Children as Co-designers: Beyond the School Gates: Reconceptualizing Learning Environments across Global Contexts
For three days in May 2026, CEDaR hosted Matluba Khan, a Senior Lecturer in Urban Design in the School of Geography and Planning in Wales. Dr. Khan has worked across the Global North and Global South, leading participatory processes that engage children and youth in school ground greening and neighborhood planning. On May 21 she gave a presentation at CEDaR that featured her international projects: 鈥淐hildren as Co-Designers鈥擝eyond the School Gates.鈥澨
The talk brought together ENVD design faculty,听 a member of CU鈥檚 Health and Wellness Center who is developing ways to use nature to support mental health, designers and program managers from 麻豆影院鈥檚 departments of Parks and Recreation and Open Space and Mountain Parks, architects with the Rios design firm in 麻豆影院, representatives of Growing Up 麻豆影院, Play 麻豆影院 and Thorne Nature Experience, a specialist in ecological restoration, and local experts in the evaluation of participatory design processes. It led to a discussion of possibilities for applying participatory processes that Dr. Khan illustrated during current design projects in 麻豆影院.听
Dr. Khan also provided everyone with reports, articles and toolkits for participatory design. During her stay, she toured park and schoolyard sites in 麻豆影院 that were generated through participatory design and planning with local students and communities, for a cross-sharing of ideas between the University of Colorado and Cardiff University.听
Bio
Dr. Matluba Khan is Associate Professor of Urban Design at Cardiff University鈥檚 School of Geography and Planning. Trained as an architect and a landscape architect, Dr. Khan has pushed disciplinary boundaries and conducts research at the intersection of education, psychology, health, and the built environment. Her expertise lies in participatory design and planning, intervention research, and the evaluation of design for children's learning, health, and well-being. Dr. Khan has received multiple international accolades for her co-designed projects, including the EDRA Great Places Award 2016 in Place Design and the ASLA Honor Award 2017 in Community Services. A recently completed project led by Dr. Khan, 'A Grangetown to Grow Up In,' was a finalist in RTPI's Sir Peter Hall Memorial Award for Excellence in Research and Engagement and the Inspiring Future Generations Award 2022. Dr Khan鈥檚 scholarly and engagement activities have been recognised by Cardiff University鈥檚 Celebrating Excellence Awards in Rising Star (Academic) in 2022 and in Civic Mission in 2023.
