Spaces for Action: A Repository of Tools and Methods for a Socially Situated Architectural Education

'Spaces for Action' provides a hands-on guide for teachers and students looking to make architectural learning more engaging, collaborative, and socially meaningful.

The book brings together over 80 creative tools that can be adapted to different classrooms, communities, and design challenges. The tools are grouped by teaching approaches-like cooperative teamwork, experiential learning, and transformative practices-and by the stages of the design process: identifying challenges, generating ideas, and putting them into action. Each entry gives a clear overview of what the tool is for, how it works, and what you need to make it happen. You'll also find tips on group sizes, resources, and possible collaborators, making it easy to bring these methods straight into practice.

What makes this toolkit unique is its strong link between theory and real-world application. Alongside detailed instructions, you'll discover case studies from projects such as Service-Learning and "Live Projects," which connect design directly to community needs. Open and adaptable, this repository is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to foster creativity, collaboration, and social impact in architecture education.

Guido Cimadomo (he/him) is associate professor in the Department of Art and Architecture at the Universidad de Malaga in Spain, where he has taught since 2010. He has a master degree in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano in Italy (1998) and a Ph.D. (Int. Hons.) from the Universidad de Sevilla in Spain (2014). He is an expert member of the ICOMOS's CIPA scientific committee for the documentation of architectonic heritage and chair member of the Institute for the Study of the International Expositions (ISIE). He was an ATCH Fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia (2017) and a Research Associate at the University of Oregon in the USA (2022). His research interests deal with urban transformations (world events, community participation, and industrial heritage), heritage documentation and cataloging, and the dissemination of architecture and its historiography in the digital era. Publications as editor or coordinator include: "Urbanism at Borders. Navigating New Frontiers in a Globalized World" (Springer, forthcoming), "Architecture and urban commons. Redefining the architectural practice" (Tirant lo Blanch 2022), "Spanish Architecture and Technology. Seven key episodes in the 20th century" (Recolectores Urbanos, 2021), "Design, Architecture and Society in the Early Modern Era (15th-17th centuries)" (Ediciones Asimétricas, 2019), and "Cesare Brandi. El lenguaje clásico de la arquitectura" (Ediciones Asimétricas,2016).

Ingrid C. Vargas Díaz (she/her), MArch and PhD (Universidad de Granada, Spain), is a postdoctoral researcher in the Socially Situated Architectural Pedagogies (SArPe) project and has taught at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Málaga (Spain). Her research focuses on informal settlements and inequality in Latin American cities, urban segregation in mature Mediterranean tourist destinations, housing policy and architectural pedagogy.