Education for environmental justice must begin early, as children are disproportionately affected by issues of climate change and forced displacement. However, questions of architecture are often overlooked in children’s education, despite the fact that the built environment is an indirect contributor to climate change, and architects must develop new visions to mitigate these effects on vulnerable populations.
Architecture Playshop is a creative workshop for children that encourages guided and play-based learning. Through it, we seek to learn from children, build their awareness about the role of architecture in climate change, and plant the seeds of future action they can implement as adults.
The sessions are organised around the following topics: building materials and embodied environmental impact; climate change and urbanisation; rising sea levels and adapting how we live in coastal areas; and forced migration and dignified accommodation.
Our overarching intention is to have children recognize themselves as builders and designers, and to see themselves as future architects who can contribute to imaginative, sustainable design in the fight against climate change.
IPEK TÜRELI is Associate Professor of Architecture and Canada Research Chair in Architectures of Spatial Justice at McGill University in Montreal. She is an architect and a historian of the built environment. She is the author of Istanbul, Open City, and co-editor of Orienting Istanbul.