Built Environment Education for Children and Youth : Establishing the Field

This book is an essential guide to the field, bringing together educators, architects, spatial designers and planners, as well as cultural practitioners, to explore how young people can meaningfully engage with their built environments.

How do children learn about the spaces in which they live, play, and grow? Built Environment Education for Children and Youth is an essential guide to a dynamic yet fragmented field, bringing together educators, architects, spatial designers and planners, as well as cultural practitioners working in museums, schools, universities, architecture centres, professional bodies, networks and private practice, to explore how young people can meaningfully engage with their built environments. By engaging with the built environment, young people develop agency and spatial literacy that support their sense of belonging, underpin civic participation, and open up more equitable possibilities for shaping the places they inhabit. Grounded in a broad international evidence base—drawing on an analysis of 385+ Built Environment Education initiatives in institutional settings, 30 practitioner interviews and 15 in-depth studies—this book reflects BEE state of the art practice across world regions and contexts. Depicting innovative pedagogies and real-world examples, it charts a path towards a more cohesive and inclusive approach to built environment education and Baukultur. Whether you're an educator, designer, planner or policymaker, this engaging resource will inspire you to shape the future of built environment education— by strengthening the next generation’s capacity to understand and shape place, recognising children as spatial agents in their own right.