IN THE BUBBLE JOHN THACKARA - witz cultural

Learning 147
geology, viticulture, forestry, conservation, ocean science. A great deal of
learning also takes place in what these authors describe as ‘‘an ecology of
local or regional sites of professional excellence: research labs, hospitals,
architects’ and design offices, Web design studios, and the like—anywhere,
indeed, that people gather together to work. Knowledge as it grows is necessarily
social, the shared property of extended groups and networks.’’ 37 All
spaces, places, and communities that foster complex experiences and processes
are potential sites of learning.
New geographies of learning need to be based on redesigned configurations
of space, place, and network that respect the social and collaborative
nature of learning—while still exploiting the dynamic potential of networked
collaboration. We need to design the spatial configuration of education
so that it connects communities and learners that, right now, tend
to be separated from one another. 38
Breaking down the walls that divide ‘‘school’’ and ‘‘work’’ and ‘‘home’’
entails challenging cultural and institutional changes—but it can be done.
The municipal infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia in
Italy, for example, are internationally recognized as a model of ‘‘relational
space’’ planning in which buildings are relatively neutral in the use of colors,
much like an art museum, so that the activities and work of the children
become the focus of the space. (Documentation is central to the
Reggio approach, and the architecture is designed to encourage playful
encounters for the preschool students.) In Reggio the built environment is
considered a ‘‘third teacher’’—not only in the sense that it facilitates learning,
but also because it explicitly acts as a connector that supports a networked,
community-based organization and acts as a hub for the whole
community. ‘‘In a relational space,’’ says the noted Italian design researcher
Giulio Ceppi, ‘‘the predominant feature is that of the relationships it enables,
the many specialized activities that can be carried out there, and the
information and cultural filters that can be activated within the space.’’ 39
The design emphasis in Reggio Emilia is on relationships, rather than
on what the space looks like. Educational theories change faster than
the buildings they are tested in. Many middle-aged Europeans went to
schools built decades earlier whose windows were set purposefully high
so that children would not be distracted by the outside world. I spent my
own teenage years in buildings designed by a Victorian prison architect;
his expertise with security and iron bars persuaded the founders of