Nicer Routes to School: Urban Co-Research and Co-Creation Workshops at the Rosa Luxemburg School in Potsdam

As part of their school's Science Week, 25 pupils from Years 5 and 6 at the Rosa Luxemburg School in Potsdam took part in three one-day workshops from 11 to 13 June 2025, exploring how their routes to school could be made more pleasant and safer. The workshops were held as part of the project “Nicer School Routes: Participatory School Route Design” (NiceWay), funded through a competitive grant from the LWC-PdP. At the start of the workshops, the children used examples, maps, and images to examine which places along their school routes they liked and which they considered dangerous or unpleasant. In small groups, they then discussed what improvements they would like to see. They developed their own ideas – ranging from new play and sports areas to better and safer cycling and traffic routes, and even more greenery in urban and street spaces – and expressed these creatively through collages and models.

Co-research and co-creative methods and formats supported the pupils in investigating and questioning their school routes and living environments, making their experiences and perspectives visible, and developing concrete ideas to improve the quality of stay and experience in urban spaces. A key aim of the NiceWay project – alongside generating impulses for child-centred urban development – is to create age-appropriate formats that strengthen children’s active participation in and co-design of urban spaces.

Sincere thanks to the school leadership and teachers at the Rosa Luxemburg School for their support in implementing the workshops, and to all participating pupils from Years 5 and 6 for their interest, commitment, and enthusiasm in jointly exploring and reshaping their routes to school!