Geographies of education spaces: Architecture, materialities, power, and identity

This chapter provides an overview of scholarship on the geographies of education spaces. It focuses on the ‘micro-geographies’ of an educational institution, including such aspects as building design, organisation, and the ways in which those spaces are managed. All of these elements are particularly important to the experiences of learners – from learning outcomes to the development of friendships. In this light, the chapter examines three key issues in research about education spaces. First, it considers the role of architecture in attempts to signify and embody the educational intentions of school designers, teachers, and policymakers. Second, and by extension, it zooms in further to consider how material things and ‘natures’ are enlisted in the use of education spaces. Third, the chapter turns to the ways in which power dynamics and formations of identity are played out within education spaces.