Socio-spatial pedagogy: an approach by means of games

Abstract The paper discusses the emerging concept of socio-spatial pedagogy, placing it on the need for democratization of spatial knowledge, by proposing to shift the debate and critical reflection usually confined in institutions and research centers, which will be understood as matters of public interest, towards informing and qualifying everyday spatial practice. Within the scope of possibilities and practices for socio-spatial pedagogy, it will be presented the experience of a series of four workshops, based on board games, developed by students of architecture and urbanism at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), to be played with groups of young people living in favelas on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte. The games will be analysed in the light of socio-spatial pedagogy, emphasizing the role of games in the awareness process of the players. The reflection activated by the game takes on a political dimension in so far as it enables the reconfiguration of the relationship between subject and space.