Space, Place and Educational Settings

This open access book explores the nexus between knowledge and space with a particular emphasis on the role of educational settings that are, both, shaping and being reshaped by socio-economic and political processes. It gives insight into the complex interplay of educational inequalities and practices of educational governance in the neighborhood and at larger geographical scales. The book adopts quantitative and qualitative methodologies and explores a wide range of theoretical perspectives by drawing upon empirical cases and examples from France, Germany, Italy, the UK and North America, and presents and reflects ongoing research of international scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds such as education, human geography, public policy, sociology, and urban and regional planning. As such, it provides an interesting read for scholars, students and professionals in the broader field of social, cultural and educational studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners in thefields of education, pedagogy, social work, and urban and regional planning.

Chapter 1. Space, Place, and Educational Settings: An Introduction.- Chapter 2. Knowledge Society, Educational Attainment, and the Unequal City: A Sociospatial Perspective.- Chapter 3. Educational Inequality and Urban Development: Education as a Field for Urban Planning, Architecture and Urban Design.- Chapter 4. Bringing the Full Picture Into Focus: A Consideration of the Internal and External Validity of Charter School Effects.- Chapter 5. Neighborhood Effects, the Life Course, and Educational Outcomes: Four Theoretical Models of Effect Heterogeneity.- Chapter 6. Space, Marginality, and Youth in Urban Spaces: Pedagogical Practices in the Quartieri Spagnoli.- Chapter 7. Fragmented Geographies of Education: Institutions, Policies, and the Neighborhood.- Chapter 8. When School Comes to Community: Considering the Socioethnic Environment in Educational Reform for Gypsy Populations in a French City.- Chapter 9. Bringing the Local Back In: How Schools Work Differently in DifferentNeighborhood Contexts.- Chapter 10. Setting Aside Settings: On the Contradictory Dynamics of “Flat Earth”, “Ordinalization” and “Cold Spot” Education Governing Projects.

Tim Freytag is Professor of Human Geography at the Institute of Environmental Social Sciences and Geography, University of Freiburg, Germany. His research interests include urban studies, geographies of education, social and cultural geography, and tourism and mobility studies.

Douglas Lee Lauen is a Professor of Public Policy and Sociology at the University of North Carolina, United States. His research examines the effectiveness of educational policies, school types, and interventions on students and how these effects vary for traditionally underserved populations.

Susan Robertson is Professor of Sociology of Education in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Her current research interests include education policy and multi-scalar governance, transformations of the state, and global and regional processes.