The first asphalt art installation in Trenčín is not just a visual artwork. It also helps highlight a safe corridor for children on their way to school, and its creation was made possible thanks to the European Capital of Culture Trenčín 2026 project.
The artistic painting on the asphalt builds on recent traffic changes in the Detské mestečko (Children’s Town) area in Zlatovce, which is also home to the Na dolinách Primary School. During the summer, the City of Trenčín created a safe corridor along the school building to ensure that children’s routes do not intersect with cars, thus preventing dangerous conflict situations.
However, traffic signage alone was often overlooked by drivers, who continued to enter areas designated for pedestrian movement. The main role of the asphalt art is therefore to clearly distinguish which areas are intended for car traffic and parking, and which are meant for pedestrians.
Within the Transformed City project, we built on the city’s goals. In cooperation with the organisation Natreto, an artistic concept was developed.
The authors of the design are Samuel Velebný and Viktor Feher from Natreto, while the painting itself was carried out by Michal Turkovič and Matej Maturkanič.
“The painting is meant to clearly mark the change in traffic organisation and separate pedestrian areas from the roadway for cars. Since pedestrians here are largely children—residents of the area and pupils of the local school—the motifs draw on themes of children’s play, discovering the world, and solving school tasks. The colour palette seeks a balanced expression that harmonises with the specific colours and materials used on the surrounding buildings, which still represent a milestone in Slovakia in the way care for children without parental support is provided,” explained Viktor Feher.
The result of participation with children
The impulse to improve traffic safety around the school came directly from the children themselves. Their suggestions were collected in 2024 during the one-day event Street for Children, as well as through questionnaires. Similar activities will gradually be implemented by the city in cooperation with partners—including Trenčín 2026—at all municipal primary schools.
“Many cities across Europe are now focusing strongly on children’s traffic safety. Similar artworks have recently been created in Bratislava and Prague as well. Thanks to this type of intervention, also known as tactical urbanism, it is possible to test changes in practice and later incorporate feedback from children, parents, or school staff into permanent construction solutions,”
added Michal Mazánik from Trenčín 2026.
Inspiration for this type of intervention came from projects in the above-mentioned capitals, specifically the City for Children programme and the similar Prague initiative Pěšky městem (Walking Through the City).
Opening streets for safe movement
Pupils themselves, along with volunteers, also took part in the implementation. The asphalt art is designed to correspond to the children’s perspective as seen from classroom windows. From this particular angle, it is even possible to read the name of the area—Detské mestečko—which is subtly embedded in the painting.
The primary goal of the changes around the school is not to restrict car drivers, but rather to make orientation easier for all road users and to redistribute public space between them as fairly as possible.
“The excessive dominance of car traffic and parking in public space often leads to other users feeling uncomfortable and, in many cases, unsafe. In interventions within the Transformed City project, we therefore apply placemaking principles, through which even a small change can open public space to new activities and transform how we feel on a street or within a school area,”
concluded Hana Laššová from Trenčín 2026.
