On April 21 and 22, students from the University of Évora challenged the community to try new ways of living in Largo do Chão das Covas. The initiative was organised under the PLAY/ACT project and integrated in the programme Desafio pela Saúde (Health Challenge), promoted by the Municipality of Évora and the Ayuntamiento de Mérida, both PLAY/ACT cities and with the support of the Union of Parish Councils of the Historic Centre of Évora.
PLAYING IN THE CITY
On the morning of the 21st, we invited a group of children from Coopberço kindergarten to play in Largo do Chão das Covas. With the support of the City Hall, the traffic in the square was cut off to ensure the safety and comfort of the children. In order to analyse the way they occupied the space and interacted with each other, each child wore a t-shirt with a GPS locator which enabled their position to be monitored at all times.
The study was carried out in partnership with the Sports and Health Department of the University of Évora. Initially, the children were free to explore the square, naturally making use of the affordances of the space in their play. For example, the white lines drawn on the pavement immediately became running tracks and a slight depression in the pavement, which resulted in the accumulation of earth, became a playground.
After about 15 minutes, several objects that could be used for playing were placed in the centre of the square, following a methodology usually called loose parts play. These objects were collected from various local shops and businesses and included go-kart tires, PVC pipes, plastic spools, cardboard and plastic boxes, ropes, sponge tubes and other small objects. The children quickly took ownership of the objects and put them to a variety of uses, building huts and sculptures, inventing new toys, such as a giant yo-yo, or giving them imaginary uses, such as the sponge tubes that became firemen’s hoses. At the end of the morning, the children wanted to take the objects back to the nursery school to continue their play. And when we asked them what they would like to do use the square for, this was the wish list that we received:
- draw the square and do some painting
- have a picnic
- do gymnastics and play games
- camp out on the square and find drawings on the stars lying there
- turn the square into a park
WORKING OUT IN THE CITY
The 22nd started early in the Largo do Chão da Covas, with the presence of a team of sports physiologists from Boutique dos Treinos, a personalised training gym just around the corner, and a group of people ready to exercise. During the pandemic, the Boutique dos Treinos often used the square for its training sessions, taking advantage of the street furniture, trees and pavement markings. We wanted to reproduce that experience to learn what it is like to exercise in the historic centre of Évora. At the end of the training, we got together to think about how we can make the square more suitable for physical exercise and what kind of dynamics we can implement to encourage this practice.
ARTISTIC AND CULTURAL PRACTICES IN THE CITY
In the afternoon, we met a group of artists, cultural agents and people interested in art and culture under one of the square’s trees. We challenged them to think of the square as a space for exchanges, recovering the memory of the market that used to take place there and inspired by a mysterious chair that someone placed there, and that people use to exchange used objects. We shared experiences and references of community projects, we talked about residents’ wishes and desires, we dreamt of a community kitchen, of a market where everything is exchanged and nothing can be bought, of a square that is also a rehearsal and performance hall. The ideas kept coming and we will arrange a meeting soon to turn some of these ideas into action.
After these meetings with the community, the PLAY/ACT team from Évora will draft a document with the ideas collected, which will be sent to the Municipality of Évora and the Parish Council, both partners in the project. The group will then get together to analyse and synthesise the ideas and define a pre-project for the Largo do Chão das Covas.
After these meetings with the community, the PLAY/ACT team from Évora will draft a document with the ideas collected, which will be sent to the Municipality of Évora and the Parish Council, both partners in the project. The group will then get together to analyse and synthesise the ideas and define a pre-project for the Largo do Chão das Covas.