Investigating the Generalizability of Participatory Architecture Design Process Results Based on the Interpretation of Children's Drawings (Case study: Comparing the Drawings of Children of Bojnourd and the Villages of Zard and Khorramdeh-e Sharqi)

Nowadays, participatory processes in architectural design for children are considered by many architects. Children's drawings are often used as the participation tool, and the results of participation depend on the architect's interpretation of these drawings. The main problem is the degree of applicability of participation results with children in a given area to children in other areas. Children participating in different participatory processes do not possess the same characteristics of the living environment. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of children's living environment on the results of participatory processes by examining the role of children's living environment in shaping the content of the drawing. To this end, 100 urban and rural children in a participatory process draw on a common design theme. Then, the authors compared and analyzed the content of the drawings. The results showed that the content of children's drawings mainly reflected the characteristics of their living environment. Besides, the children's living environment was found to influence the outcome of participatory processes by influencing their drawing content. The results of interpreting the drawings of children living in an area are entirely local and insufficient, and their use as a design criterion is inefficient for children in other areas and does not yield the desired results.