Forgotten, marginalised, idealised, capitalised upon… The child – long perceived as a passive figure merely awaiting adulthood – nonetheless inhabits the world and draws from it. To consider the “child’s scale” is not a designer’s caprice, but a way of challenging dominant norms for the benefit of the youngest among us. Growing up in an “adult-centred” society means not only learning, but adapting and submitting – waiting to be deemed “credible”. Yet children are not adults under construction.

For its summer issue, AA examines the notion of childhood, particularly through the lens of adultism – the power dynamic exercised by adults over children. How can creative practices help to move beyond this form of domination? Through drawings, testimonies, and initiatives in education and urban design, this issue explores how our societies are not only striving to include children, but are also learning to crouch down, to listen more closely – and, perhaps, to become better adults.

Nothing, and no one, harbours the potential to unsettle
dominant norms quite like children.
And that’s what upsets adults.
Gabrielle Richard, Protéger nos enfants. Queerness et adultisme, 2024

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To read: deputy editors Clémentine Roland and Anastasia de Villepin’s full editorial

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AA 465 « The Children’s Way », Summer 2025
Now available on our online shop

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In this issue

COVER Photograph © Kyoungtae Kim
Studio Ossidiana, Vleuten, Netherlands, 2020

INTRODUCTION
De la bouche des enfants
Clémentine Roland et Anastasia de Villepin

POLITICS
Young People in Action
Christelle Granja

TESTIMONY
An Innu Youth
Kananish Mckenzie

DESIGN
Kids and the City
Clémentine Roland

ARCHITECTURE
Native Narrative, Third Places for Children
Yên Bui

SOCIOLOGY
The Connected Bedroom of Teenagers
Elsa Ramos, illustrated by Kahina At Amrouche

ARCHITECTURE
Semillas, Andean Schools
Anastasia de Villepin

ART
Francis Alÿs
Anastasia de Villepin

DESIGN
CAUKIN, Building the Playgrounds Together
Laurie Picout

URBANISME
Hélènne Reinhard’s Inclusive City
Maryse Quinton

PORTFOLIO
Early Works

ARCHITECTURE
Surman Weston, Children in the Kitchen
Clémentine Roland

PEDAGOGY
Quebec’s Laboratory Schools
Clémentine Roland

ARCHITECTURE
Urko Sánchez, A School Among the Trees
Yên Bui

HERITAGE
Children of the Meiji Era
Anastasia de Villepin

PHILOSOPHY
Towards a Political Remembering of our Childhood
Tal Piterbraut-Merx

Other highlights

The crocheted metal suspensions of artist Ruth Asawa, currently on show at MoMA; field reports, editorial favourites, and a curated selection of exhibition catalogues following the opening of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale; an in-depth look at the latest exhibition at the Venetian place of Galerie Negropontes, housed in a palazzo by Carlo Scarpa; a portrait of the Bibliothèque nationale de France on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, as seen through the lens of photographer Luc Boegly; a tour of Maison Heler, Philippe Starck’s surrealist hotel unveiled in 2025 in Metz; a portrait of Bauhaus-trained design pioneer Alma Siedhoff-Buscher; a journey through time and by train, in the carriages of Gio Ponti and Arep; a selection of design pieces in natural materials and vibrant colours from Milan Design Week 2025; a spotlight on the company Ublo, creator of an elegant circular opening system ensuring ventilation on every floor; and the renovation of a 1920s mansion in Ghent by Marge Architecten, enhanced by colourful windows by Renson.

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