their tile designs, as well as their thoughts and feelings about the time they spent during the workshop.

During the reflection circle, valuable insights emerged that shed light on the reality of the issue and reinforced the idea in the children that they, too, are active shapers of urban spaces.

The conversations revealed that, for them, this process was much more than simple creation: it sparked critical thinking about their enviroment. As a twelve-year-old participant put it:

“We had the chance to talk about things we need, that we didn’t even realize were problems before.”

“It was nice to connect with the children through nostalgia and memories.”

Adult participant

“We weren’t just drawing on tiles, this process was about much more than that.”

Child participant

mbori96@gmail.com

vboglarka7@gmail.com

Cover: Porto Desaparecido

Photo of the Douro: www.cardapio.pt

This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union.

The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.