Federica Sandbox
The LADDER Living Lab
This is a laboratory with students for supporting a democratic environment. Our partners include:
- The Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute of Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning and Garden Art
- kultúrAktív Association
- Budaörs No.1 Primary School
Who is Involved?
- Staff, students (Bsc, Msc, MA, PhD) and volunteers from the university
- Staff and volunteers of the NGO kultúrAktív
- Students, teachers & staff and parents from the school
- Local architects, landscape architects, teachers, pedagogs, educators, etc.
The Living Lab engages different school communities (students, teachers and parents) from Hungary. Primary and secondary schools are involved as well, with different social backgrounds.
Main Theme of the Living Lab
The Hungarian project team has formed a living lab called LADDER, which is a mosaic word in Hungary for Laboratory with Students for Democratic Environment. The LADDER project aims to popularize democratic schoolyard design and connect academia with school communities through a children and youth-centered community design process in which built environment educators, the school community (teachers, students, parents, etc.) and the landscape architecture profession (university teachers and students) work together to map, assess, envision and co-design the school environment.
Methods
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A summary of all the methods used
Project Impacts
- Project Managers: We're learning a lot and gaining more confidence in the process, realizing that this is a long-term process and that we have to be patient. It's important to always keep on going.
- Colleagues: Three colleagues worked more closely with me over the summer and everyone found the engagement with the community very enriching.
- Students: They were really proud of themselves and created excellent output, but they missed face to face engagement with the community. They also experienced conflicting values and critical voices, which were also an important lessons to take away.
- The Community: The community is still very diverse and fragmented and it's hard for them to get self-organised. We are working on it.
Project Location & Dissemination
Location of the Living Labs in Nürtingen include the Klein-Tischardt district in 2020, and the Braike district in 2021.