The Interactive Learning City: Reforming Educational Narrative and Learning Environments

The future of education and learning is facing a number of considerable challenges, as the world rapidly changes and becomes more interconnected and technology-driven. In order to guarantee the readiness of future generations to face these challenges, education plays a fundamental role in equipping them with the necessary skills, abilities, and knowledge. Educational models and environments need to be interactive, flexible, and inclusive, and they should be embedded within the very infrastructure of our cities. This paper is a call for action towards the transformation of our urban landscapes into educational environments. It aims to identify the know-how of transforming our cities into Interactive Learning Cities (ILCs). It argues that the core essence of creating a successful learning environment is interaction and that movement-based learning environments are essential for promoting engagement and learning. In these learning cities, learning is embedded in all aspects of city life, and citizens of all ages can have a wide range of multifaceted interactions among themselves, the surrounding environments, and many other possibilities that help them constantly grow and develop. Students have the opportunity to learn endlessly and on the move from a variety of sources, as they can be exposed to diverse conditions and environments. The first chapter starts by discussing the several challenges and issues facing education in the 21st century. The second chapter emphasizes that interaction is the core essence of effective learning while concluding the first preliminary definition of an ILC. The third chapter showcases real-world examples of interactive educational policies, strategies, programs, platforms, elements, and spaces, for which the total outcome obtained will help understand the know-how of transforming our cities into ILCs, while providing a city-wide learning ecosystem, and a holistic approach towards shaping and implementing a successful and interactive learning atmosphere from the early beginning of a child’s life journey. Finally, its last chapter starts by illustrating the main inspirational model for an ILC and highlights how ILCs will help dissolve the issue of missing out children as a priority in the development process of planning and designing our cities. By using this built-up narrative across the paper’s chapters and sections, it concludes how an ILC will exactly look like, and demonstrates the different components of an ILC, while highlighting its essence, flow, main user, and operational process. Through this constructed framework, it highlights that transforming our cities into ILCs is an essential endeavor. Such cities can provide flexible and inclusive environments where everyone, especially the child, can continuously grow and develop while having equal opportunities, fair conditions, and a sense of belonging to their own hometowns. They act as learning platforms that can help equip future generations with the skills and knowledge they need to face global challenges while working collaboratively and forming vibrant communities.