Cities for and with children and youth

Why Metalude? 

Play is the child’s first form of participation. In play theory, metalude is the moment of inner contemplation or reverie that precedes play.

We believe that adults can – and should – have a lasting, positive impact on the moment and environment that propel children and young people to participate and to play in the public sphere.

Child and woman squatting on grass and playing with a spatula during the Pop-Up on the Well event.

What We Do.

Stephanie Watt, codirector of Metalude, and 2 kids are talking on the grass. A bunch of cardboard boxes behind on the children. During the Pop-Up on the Well event.

Metalude designs, organizes, facilitates and analyzes public engagement with children and teenagers.

Involving children and young people in the decisions that affects them makes for better, more equitable decisions.

A child runs with spray bottle in his hands. During the Pop-Up on the Well event.

A neighbourhood centred on play is a great place to live!

Whether it’s a street, a park, a neighbourhood or a municipality, we reveal opportunities to be seized and challenges to be met in favour of children and play.

Margaret Fraser & Stephanie Watt, Metalude' cofounders and codirectors, pose in a green alleyway.

Being inclusive of children and teenagers often requires organizational, social and spatial change.

Metalude can work with you to facilitate this process for the benefit of your community.

An expertise that sets us apart.

  • Our work is informed by diversity, equity and inclusion principles. We have developed specific skills sets in connecting with girls and neurodivergent populations.

    Our dynamic and experienced team will help you act with confidence in support of child and youth inclusion!

  • Metalude uses a wide range of tools to help you make the best decisions for your municipality.

    Our approach is rooted in best practices in public engagement and facilitation, as well as in social science methods.

  • Our tailor-made recommendations will help you be innovative all the while remaining in tune with your population.

Working together for a child-inclusive, playable public realm.

Margaret Fraser et Stephanie Watt, les directrices de Metalude, posent dans une ruelle avec une murale en arrière-plan.

  • A 360° Vision of Play: Activating and Diversifying Play in Public Space

    The Centre d’écologie urbaine and Metalude developed a tool to help municipalities plan for play in public space. Check out the tool and watch the webinar (both in FR)!

    This tool was funded by Montréal – Métropole en santé and Montréal physiquement active.

    Photo: Arrondissement de Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie

  • A clipboard with papers flying in the wind laid on the grass. During the placette Marcelin-Wilson youth engagement.

    Placette Marcelin-Wilson

    Engaging youth on a temporary park installation. Observations, interviews and creative visits led to a series of recommendations for the 2025 permanent project.

    In collaboration with Respire and Nelly Daou for Arrondissement d’Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

    Photo: Metalude

  • A child in a watermelon-themed poncho colouring with crayons. During the Raconte-moi ta ville public consultation.

    Raconte-Moi Ta Ville

    Engaging children on Montréal’s 2050 urban and mobility plan.

    In collaboration with Concertation Montréal and Respire. Report (FR) written by Margaret Fraser and Stephanie Watt.

    Photo: Valérie Paquette

  • Children playing in the snow with long wooden blocks. During La mitaine perdue event.

    La Mitaine Perdue

    A child-led winter adventure playground in an empty parking lot on an island in the St. Lawrence River.

    In collaboration with Hiver en nous and in partnership with Le campus de la transition and Société du parc Jean-Drapeau.

    Photo: Sophie Bertrand

  • A drawing of a busy street filled with children and families and pets on bikes and walking. One of the 1200 drawings for Metropolis Through Children's Eyes.

    Metropolis Through Children’s Eyes

    The metropolis of the future as imagined by 1200 children in 35 cities. Metalude analyzed the drawings submitted as part of a drawing contest and wrote a report (EN) and policy recommendations.

    For Metropolis, World Association of Major Metropolises.

  • An adventure playground scene - children playing with loose parts in the grass. Adults are around. During the Pop-Up on the Well event.

    Pop-Up on the Well

    A pop-up adventure playground near a summer pedestrian street.

    Partners: CCS Montréal and SDC Wellington

    Photo: Manoucheka Lachérie

  • A car tire, a wooden box, a big plastic tube. At the Hibernia adventure playground in Montréal's Sud-Ouest.

    Hibernia Adventure Playground

    Metalude has been consulting on this adventure playground since 2022. We regularly train staff and conduct play audits and observations.

    Partners: Loisirs & Culture Sud-Ouest & the Lion and the Mouse

    Funder: Canada Healthy Communities Initiative

    Photo: Metalude

  • A binder filled with pictograms of different activities. For the Une bibliothèque qui me ressemble human design process.

    Une Bibliothèque Qui Me Ressemble

    Metalude designed an inclusive engagement process to help librarians solicit and take into account children’s programming ideas.

