Brincacidade: A Temporary Playscape for Children in Belo Horizonte

Nov 20, 2025
2 min read

In the heart of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Raul Soares Square stands as one of the city’s most emblematic public spaces. Surrounded by significant architectural landmarks — including Oscar Niemeyer’s iconic JK Building — the square continues to host interventions that invite new ways of inhabiting the urban landscape. Among these, Brincacidadeemerges as a temporary installation designed to give children a more visible and meaningful presence in the city.

Making Space for Children in the City

Brincacidade was created to highlight a population often overlooked in large urban centers: children and their caregivers. Installed on the lawn at the center of the square, the project carefully respects the heritage Portuguese pavement while offering a safe, open surface where play can unfold freely.

Eight Portals, One Circular Playground

Drawing from the geometry of the square — a circular plaza where eight avenues converge — the installation is structured around eight metal portals. These thresholds allow access from all sides, making the space fully permeable and inviting. Their bold colors and striking forms capture the attention of passersby, encouraging exploration.

A Temporary Urban Landmark

Brincacidade quickly became a vibrant focal point in the square, attracting people of all ages throughout the day and into the evening. As a temporary urban landmark, it demonstrates how play can activate public spaces and foster more caring, inclusive urban environments.

The installation raises an essential question:

How can cities better accommodate childhood?

By positioning play at the center of urban life, Brincacidade reminds us that cities are not only infrastructures to be used, but terrains of imagination — places where collective futures are negotiated and reimagined.

Reclaiming the Right to Play

The project underscores a simple but powerful idea:

When a community protects and values childhood, it strengthens its ability to imagine the future.

Through free, open-ended play, children trace new paths and explore alternative modes of coexistence, revealing the city not only as a space to inhabit but as a field of creation.