Institutionalizing Architecture: Citizenship, Power, and the Invisible Child

The European Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had profound consequences for the emergence of architecture as an established discipline. 

The French Revolution catalyzed the institutionalization of architecture around ideals of citizenship and the public good, reorienting architectural practice away from exclusive service to rulers and toward serving society at large. 

The year 1807 marked a key milestone in this shift with the establishment of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

However, although this new institutional framework claimed to serve “the citizens,” citizenship was narrowly defined: it primarily encompassed adults, while children were largely excluded as subjects of architectural and urban concern. As a result, the spatial needs, scales, and experiences of children remained largely invisible within the emerging discipline of architecture. 

The Haussmann Plan for Paris, with its vast redevelopment projects, provides a striking example of this “citizen-adult” bias in urban design, demonstrating how city planning and architecture were structured to serve adult citizens while overlooking younger members of society.