Contributions by citizens are being promoted in several guidelines as a means to overcome the frequent deadlock in urban planning processes. Educational practices and the school environment have been noted as important tools in achieving sustainable development, signaling citizens' need to understand the complexities of the places they inhabit in order to have some direct bearing on their well-being (Jilk, 2005).

Despite calls for governments to define an agenda for sustainable cities, the major socio-environmental weaknesses are evident, the same applying to the negative outcomes of policy options regarding urban areas. If, on the one hand, the participation of citizens and consensus building on this matter is advocated, on the other, one notes the vulnerabilities of public consultation processes and the opacity of actions involving land markets.

The present research examines the interfaces generated by bringing together the contents of architecture and urbanism and basic education, recognizing their role in the following:  1) Should the built environmental issues be subject to a systematic reflection in basic education? 2)  Can they be understood as a result of debate on the design and management of school settings?

The objective of implementing a participatory physical-spatial project within school spaces is anchored on two mediating components that are vital in these processes: dialogue through drawing, which is an accessible and versatile instrument, and through dialogue about school spaces and those in the neighborhood/city, which are part of students’ routine.

These principles have already been followed in a four-year project in a non-formal education program which was particularly interested in relating reading and writing competences - formal and certified knowledge - with the Do it yourself construction in peri-urban areas - informal and non-certified knowledge.

The present research goes further  to evaluate those findings in the light of regular school work, since both the praxis and theory of urbanism and education should be utilized to enable a better understanding of how these areas work, their common interests, and possible ways of establishing a dialogue in schools.

Alexander, C., Silverstein, M., Angel, S., Ishikawa, S., Abrams, D. (1975). The Oregon experiment. New York: Oxford University Press. Alves, M.G., & Azevedo, N.R. (Eds.). (2010). (Re)Pensando a investigação em educação. In Investigar em educação (pp.1-29). Lisboa: UIED/FCT/Universidade Nova Lisboa. Alves, M.W. (1996). Perceção da arquitetura e do urbanismo - uma aproximação com o ensino nas classes populares. In Del Rio, V., & Oliveira, L. (Eds.). Perceção ambiental: a experiência brasileira (pp.213-236) São Paulo: Studio Nobel; São Carlos: UFSCar. Alves, M. W. (2002, October). A perception of architecture and urbanism: an approach to education in the popular classes. Design Share. Retrieved from http://www.designshare.com/Research/Alves/Urban_Education_Architecture.htm Biesta, G. & Lawy, R. (2006, March). From teaching citizenship to learning democracy: overcoming individualism in research, policy and practice. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(1), pp.63-79. Bogotch, I., Beachum, F., Blount, J., & Brooks, J. (2008). Radicalizing educational leadership. Dimensions of social justice. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense. Faludi, A. (Ed.).(2007). Territorial cohesions and the European model of society. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Freire, P. (1988). Alfabetização e cidadania. Revista de Educação Municipal - Estudos e Pesquisas, # 1. São Paulo: Cortez. Hertzberger, H. (2008). Space and learning. Lessons in architecture 3. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: 010 Publishers. Jilk, B. (2005). Place making and change in learning environments. In Mark Dudek (Ed.) Children’s spaces (pp30-43). Oxford: Architectural Press. Kaustuf, R. (2003). Teachers in nomadic spaces: Deleuze and curriculum. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing. Nóvoa, A. (2007, Setembro). O Regresso dos Professores. In Comunicações Conferência Desenvolvimento profissional de professores para a qualidade e para a equidade da aprendizagem ao longo da vida. Presidência Portuguesa do Conselho da União Europeia, Lisboa. Niza, S. (2012).Escritos sobre Educação. Lisboa: Tinta-da-china. Popkewitz, T. (2008). Cosmopolitanism and the age of school reform: science, education, and making society by making the child. New York: Taylor & Francis Group. Rancière, J. (2010). O Mestre Ignorante. Cinco lições sobre a emancipação intelectual. Lisboa: Edições Pedagogo. Rolnik, R.(1999). A Cidade e a Lei: Legislação, política urbana e territórios na cidade de São Paulo. São Paulo: Studio Nobel - Fapesp. Sanoff, H. (2010). Community participation in school planning: Case studies of engagement in school facilities. Germany: VDM. Schumacher, E.F. (2011). Small is beautiful. A study of economics as if people mattered. London: Vintage Books. Sieverts, T. (2003). Cities without cities: Between place and world, space and time, town and country. London: Spon Press