« On veut changer les choses. Vous voulez nous aider ? »

Abstract

Over a 3-year period, about one hundred children collaborated with the Hors Gabarit association to design a new layout for the forecourt of the Giono elementary school in the Encagnane district of Aix-en-Provence. A technical committee made up of various city departments and social landlords studied their proposals at different stages of the project, then validated a final design produced through cooperation between technical departments and associations. Here, we will analyze this participatory process from the point of view of the children who took part in the project. This will highlight the tensions and difficulties of the process, but also the richness of the proposals, the children’s reflexivity and awareness of the issues that concern them, and the opportunities that this type of project opens up.

Keywords

• child
• school
• city
• participation
• Tonucci (Francesco)