“WE WANT A SCHOOL THAT…” ARTICULATING A FRAMEWORK FOR CHILD AGENCY IN DESIGN FROM RESEARCH TO PRACTICE
By Enrico Giori
ON CO-DESIGN: AGENCY IN THE MAKING
Very often, the design world speaks “for” people — stakeholders, end users, occupants — rather than speaking “with” them. The resistance to adopting participatory planning strategies often stems from the misconception that elevating lived experiences of project stakeholders equates to dismissing professional expertise. While this hesitation may be justifiable to an extent, the true virtue of co-designing is balancing, not replacing, the power and
influence of professional voices with those who are less heard. When, as designers, we fail to see our stakeholders as authentic project partners, we dismiss their capacity to be a significant part of the solution to the design challenge we are trying to address.
Co-designing is a process that is built upon the importance of forming trust-centered relationships with project stakeholders and interacting with them at all steps of the design process in an ethical and celebratory manner. While the effort to build these relationships may be significant, the outcome of authentic
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collaboration with stakeholders will make all the difference in a project. As author Kelly Ann McKercher states, “if you don’t have time to build relationships, you don’t have time for co-design.”
During my time in architecture school, I found myself asking the question “where are children in the world we are designing?” Studio projects often asked students to design a new, state-of-the-art co-working building, or a catch-all urban housing development project that would help “those in need.” Children were never present as constituents in projects and were frequently depicted as lonely figures in the background of rendered visualizations, holding a balloon, or simply running to a location outside of the frame.
For my architecture degree thesis, I sought to fully imagine what that “off-frame” location looked like. I decided to test and explore the full potential of participatory design processes within the context of designing spaces for learning. My approach to co-design was rooted in the mission to elevate lived experiences and their impact on the design of spaces, allowing all project participants to have a seat at the table and an opportunity to be heard. Now a graduate of my degree program, and a practicing architectural designer specializing in K-12 facility planning and design, I strive to incorporate participatory planning strategies in all my projects.
FROM RESEARCH: TESTING A CO-DESIGN APPROACH…
For my thesis project, I wanted to define a way of practicing architecture, not just produce a design proposal. Through a nine-month collaborative process with 23 fifth-graders and their teachers, I researched, wrote, and illustrated the book “We Want a School!” to materialize their ideas and give adults access to the vision these students wanted to share.
This book and the co-design framework that it was built upon reject the notion that children are “adults in training” or “citizens of the future.” Contrarily, the framework recognizes them as stakeholders with agency, and positions them at the center of the conversation surrounding the construction of a new, collective imaginary for the world of education. This new imaginary is focused on the inalienable right of children to be –and grow to be – happy, safe, and successful.
I initially asked the students to “reimagine school.” Their first proposal was for school to leave the four walls it has been trapped in for so long. Students collaboratively identified five locations within their school’s neighborhood that had significance to them. I asked the students to identify how these could supplement the instructional value offered by their current curriculum. They took me on a virtual tour of their school’s neighborhood, explaining how they could practice their math skills at the outdoor market, learn fun new words at the paint store, sing and dance with the grownups in the courtyard of a nearby residential building, build furniture and toys at a public park, and finally dream, imagine, and act out their favorite stories on the stage of a seasonal outdoor cinema.
Download a PDF of "We Want a School" here
Access the read-aloud here
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As I authored the story that would lead readers through each of these spaces, I translated each location from an objective description to the meaning it had for these students: places to explore, collect, build, meet and greet, and imagine and dream. The educational concept of the Third Teacher, an integral part of the Reggio Emilia educational framework, became a fundamental design driver in this process. This concept posits that children thrive in environments that are suited to their interests and developmental stages, because, as described by Loris Malaguzzi, effective environments promote relationships, communication, collaboration, and exploration through play and experimentation.
The outcome of this co-design process was a book that depicts a truly inclusive school which capitalizes on multiple intelligences and ways of knowing, and involves parents and adults as competent community partners, rather than silent actors. Most importantly, this vision positions school as a protagonist in the fight for social and environmental justice -- important and sometimes overlooked in today’s society. This project allowed me to use concepts of space and time as opportunities to educate, rather than see them as hindrances to learning. The outcome of the collaboration with the students represents a “feasible utopia” that students can construct with the opportunity to be heard by adults, their peers, and experts alike.
…TO PRACTICE: PARTICIPATORY PLANNING IN ACTION
Now a design professional, I strive to incorporate participatory planning and co-design strategies in my practice for all projects. At A4E (Architecture for Education, Inc.), our team designs spaces for learning that promote imagination, curiosity, and wonder. We advocate for a robust participatory planning continuum for all projects that fosters agency, ownership, and
pride in the process and outcome. Communities feel represented and heard when they see their ideas in presentation documents, construction drawings, and ultimately, the built structures that they occupy.
Recently, A4E facilitated a series of student, staff, and faculty workshops with Rio School District in Oxnard, CA to gain insight into District priorities for an upcoming revision of the District’s master plan document. These workshops provided students with the opportunity to tell the A4E team who they are, why they go to school, and what spaces would help them learn best. Students were asked to provide insight into their priorities during these workshop sessions, and were also tasked with articulating, in their own words, why going to school mattered to them. Thirty minutes and 300 sticky notes later, students between the ages of 8 and 12 returned the statement that they go to school because “they want to be successful” and “they want future generations to look up to them.”
Being able to work with students in a cultureand context-minded way to gain insight into what serves them best in learning environments is an incredibly meaningful process. It is our hope that this process gives students a true sense of agency and ownership in the trajectory of their education.
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Agency is the manifestation of the process of applied thinking, which lies at the intersection of critical, creative, and reflective thinking. The development of applied thinking enables young individuals to act deliberately, speak for themselves, and actively reflect on their social worlds, shaping their lives and others. While it may seem near impossible to engage young students in design processes, my experience so far has shown the opposite, and receiving sticky notes and drawings at the end of workshops
with a “thank you!” or “best day EVER!” on them make the extra effort worth it.
Articulating participatory planning experiences with student agency at their core matters: transforming the “privilege” of being heard into a “right” and “expectation” will foster a generation of individuals who value the opportunity to design meaningful educational spaces that are nimble and responsive to our complex world and its ever-changing needs.
Enrico Giori is an Architectural Designer at A4E (Architecture for Education) and a graduate of RISD’s Architecture Department. He is a passionate professional who is deeply interested in participatory planning and co-design strategies. Focused on the intersection between architectural design and community building, Enrico’s design approach aims to involve all stakeholders of projects from conceptual ideation to final development.
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