Perceptive Walks

During perceptual walks conducted in schools, we try to encourage children to step out of their comfort zone and try moving around in a wheelchair, with crutches, a shopping trolley, a pram or a scratching post on a stick that simulates the visual angle of an average 3-year-old child.

In this way, children learn how people’s needs differ in public spaces. They discover that even two steps can be a problem for a classmate who is disabled and uses a wheelchair or that the space on the sidewalk where cars are parked is insufficient for parents with a stroller. By being sensitive to the needs of others, we instil in children an understanding of difference.

We designed the routes of the sensitivity walks close to schools so that children can feel and reflect the different needs of the people in the environment where they move every day and with which they are familiar. By observing together along the route, children are introduced to topics such as barriers in public spaces, guide strips to help blind or partially sighted people navigate through space, the inclusivity of surfaces in a playground or exercise area, traffic safety and traffic calming.

The activity also includes the collection of stimuli following the walk. The children plot on a map the places they feel safe and unsafe in, the areas they like to spend time outdoors and the places they prefer to avoid. We design addressable solutions in the streets based on the data we collect.

Perceptive walks in Bratislava schools

The perceptive walks were part of the school participatory process, which is integral to the City for Children project. The suggestions gathered during the activity serve as one of the bases for the proposal of changes in the schools’ surroundings. They will also be part of the final reports of the participatory process for the schools.