Children's Spaces by Mark Dudek

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 19 No. 1 (Spring 2009) ISSN: 1546-2250 Children’s Spaces Dudek, Mark (2005). Oxford: Architectural Press; 281 pages. $57.95. ISBN 0750654260. Mark Dudek brings together many diverse perspectives inChildren’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, 351 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, mapmaking , 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). 352 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 ofChildren’s Spaces. The contributors describe children as curious, motivated to learn, and active, and they consider the role of...