Between 1947 and 1949, state-sanctioned texts on town planning and housing were produced for New Zealand schools. In these publications, ideals of social democratic citizenship intersect with modernist precepts of planning and design. Analysis of the school texts in the discursive context reveals an aim to encourage future citizens to take an…

This study highlights how 20 Swedish principals, school managers and architects involved in planning, construction and reconstruction of primary and secondary school buildings at regional, municipal and local levels represent good learning environments. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, the analysis focuses on how the stakeholders understand…

If we consider the role of education and its implications in the formation of a critical and conscious user of architecture, it is obvious that the development of educational strategies related to the sustainable development of our common space and environment becomes fundamental. Among the objectives of art education, we should consider our…

The aim of this study is to identify features of change in the recent design of school buildings in Iceland, and how they might affect teaching practices. Environmental and architectonic features characterising school buildings designed and built at the beginning of the 21st century are examined in light of challenges involving architecture,…

This article explores the architecture of the Red de Innovacion y Aprendizaje (RIA), or Learning and Innovation Network, which is a group of education centres that provide access to computers, the Internet and quality education to low-income communities in Mexico. The RIA began in May 2009 when ten pilot centres were opened in four municipalities…

This article presents a critical review of instruments used to evaluate compulsory schools in Sweden and is part of a doctoral programme project investigating the relationship between school architecture and learning. In Sweden, as in many countries, evaluation instruments are used both to improve school quality and as a means to provide…

There are two peculiar moments in the history of the "struggle for national education", which, specifically in the city of Sao Paulo, capital of the State of Sao Paulo, one of the major and richest cities in Brazil, produced very interesting results in school architecture. The first moment happened in the period called the "First…

Three- to six-year-old children in the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, worked on a project called "The City: Images, Ideas, and Theories," in which teachers investigated the children's ideas, hypotheses, and theories about cities in general and their own city in particular. Children's knowledge about the city was surveyed in…