Carpi made for children: the three mayoral candidates comparing the proposals

The document “If children could vote…” created by a group of parents and professionals from Carpi with the contribution of local girls and boys, with the aim of starting a reflection on the city, also in view of the next local elections. The document is not the expression of political parties, and involves children, young people, adults, parents and others: everyone has made their skills available, deriving both from commitment in their own work areas and from educational work with the little ones. The text will be the basis for the dialogue with the three mayoral candidates, Annalisa Arletti, Monica Medici and Riccardo Righi, who have ensured their presence, to discuss with them how to make Carpi increasingly suitable for the girls and boys who live there.

“With this work we would like to make their voice and presence heard in relation to an idea of city livable, safe, which promotes autonomy, sustainability, inclusiveness and gratuitousness – declare two of the promoters, Maria Chiara Buzzega, pedagogist, and Benedetta Bellocchio, journalist, as well as mothers -. However, we would not like them to be just words: instead we would like to all work together to ensure that Carpi becomes, also with the contribution of the administrators who will govern it, the city of girls and boys. A city that increasingly reflects their needs and dreams and in which the traces of their presence are visible, but above all in which this presence always remains a key to building the future of the Community”.

For this reason the text also reports the conversations had with groups of children of different ages, from 3 to 10 years: “a document without their thoughts – observe the speakers – would have been truly incomplete. Of course we would like to continue this work with children, but also with those who want to join. For us it is only the beginning of a path that we hope will continue, step by step, and materialize in actions, initiatives and structures available to children”.

The work began by observing what Carpi already offers starting from the public areas – the green ones and the sports ones first and foremost – and from what nature and urban architecture – the historical one and the contemporary one – they already propose: Carpi fortunately is already a city designed for children in many of its aspects and structures. Then various areas and places in the city were identified and grouped on which the various people involved – and the children themselves – reflected and reacted. Finally, the text proposes to create a sort of Children’s Festival, dedicated to education, to create culture, share visions and talk about who today’s children are; a Festival in which children are also present and protagonists and from which workshops of active citizenship and concrete commitment for the city can arise.

“Obviously, there isn’t everything, at every moment we would have liked to add other points and reflections. And in the end, searching for a title, we asked ourselves: if children could vote, what would they ask us? It’s what about we want to reflect – conclude the representatives – together with the candidates in the next elections, to start a common path”.

The areas

The chosen areas bring together multi-voiced considerations, starting from guiding questions.

1. PARKS and NATURE: how green is today, how green areas are connected, the city with the countryside, how children enjoy the natural environment;
2. SPORT BETWEEN COMPETITION AND COLLABORATION, a sport that is free and open, with spaces available;
3. THE STREET – THE NEIGHBORHOOD: how to make it livable, in terms of safety, quality, aesthetics;
4. INCLUSION: the city belongs to everyone, but is it for everyone? We wanted to work on the relationship between different generations and cultures;
5. THE HOSPITAL, THE COMMUNITY HOUSE, THE SERVICES: how to protect children’s health, not only physical but mental, and build paths to humanize care;
6. THE SQUARE – THE HEART OF THE CITY, and THE CASTLE – THEIR AND OUR HISTORY as a vital center and place of the community, of decisions for the future, of planning together;
7. CULTURE – EVEN SCIENTIFIC, in the awareness that scientific and artistic disciplines must find adequate spaces;
8. THE SUBURBS: understood as hamlets, but also as attention to those on the margins of society;
9. SPIRITUALITY AND INTERIORITY, because we need space and time to reflect on the big questions of meaning;
10. Finally, once again, we return to the beginning: CHILDREN, with the need to keep them at the center of community planning;