Spaces for children as ‘citizens of the future’ by political ideologies of the twentieth century

This paper constitutes an introduction to the special journal issue on the twentieth-century architecture for children regarded as ‘citizens of the future’ by several distinct ideologies. Four papers from different geographical areas, performed at different times of the twentieth century, comprise the issue and present a rich array of political projects which nonetheless shared the belief in children and childhood as the objects for education, indoctrination, and social transformation. This introduction intends to contextualise architecture of spaces for children in a historical and theoretical perspective discussing its relations with social sciences and the recent field of childhood studies.