WE BUILD OUR DREAMS

Towards a friendly city: Participation in building urban environment

In the construction of a new playground, located in the Monbijou park in Bern, children were given the possibility to participate in the project. During the planning phase of the project, they took part in a creative workshop, where they could make improvement proposals, or add features the playground should be equipped with. Once the building started, the children got another chance to contribute: by working right at the construction site. Provided with child-sized safety equipment and tools, they helped to build their own little part of an urban landscape. The project raises a question of how much of an urban environment should be designed by professionals and whether and how big parts could be a participative design solution of the actual users of the space – the inhabitants themselves.

A specialized department of the city of Bern is tasked with the implementation of “Child-friendly City”, a concept developed in 1999 by an assigned working group.

Bern, Switzerland | 2022

Project by: Krummholz GmbH