ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces various analytical frameworks that can contribute to a well-articulated theory of architectural education and its associated disciplines. The chapter calls for taking a closer and fresher look at design education and seeking ways to reinvigorate existing curricula and programmes; this can best be done by offering more interactive and dialogic courses cantered on critical inquiry and knowledge acquisition, assimilation, and production in routine learning processes. One comprehensive inductive approach is that of ‘trans‐critical’ pedagogy: a democratic methodology encourages students and educators to critically examine traditional assumptions about knowledge and take into consideration social and environmental issues and how they can be resolved. ‘Trans-critical’ pedagogy is based on the application of the principles and values of those transformative and critical pedagogies that incorporate different modes of knowledge production: this methodology mandates a comprehensive understanding of the role of knowledge in creating meaningful environments. ‘Trans-critical’ pedagogy is an all-encompassing and inclusive theory of education that builds on the wide spectrum of alternative pedagogies analysed in previous chapters of this book. Both implicitly and explicitly, these various pedagogical alternatives have addressed some of the key issues in design education and architectural pedagogy discussed earlier.
