In the Relate project we are warming up our methodology and testing gamified participatory research with primary school pupils and children. The game ‘’Spector–the Sustainability Inspector’’ is a participatory post-occupancy research tool to investigate what is important to young people in their schools. Pupils (age 12-14) and teachers from primary school ’’Drinka Pavlovic’’ in Belgrade, Serbia together with architects and PhD researchers from Union University Nikola Tesla participated in a one-day educational workshop in October 2022. The purpose of the game was to explore, critically evaluate, and propose ideas for improvement for the school through the prism of sustainability. Participants were surprised to discover an array of school spaces and their behaviour in them and their impact on social, environmental and economic sustainability.

Through game pupils and teachers analyzed 22 social, environmental and economic sustainability topics. Through photo expeditions, group interviews and mapping on school plans pupils observed, critically analyzed and developed recommendations for improving the school environment through the prism of sustainability.

The game play was funded through Project RELATE, University Union Nikola Tesla, Belgrade, Serbia

(financed within the IDEJE call of the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, project number: 7726555 and DAAD Exceed and German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation (BMZ) project: Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability, subproject Built environment education for children MOOC Funding.