The city of Ghent aims to become the most childfriendly city of its region and beyond. Being a member of the European network of Childfriendly Cities, Ghent promotes the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a local level. Sequentially they value participation of children in urban discussions. At this background the University College Ghent set up a multidisciplinary research about childfriendly urban spaces. The potentials of child friendly urban spaces depend on how the criteria for child friendliness will be determined. In this discussion we would like to stress the struggle of pedagogical values. On the one hand, the dissemination of pedagogical values through and by urban design. On the other hand, children’s production of space, narrating own pedagogical values. Involving children to co-construct child friendliness, we aim for a political understanding of their citizenship. In this contribution we will present a theoretical framework for obtaining an in-depth understanding of the dialectic relation between children’s politics and the pedagogical values underlying urban spaces. Therefore we promote a semiotic reading. In this regard the social becomes readable and political in space through signs and symbols, whereas urban design unfolds itself and only becomes social by use.