The People's Project: The Children's Construction Sites

The construction site of the city for children between 4 and 11 years 

The Children's Construction Sites projects, created by the Riccardo Catella Foundation, under the people's Project initiatives, in collaboration with the City of Milan and the Milan Expo 2015, organized for four construction sites around the city to open for children between 4 and 11 years of age and their families on Saturday May 29 and Sunday May 30, 2010.

The children were able to see personally what takes place on a construction site and they were able to simulate the activities in game-format. This way, through interactions with employees and other children of the city, the children become protagonists of the process of urban transformation that Milan is undergoing.

Visits to the Sites

The tours of each of the sites were held on Saturday and Sunday, May 29 and 30, 2010 from 9:30 AM and 6:30 PM. Each tour lasted for 50 minutes and consisted of a team of 10-20 children, accompained by an adult, that participated in the activities at each "stop" of the tours.

Each stop on the tour was set up for children to participate in games and activities. The three followiong "stops" were at every construction site involved:

• Excavation area: it's not every day you can climb the cockpit of a real exavator. This stop consistes of on operator explaining to the young visitors how the machine is operated and how construction-relation exavations are prepared;
• Wall Construction area: after the brief explanation by a skilled worker, children were given all the tools necessary to try to build a real wall;
• Underground services and finishing touches: the last area allowed participants to engage in painting activities and the installation of rubber tubes.

The target audience of the project is children between 4 and 11 years of age and the followiong four construction sites participated: