Serpentina
Largo Soares dos Reis (Bonfim), Porto
(Happisodes)
Serpentina is a pilot project for co-creation and urban transformation that sees play not only as children’s right, but as key to rethinking the city as a space for encounter, freedom and imagination. At the heart of the project is the rehabilitation of the Largo Soares dos Reis Playground, transformed into an intergenerational green park, where multiple uses interconnect naturally.
The proposal was developed by a multidisciplinary team coordinated by Maria João Macedo and Patrícia Costa. It was based on a participatory methodology involving the local community — residents, families and, above all, children — in diagnostic walks, workshops, assemblies and surveys. The results of these actions form the basis for the playground’s redevelopment project, which will be built by the municipality of Porto.
The project is part of a wider vision for a playful city, calling for a paradigm shift in how we understand the presence of children in public spaces and extending the study to the surrounding urban area. Specific interventions are proposed — such as the creation of “school streets,” the natural integration of playgrounds, or the conversion of streets into communal areas — which adopt principles of tactical urbanism. These proposals aim to create a more humane and inclusive city, in which the involvement of the local authority is fundamental.
Design team: Maria João Macedo (design estratégico), Patrícia Costa (educação social), Cannatà Fernandes (arquitetura), Macedo Cannatà (design de comunicação), Letícia Costelha (arte e educação)
Consulting team: Frederico Lopes (Brincar e Motricidade), Paulo Farinha Marques (Paisagismo), Sandra Nascimento (Associação para a Promoção da Segurança Infantil), Catarina Breia Dias (Lab2PT / The Future Design of Streets), Pollyana Bezerra (Associação Montessori – Cidade das Crianças), Dulce Cruz (Erva-Daninha), Miguel Ramos (Confederação)
Associations: Associação O meu lugar no mundo, Sismógrafo, Movimento Vamos ao Parque
Macedo Cannatà is a design studio based in Porto that works in the field of culture, mainly in communication, identity, exhibitions and publishing. They work in dialogue with artists, institutions and cultural associations and understand design as a tool for mediation between thought, form and community. They develop visual narratives and graphic systems that translate concepts in a critical and committed way.
Patrícia Costa is a social educator. She holds a master's degree in child psychology. She has been coordinating community intervention projects for over 20 years, combining artistic practices, citizen participation and non-formal education. She currently collaborates with the Aga Khan Foundation Portugal. As a mother and children's rights activist, she led the "Vamos ao Parque!" (Let's go to the park!) movement and co-founded Serpentina.
Cannatà Fernandes is an architecture studio founded in Italy in 1984 by Fátima Fernandes and Michele Cannatà. In 2023, Riccardo Cannatà joined the studio after 12 years in Tokyo, where he collaborated with SANAA. They combine their professional practice with intense academic and cultural activity through teaching, conferences, and research projects.
Letícia Costelha is a visual artist and educator. She coordinates the educational service at Sismógrafo. In her artistic and exhibition practice, she has focused, among other themes, on the value of play in both childhood and adulthood, seeking to explore the routines, connections and intimacies of the places and communities she encounters.
Eleonora Fedi is an interior and spatial designer and educator, based in Porto. She has a degree from the Politecnico of Milan (2012) and a master's degree from the College of Art and Design of Matosinhos (2015), where she teaches subjects related to spatial design and the culture of dwelling.
She collaborates with esad—idea as a researcher and designer responsible for exhibition projects, and has been a member of the Porto Design Biennale team since its first edition in 2019.
Her work includes exhibition designs for Galicia – Processes and Forms (2023) curated by David Barro; Erasing the Line (2023); Portugal Pop – Fashion in Portuguese 1970–2020 (2022-2025), curated by Bárbara Coutinho; Sneakers – From the Estado Novo to the Turn of the Millennium (2022), curated by Pedro Carvalho de Almeida.
She co-curated the exhibition Reusing Furniture (2023) together with Maria Milano and has collaborated as an assistant curator on Frontiere – Contemporary Design Expressions, Abitare Itália – Icons of Italian Design, and Riccardo Dalisi – Perfect Imperfection (2019).
Core Programme
Happisodes
Promoted by the Porto Design Biennale, Happisodes are co-design projects between designers, communities, and municipalities that bring to life, in Porto and Matosinhos, the joy of collectively recognising that the present can be reimagined. They are living, inhabited processes where design gives shape to the common.
Publications
Book publishing is a fundamental part of the Porto Design Bienniale, conveying, through the editing and materiality of the books and catalogues, the concept and curation of the projects.
Constellations
The selected projects are independent and autonomous projects regarding curation, financing and production that engage with the theme of this edition.