Enjoy the workshops, tours and exhibitions

The Play Street is a neighborhood festival that will take place on two segments of street adjacent to the Market Hall venue, on Tuesday May 28th. The street will be transformed into a place where neighbors and people passing by of all ages can meet, hang out, and play freely in their favorite way. Special guests will also be present throughout the day leading games, talking about play, and playing themselves!

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The Play Pavilion is a movable and playable public structure which warmly welcomes everyone to stop by and play, learn, and share. The Play Pavilion anchors play in public space, and helps spread the word about the importance of play to be possible anywhere and everywhere. The Play Pavilion offers exciting equipment for people of all ages! There are movable seats and tables, gear for sports and games, art supplies, chalk and more. During the Summit, the Play Pavilion will also host diverse educational and creative programs for children. You will also find an exhibition about the City for Children Program swinging on its legs.

From a recently renovated historic monument, to an informal schoolyard where children decide what goes where, this walk will take us to four different spaces where four experts will talk about the opportunities and the challenges for children’s play in the urban environment. At Freedom Square we will hear from the who led the redesign to welcome children architects 2021, Račianske Mýto and 2ka landscape designers, at the Urban residence playground we will hear from designers Studio21, and we from the leader of an adventure playground at the Rozmanita schoolyard at Nová Cvernovka.

Detailed description of the tour

Tour map

Join us for this hands-on workshop exploring different strategies for citizen engagement and behaviour change in urban mobility. You’ll be guided to work with other participants to develop your own engagement strategy for the redesign of a school street, and then head outdoors to conduct fieldwork about how to make urban places more child-friendly. The workshop will be a chance to exchange and develop new ideas about the role that citizen and youth voices have in shaping the future of our cities, and we look forward to your active participation. The workshop is organized by Julienne Chen and Carolina Cominotti from EIT Urban Mobility.

The Play Pavilion is a movable and playable public structure which warmly welcomes everyone to stop by and play, learn, and share. The Play Pavilion anchors play in public space, and helps spread the word about the importance of play to be possible anywhere and everywhere. The Play Pavilion offers exciting equipment for people of all ages! There are movable seats and tables, gear for sports and games, art supplies, chalk and more. During the Summit, the Play Pavilion will also host diverse educational and creative programs for children. You will also find an exhibition about the City for Children Program swinging on its legs.

This presentation and workshop will build a deeper undersanding of placemaking—with a focus on children—and its profound impact on communities in cities. Sophia Schuff and Sandra Al Richani of Gehl architects will cover what placemaking is, how it works, and the essential engagement processes and design features that can turn a neglected urban areas into a thriving and multi-generational places that foster connection, belonging, physical and mental health, and well-being for all. Then participants will try their hand at collaboratively developing a placemaking concept for their own city.

Led by Sophia Schuff and Sandra Al Richani of Gehl Architects.

The Urban Forests of Bratislava are administered by the City, and offer a place to hike, play sports, learn about nature, have a picnic, or even forage mushrooms. Every day, thousands of families with children visit the Urban Forests. This tour will showcase how a municipality can welcome children to bond with nature through high quality and accessible services inlcuding public transport options, clean restrooms, changing spaces, water and other infrastructure supportive of caregivers, plus safe recreation space, gastronomy, and education.

Detailed description of the tour

Tour map

What makes a great place to play?

Play is a cross-generational activity that builds resilience and social skills, mental health, ignites joy through movement, and helps us become better people together. Play can happen anywhere – in your home, in your garden, or on your street. Everyone deserves space to play, regardless of age, gender, race, or class. Public play spaces are essential building blocks of a thriving society.

But designing for quality play to happen at playgrounds is not as obvious as it might seem. Tools of observation and data collection can offer insights to designers that will help them create more popular and successful playgrounds in their communities.

This workshop will consist of site visits with observation and discussion, where participants will be trained in simple techniques that will allow them to assess playgrounds for quality play and caregiver amenities.

Workshop led by Tim Gill and Meghan Talarowski, of Studio Ludo