Learning-Through-Touring

Book excerpt: Learning-through-Touring uncovers ways in which people interact with the built environment by exploring the spaces around, between and within buildings. The key idea embodied in the book is that learning through touring is haptic –the learner is a physical, cognitive and emotional participant in the process. It also develops the concept that tours, rather than being finished products, are designed to evolve through user participation and over time. Part One of the book presents a series of analytical investigations into theories and practices of learning and touring that have then been developed to produce a set of conceptual methods for tour design. Projects that have tried and tested these methods are described in Part Two. Technologies that have been utilised as portable tools for learning-through-touring are illustrated both through historical and contemporary practices. In all of this, there is an underlying belief that what is formally presented to us by ‘authorities’ is open to self-discovery, questioning and independent enquiry. The book is particularly relevant for those seeking innovative ways to explore and engage with the built environment; mobile learning educators; learning departments in museums, galleries and historic buildings; organisations involved in ‘bridging the gap’ between architecture and public understanding and anyone who enjoys finding out new things about their environment.