Traditionally, schools are more connected with state affairs than with city affairs. Nevertheless, there are contemporary attempts to establish links between schools and the cities they are placed on. My paper will address three attempts at this reconnection: 1. The emphasis given to communities by the Modern School Movement, specifically the role of Celestin Freinet proposal of «strolling-classes»; 2. The discourse brought to light by the International Association of Educating Cities (a municipalities association born in Barcelona in 1990, with increasing number of Spanish and Portuguese cities and also from South America); 3. The paradoxical possibilities brought to light by a study case I developed in Lisbon, focusing on the use of urban institutions and programmes made by a schoolteacher and her pupils. My analyses will draw on Biesta’s (2011) theorisation of civic learning and Rancière’s concept of emancipation. I will briefly argue about an obvious trend to develop a socialisation approach to civic learning in all of the mentioned situations. I will also shed light on sporadic and anarchic events where interruptions of the established schools’ order and adult-children’s order appear as strong possibilities for the enactment of political subjectivities and the renewal of democracy in urban contexts.