Abstract
Artificial Intelligence is increasingly embedded in creative and spatial design processes, transforming how ideas are visualized and interpreted. This study examines how generative AI tools influence children’s imagination and articulation of spatial design preferences for schools in India. In a context where school environments are often standardized and children’s perspectives remain marginalized, participatory workshops with primary-school students engaged them in describing, writing, and generating AI-assisted images to express their visions for school spaces. The process revealed both the potential and the limits of AI-driven visualization. While AI expanded imagination and made ideas instantly visible, it also reproduced globalized aesthetics detached from local cultural realities. Children’s reflections revealed awareness of context, identity, and authorship, showing how algorithms mediate creativity and the cultural imagination of space. The study positions generative visualization as both a catalyst and a constraint in participatory spatial design, calling for critical engagement with biases embedded in algorithmic processes.
Keywords
Generative Artificial Intelligence; Children; Visualization; School
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2532
Citation
Pade, C., and Monga, C. (2026) “Why Do All the Schools Look the Same?” Exploring Children’s Spatial Design Preferences through Generative AI in India, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2532
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
“Why Do All the Schools Look the Same?” Exploring Children’s Spatial Design Preferences through Generative AI in India
Artificial Intelligence is increasingly embedded in creative and spatial design processes, transforming how ideas are visualized and interpreted. This study examines how generative AI tools influence children’s imagination and articulation of spatial design preferences for schools in India. In a context where school environments are often standardized and children’s perspectives remain marginalized, participatory workshops with primary-school students engaged them in describing, writing, and generating AI-assisted images to express their visions for school spaces. The process revealed both the potential and the limits of AI-driven visualization. While AI expanded imagination and made ideas instantly visible, it also reproduced globalized aesthetics detached from local cultural realities. Children’s reflections revealed awareness of context, identity, and authorship, showing how algorithms mediate creativity and the cultural imagination of space. The study positions generative visualization as both a catalyst and a constraint in participatory spatial design, calling for critical engagement with biases embedded in algorithmic processes.