Big City Small City is our first big project held in August 2015 which brought together artists, architects, sociologists, geographers, activists in work with children in public spaces in Kyiv, Ukraine. In series of lectures, workshops, city walks, game practices and art interventions, project participants tried to create an image of the city from children’s perspective, giving the knowledge and understanding of the city to children at the same time.
Moreover, the project was aimed to enhance a discussion of public spaces in Kyiv in relation to the children’s needs. The architects, urban researchers, artists, activists, municipal authority representatives, NGOs and children 8-14 years old and their parents were kindly invited to join the project.
The program consisted of three parts:
Children’s educational program. In the format of the daily urban camp where children participated in various workshops dedicated to arts, architecture and city planning, worked with practical cases and tasks, games and city walk tours. Children’s camp was held in National Art Museum of Ukraine.
The research program focused on a study of Kyiv public spaces in relation childhood and politics, the architecture for children and youth and discourses on it. The program gathered the students and researchers from a variety of discipline.
The series of open lectures for the wide audience interested in the subject: “Child-friendly city: practice of standards implementation in Ukraine”, “Children and modern urban architecture”, “Public spaces and travels in soviet children cinema”, “Urban feminism: Female adventures in the city”, “Practices of early architectural education”.
The project helped us to build the community of experts, activists, and most important – active and curious children who continue discovering the city with Children’s Geographies.
The project was realized with the support of Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Office in Ukraine