Urban and Architecture Research in Education

Author(s):

Mariza Alves(presenting / submitting)Mariana Gaio Alves

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

05 SES 14 B, Urban Education and Children and Youth at Risk

Paper Session

Time:

2011-09-16

15:00-16:30

Room:

JK 27/106,G, 42

Chair:

Hüseyin Kotaman

Contribution

Contribution by citizens is being promoted in several guidelines as a means of overcoming the frequent deadlocks in urban planning processes. Educational practices and the school environment have been noted as important tools in achieving sustainable development, signalling the citizens’ need to understand the complexities of the places they inhabit in order to have some direct bearing on their well-being (Jilk 2005).

This research investigates the interface between architectural and urban content in the field of basic education, and takes into consideration the following questions: 1) Should environmental issues be subject to a systematic reflection in basic education? 2) Can they be understood as a result of debate on the design and management of school settings? 3) Will those initiatives contribute towards the emergence of increasingly proactive citizens in their use and understanding of how cities work?

The intense do-it-yourself construction of houses on the periphery of many Mediterranean cities must also be underlined, since this practice is informally widespread in civil society, where, despite the existence of a more participated legal model, the practical results of urban requalification continue to be well below the model advanced by sustainability guidelines.

Accordingly, working with schools becomes a core issue, as it is an area which possesses the assets that are necessary for the implementation of interactive processes; it is an place where information, dialogue and communication play a vital role in the attainment of educational targets. The quality of school settings should also be the result of a joint reflection encompassing pupils, teachers and members of staff, so that shared results can be obtained.

This learning must be perceived within the macro scale of the city, and it is necessary to recognize that the new the elements that form the urban offer new possibilities for a better understanding of urban spaces: equipments, infrastructures, housing, transportation, and cultural and natural values.

The approach to physical and spatial issues in the context of the present research and as part of an Education Sciences Centre benefits from the connection between distinct branches of knowledge, thus enabling the construction of alternative and innovative thinking about the object of research (Alves, 2007). In addition, it also has the advantage that the Centre is an important source of reflection with regard to school settings, a topic discussed in several countries.

The holistic nature of the research, that is, the interaction between individuals, contexts and knowledge are important aspects to our understanding of current learning environments – “places that address not so much spaces as their relationships” (Jilk , 2005).

Method

As advanced by Berger (1992), who stressed the need to overcome the distance-based relationship between the observer and the object, and replace an ‘observation epistemology’ by a ‘listening epistemology’ (quoted in Alves and Azevedo, 2010), the comprehensive nature of educational research must be taken into account. The ongoing research has adopted an Action-Research approach following the setting up of a workshop at a 2nd and 3rd cycle of education school, next to an informal settlement, in the Lisbon area, where in-school activities and those carried out in the neighbourhood will be conducted. Work at the workshop will spread over 3 periods lasting 4 months each. The approach to the physical and spatial topic will be done by means of internal and external routes: neighbourhood spaces debate, interpreting and representation of classroom and school spaces and their relationship with external areas, proposed improvements, necessary technical readjustments, choice of representational forms which that may be understood by all those involved, their relationship with pedagogical activities, additional suggested uses, and corresponding costs. Analysis of partial reports and workshop open to the school centre community. Alignment with the supervision and co-supervision of the adopted routes.

Expected Outcomes

The development of the school intervention project may have two distinct results: The first involves the issues related with space and will be an outcome that will give priority to aspects related to the perception of spaces, noting them down and collecting suggestions for improvement from all those involved. This will also require combining the results of the work with the surrounding built environment, registering what there is, analyzing its urban outline, discussion of the suggestions for improvement, and the checking of the children’s practical knowledge with regard to their perception and building techniques of the neighboring settlements being constructed on a do it yourself basis. A second ramification would be involving the school community in an educational project based on the findings and goals established in the previous stage. This way, the physical improvements would go hand in hand with a larger scale project, allowing for readjustments and new proposals that may arise in the course of the school’s educational project. Lastly, the project will result in the regular involvement of architecture and urbanism in projects with the school community in the pursuit of shared solutions adjusted to the distinct contexts.

References

Alves, M.G. & Azevedo, N.R. (2010) Re-pensando a investigação em educação. In Alves, M.G. & Azevedo, N.R. (Ed.), Investigar em educação: Desafios construção de conhecimento e da formação de investigadores num campo multi-referenciado (pp.1-29). Lisboa: Edição UIED/FCT/UNL. Alves, M.W. (2004). Planeamento e participação na administração camarária. (Master’s thesis) Retrieved from Thesaurus Reitoria UTL (TM#121FA-Biblioteca) Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa. Alves, M.W. (2002, October). A perception of architecture and urbanism: An approach to education in the popular classes. Design Share. Retrieved from http://www.designshare.com/Research/Alves/Urban_Education_Architecture.htm Alves, M.W. (1996). Percepção da arquitectura e do urbanismo - Uma aproximação com o ensino nas classes populares. In Del Rio, V., & Oliveira, L. (Ed.), Percepção ambiental: a experiência brasileira (pp.213-236) São Paulo: Studio Nobel; São Carlos, SP: UFSCar. Burke, C., & Grovesnor, I. (2008). School. London: Reaktion Books. Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (2000). Becoming critical: educational knowledge and action research. Oxon: RoutledgeFalmer. Davis, B., & Gannon, S. (2009). Pedagogical Encouters. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing. DGOTDU (2000). Guia Europeu de Planeamento para a Agenda 21- Local. Lisboa: DGOTDU. Ellsworth, E. (2005). Places of learning: media, architecture, pedagogy. New York: Routledge. Foucault, M. (1977). Vigiar e Punir. Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro: Vozes. Freire, P. (1988). Alfabetização e Cidadania. Revista de Educação Municipal - Estudos e Pesquisas, # 1. São Paulo: Cortez. Jilk, B. (2005). Place making and change in learning environments. In Mark Dudek (Ed.) Children’s spaces (pp30-43). Oxford: Architectural Press. Kaustuf, R. (2003). Teachers in nomadic spaces: Deleuze and curriculum. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing. Mitchell, C. T. (2002). User-responsive design: reducing the risk of failure. New York: W.W.Norton &Company. Sanoff, H.(2002). Schools designed with community participation. Washington DC: National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. Sieverts, T. (2003). Cities without cities: Between place and world, space and time, town and country. London: Spon Press.

Author Information

Mariza Alves (presenting / submitting)

Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa

DCSA-UIED Education & Development Research Unit

Cascais

Mariana Gaio Alves

UIED – Research Unit on Education and Development. Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia / College of Sciences and Technology. Universidade Nova de Lisboa / Nova University of Lisbon.

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