The Social Dynamics of Campus Spaces: An ethnographic study of lived experiences and student agency.
Abstract
This ethnographic research explores the everyday lives and social relationships of student spaces at IIT Delhi, with reference to how institutional design, student’s agency, and material environments co- produce campus life. Drawing on theoretical frameworks including Foucault’s disciplinary power, Lefebvre’s spatial triad, Tuan’s emotional geographies, and the research reveals that campus spaces are dynamic, contested sites where formal planning meets everyday student practices. Through fieldwork, observation, and interviews, the research records the negotiation of space, emotional connections, and the contributions of non-human actors. Findings demonstrate that students actively reinvent formal spaces, infusing them with memory and routine influenced by emotional geographies and gendered practices. The study emphasises the value of inclusive design, sensitive to human and non-human actors, and highlights the dynamic, contested quality of campus spaces as negotiation sites and community formation.
Keywords
Campus ethnography; Institutional design; Spatial Negotiation; Social Dynamics
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.717
Citation
Khan, S.A., PM, A., Kaur, R.,and Tewari, S.(2025) The Social Dynamics of Campus Spaces: An ethnographic study of lived experiences and student agency., in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.717
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 1 - More Than Human-centered Design
The Social Dynamics of Campus Spaces: An ethnographic study of lived experiences and student agency.
This ethnographic research explores the everyday lives and social relationships of student spaces at IIT Delhi, with reference to how institutional design, student’s agency, and material environments co- produce campus life. Drawing on theoretical frameworks including Foucault’s disciplinary power, Lefebvre’s spatial triad, Tuan’s emotional geographies, and the research reveals that campus spaces are dynamic, contested sites where formal planning meets everyday student practices. Through fieldwork, observation, and interviews, the research records the negotiation of space, emotional connections, and the contributions of non-human actors. Findings demonstrate that students actively reinvent formal spaces, infusing them with memory and routine influenced by emotional geographies and gendered practices. The study emphasises the value of inclusive design, sensitive to human and non-human actors, and highlights the dynamic, contested quality of campus spaces as negotiation sites and community formation.