Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book covers a wide range of critical educational practices exploring other ways of teaching and learning architectural design. It demonstrates a shift in architectural education towards a practice-based, student-centred, hands-on, dialogic, and critical architectural design teaching culture situated in a wide variety of applied learning settings. The book then covers the case of a micro-architecture intervention carried out bottom-up by the student group Autocostruzione Urbanismo Tattico as a part of a student funding initiative promoted by Politecnico di Torinoat the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. It also presents a pedagogical model developed by the Valles School of Architecture, located in Catalonia, Spain. The book presents a conceptual framework for understanding Community-engaged Architectural Design Learning as critical spatial practice.