Los Albares is a colourful, spacious school in La Puebla de Alfindén, a small village near Zaragoza (Spain). Being a fairly new facility, they have a very big schoolyard but a rather empty one – lots of free space with no clear use.
For years, teachers and students alike made suggestions – a garden! a playground! – but they seemed to go nowhere. That is, until the tools and inspiration by NEMESIS helped them to turn their wish into reality: they’ll build their new playground in a collaborative way.
Participatory methodologies are used to gather the ideas of each group of students (16 classes, 350 children from 6 to 12 years old). Then, two representatives of each class meet at break time to put those ideas in common. Ten of those students also go to the co-creation lab together with parents, other teachers, members of the municipality and some local innovators (around 20 people in total).
Up to this point, the community have decided they want to build a vegetable garden, a tire circuit, a minigolf, and tracks for boules and datchball (a local, friendly variation of dodgeball) , all with recycled materials.
The process is still going on, now more focused on the practicalities. Co-creation labs happen once a week and the feedback between all participant is constant (student’s representatives make sure everything discussed go back to the classes, and make sure the feedback and new ideas are heard).
Check their twitter account
Go to the school webpage
Location
La Puebla de Alfindén, Zaragoza (Spain)
Number of students
350 students from 6 to 12 years old
Members of co-creation lab
Students’ representatives
Parents
Teachers
Members of the municipality
Collectives, social innovators, entrepreneurs, business… contacted
La Puebla de Alfindén Town Hall
Universidad de Zaragoza
ZEMOS98
Basurama
Hotel Alfinden
CERAI
Ecoembes
Chazar
Neumáticos Clavijo