Occupying the adult city: pre-service teachers as spatial activists in the urban sphere

Urban environments are predominantly adult-normative, designed for efficiency, commerce, and state power, often segregating children into designated safe zones like schools or playgrounds. This qualitative study analyzes reflection reports from 29 senior pre-service early childhood teachers in Ankara, Türkiye, who were tasked with reclaiming non-educational public spaces for early childhood inquiry. Findings reveal that pre-service teachers engage in three distinct forms of spatial activism: (1) Subverting state austerity where gray civic monuments are reimagined as colorful ateliers; (2) de-commodifying the market where transactional spaces like supermarkets are slowed down into sensory laboratories; and (3) humanizing the institution where sterile environments like hospitals are navigated through narrative mediation. The study argues that teacher education must move beyond curriculum design to include spatial agency, training teachers to occupy and rewrite the adult city for the child. Further research is needed on the classroom implementation of the designs, focusing on how children engage with, make sense of, and at times push back against these adapted adult environments.