International Women's Day at Lindenberg

Our workshop during the International Women's Day celebrations at Lindenberg in Nijmegen was unlike any we had organised before.

The event brought together inspiring women and local organisations, each hosting activities throughout the day. Re-Street was invited to create a workshop where children could share their ideas for the public space in front of Lindenberg, across from the Valkhof Museum. The location was an interesting choice, as the area is currently undergoing redevelopment. We wanted to see how children imagined this space and what they felt was missing.

From the beginning, we knew the workshop would be different. There wasn’t a fixed group of participants. Children joined whenever they noticed the table, stayed for as long as they wanted and then moved on to explore the rest of the event. At the same time, there were many activities happening around us, so keeping their attention wasn’t always easy. Instead of starting with a long introduction or discussion, we had to invite them straight into the activity.

Almost every child asked us the same question:

“What can I draw"?”

Our answer was always the same:

“ Anything you would like to have in this square.”

Once they realised there wasn’t a right or wrong answer, the ideas started flowing. Slides, fountains, colourful paving, flowers and places to meet quictly appeared on the paper. The drawings reflected how children imagine a public space. Not just as somewhere to pass through, but as somewhere to spend time, play and be together.

Working in an open setting also allowed us to observe how different groups approached the activity. Children who arrived with friends or siblings naturally discussed their ideas and built on each other’s drawing. Before long, some parents had picked up a marker themselves. It was interesting to see that their ideas were often not so different from the children’s. One parent even chose to express their vision through an abstract drawing, reminding us that there are many ways to think about public space and many different ways to communicate those ideas.

By the end of the afternoon, the maps were filled with ideas from children and parents who had stopped by throughout the event. Together, they captured many different perspectives on the same square and gave us another collection of drawings to explore.