Furnish – Kids

Team

Roger Paez, Toni Montes, Manuela Valtchanova, Mar Gené

Partners

CARNET, Barcelona City Hall, Milan City Hall,, Institut d’Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Research Group

Phygital Transformations

Research Lab

Design x City Making

Project

EIT Urban Mobility

Topic City New European Bauhaus Social

Cities are envisioning a change in the use of public space. Urban areas previously occupied or used by private cars are being transformed into public spaces, a welcome change for kids. Yet children are generally excluded from the design and planning phases of these projects. Hence, the FURNISH-KIDS initiative aims to redesign urban spaces that will be tailored to children’s needs. Using a collaborative process to gain insights from local communities in Milan and Barcelona, FURNISH-KIDS create prototypes in public spaces to be tested by children, as well as an urban living lab experience.

‘Shared Playscapes’ is a system of mobile urban elements to promote free appropriation of public spaces, focusing on temporary interventions in pacified spaces related to primary schools in Barcelona and Milan.

It aims to promote the activation of these spaces, based on the concept of playable cities and through the lens of collective play, by designing temporary playscapes through a co-creation process involving primary school students, the research team, and the municipalities concerned.