Children’s Spaces
Dudek, Mark (ed.) (2005).
Oxford: Architectural Press; 281 pages. $57.95. ISBN 0750654260.
Mark Dudek brings together many diverse perspectives in Children’s Spaces, an edited volume focusing on design for children in a variety of places. The primary emphasis is on schools and schoolyards, but playgrounds, gardens, communities, and even digital landscapes are considered. Four themes interwoven throughout the chapters effectively unify the work into a cohesive whole: complementary linkages between design, pedagogy, assumptions about how children learn, and values; conceptualizing the environment as a “third dimension” or teacher; listening to children and giving voice to their needs and concerns; and viewing children as competent and creative. The authors effectively synthesize research and theory from the disciplines of architecture, education, and child development and apply knowledge from each field in a way that is accessible to professionals in both. Photos effectively illustrate key concepts in the text.
Dudek and other contributors argue that the design of contemporary schools has not changed substantially since the nineteenth century and reflects a factory approach to education. Bruce Jilk similarly argues that school designs were focused on functional efficiency, which is a quantitative measure, and that such designs can constrain creativity and effectiveness, which are qualitative measures of success in education. Schools were also designed to facilitate discipline, control, and surveillance, and reflect the philosophy that the teacher has knowledge to disseminate to learners—the “sage on the stage.” Jilk juxtaposes “critical pedagogy of place,” a synthesis of “critical pedagogy” and “place-based education” as an alternative to the functionalist model. Because learning environments should mirror the learning they are to support, the primary contexts of contemporary society are culture and ecology, which should be reflected in design. A “critical pedagogy of place” would integrate school design more fully into the local ecology and community, or in Dudek’s words, using a local approach that “grows organically from the community itself…rather than sitting beside it, closed, separate, and autonomous” (xv-xvi).
Eleanor Nicholson reminds readers that Froebel, Montessori, Steiner, and the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy communicate a philosophical commitment to architecture and its role in learning as third teacher. Because children are aware of symbolic messages transmitted by buildings, it is critical that educators and architects consider carefully the values and priorities they intend to communicate: Conformity or creativity? Competition or collaboration? Marginalization or value of children? Community or isolation? Nicholson presents the Crow Island School as an example designed to communicate values of home, democracy, security, beauty, action, tranquility, and continuity.
The contributors to the volume draw from several developmental and educational theorists who emphasized the importance of listening to children and giving voice to their needs and concerns. For example, Alison Clark refers to Malaguzzi’s “Hundred Languages of Children” in building the “Mosaic Approach,” in which a variety of methods are used to observe, listen, and reflect on children’s perspectives: observation, child conferencing, children photographing things of importance to them with single-use cameras, tours, map-making, and interviews with staff and parents. All forms of data are then brought together for a process of interpretation, and children, staff, and parents are consulted in the interpretation. The research process “is not limited to unearthing one ‘true’ meaning…children are given may different opportunities to express their views and experiences and then to participate in the interpretations” (11).
Several of the contributors to the volume describe participatory design processes in which children’s voices are heard as well as those of teachers, parents, and community members. An entire chapter by Ben Koralek and Maurice Mitchell is dedicated to this topic. Dudek argues that the “best form of architecture for children is a result of informed dialogue between adults and children” (xx) and emphasizes the importance of beginning the design process with research that asks the right questions.
The image of the child as competent and creative is fundamental to the pedagogy of Reggio Emilia, and this fundamental belief is echoed throughout the chapters of Children’s Spaces. The contributors describe children as curious, motivated to learn, and active, and they consider the role of spaces in empowering children’s capacities.
Michael Laris discusses the design of playscapes in which children can test the limits of their physical and mental capabilities, and thus develop agility—the ability to recognize and respond to new and changing situations as they arise. Successes in physical challenges can potentially transfer to agility and persistence in other domains of development; mental agility can be observed in problem solving, as children quickly evaluate situations, make decisions, and take action. This holistic perspective on play spaces is an important reminder that the outdoors supports all areas of development, not just large motor skills.
The importance of outdoor environments, especially their natural elements, is emphasized in chapters on sustainable landscapes by Susan Herrington and edible landscapes by Catherine Burke. These chapters re-establish outdoor learning and gardening within the historical context of education, and describe several cutting-edge contemporary initiatives to design school yards as “green knowledge” sites for children as well as to advance curriculum design and architectural planning within schools. Additionally, Prue Chiles conceptualizes nature as a “civilizing counter weight” (101) and provides examples of projects that use sustainable materials that are healthier for children and other users, and also incorporate outdoor, open-air classrooms into their design.
Dudek’s goal for the book is to “stimulate more debate about education and its context, buildings and processes which take place through the views of the children” (xx), and in this regard the book is very effective. Children’s Spaces would be well-suited for architects, landscape architects, educators across the spectrum of development, as well as advanced undergraduate or graduate students.
Reviewer Information
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Julia Torquati earned her Ph.D. in Family Studies at the University of Arizona and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her program of research focuses on the influence of experiences in nature on children’s development and the role of relationships in the development of self-regulation.