    In partnership with Concertation Montréal (CMTL) and the City of Montreal’s Library Service for the Bibliothèque Saint-Michel

    Photo: CMTL

  • A soccer field made with green felt and popsicle sticks. For the Rivière Rideau Schoolyard consultation project.

    Rivière Rideau Schoolyard

    Double the fun! Metalude consulted teens on their play memories and needs. We then coached the teens to consult preschool children and construct play prototypes.

    For École Rivière Rideau (Kemptville, ON).

    Photo: Metalude

What people are saying about us.

  • Oscar Chamat-Nunez, Metropolis

    Metalude helped us see the tangible links between the drawings and our work of advocating for more caring, inclusive and resilient metropolises.

    Oscar Chamat-Nuñez, Research and Policy Officer, Metropolis

  • Marie-Hélène Roch, Hiver en nous

    Margaret’s and Stephanie’s expertise are complementary and highlight the theoretical and practical links between play, the city and public participation.

    Marie-Hélène Roch, Artist-Researcher, Founder of Hiver en Nous

  • Caroline Schindler, Concertation Montréal

    Metalude demonstrated their ability to design authentic and ethical engagement through process design and facilitation.

    Caroline Schindler, Development Officer – Democracy, Concertation Montréal

News.

  • Metalude Supports Montréal Public Art’s First Public Engagement Process.

    The City of Montréal’s Public Art Office chose Metalude and its partner Anthropole to help design and facilitate the Office’s first public engagement process.

    During three open-house interactive sessions, the City will ask Montrealers what they think of the shortlisted proposals. The selected artist will be announced in 2025 and the sculpture will be installed at the corner of Laurentien and Keller in Bordeaux-Cartierville in 2026.

    Click here to take part in the consultation.

    Image: 33 degrés

  • Metalude Strolls: Discovering the Child-Friendly City.

    Architect Dinah Bornat, founder of ZCD Architects in London, was in Montreal for a few days. Dinah is writing a book on housing, architecture and children's play.

    To mark her presence in Montreal, we organized a bike tour. We rode through the Plateau-Mont-Royal and Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie boroughs to discover interesting projects and to meet some 15 people working on urban planning, play, architecture, housing and public spaces for children and young people. Stops included the Place-École Lanaudière, Île aux Volcans and the Angus district.

    Photo: Metalude

  • Metalude Engages Children on the City of Montréal’s Master Plan.

    On June 18, 2024., the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) launched its vast public consultation on the City of Montréal’s 2050 Land Use and Mobility Plan.

    Within this vast engagement process, Metalude will consult children on how they wish to experience active mobility, public transit, biodiversity and nature in the city.

    Our series of engagement workshops will happen in August and September. Check out the dates and details.

    Photo: Metalude

  • Promotional image for the launch of 360 Vision of Play by Metalude and Centre d'écologie urbaine

    Activating and Diversifying Play in Public Space.

    To mark the first ever international day of play, Metalude and the Centre d’écologie urbaine launched their tool « Une vison 360° du jeu : Susciter et diversifier le jeu dans l'espace public ».

    This tool helps cities and the people who work with them plan for play in public space. How? By linking affordances cities can act on to play experiences and by proposing an analytical method to take stock of and prioritize these affordances.

    Watch the webinar here!

  • Promotional poster for the youth festival. It reads "The youth arts festival in Bordeaux-Cartierville".

    An Arts Festival by and for Youth at Placette Marcelin-Wilson.

    Metalude returned to Placette Marcelin-Wilson in Bordeaux-Cartierville on May 25 to support young people in the neighbourhood and their appropriation of public space.

    We implemented for an afternoon some of the ideas that the youth shared during the fall 2023 youth consultation: namely more parkour and a cozier placette. Check out our pictures!

  • A poke bowl with big pieces of avocado in an orange bowl. For the youth engagement around food communities in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

    A Cooking and Participatory Workshop for Youth.

    In collaboration with the Maison des jeunes MAGI, Anthropole and the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, we ran a cooking workshop and youth consultation on May 21. The workshop was part of the borough’s public consultation on the development of a food community in the borough.

    Photo: Metalude

  • Metalude visited Drummondville and liked these wooden park benches in the shape of tubes.

    Playing in Drummondville.

    In April, we presented a workshop on (free) play in public spaces at the Open Air Learning Conference, an annual event for practitioners and advocates of outdoor learning and play. We also explored the city of Drummondville and all its playfulness. Check out our pictures!

    Photo: Metalude

  • Margaret Fraser and Stephanie Watt, Metaude cofounders and codirectors, pose in a green alleyway. B&W photo.

    Our Portfolio

    A portfolio (FR) with information on our mission, our team, our services et our projects.