Educational welfare facilities for children of water dwellers

children's perspectives on moving from “boats for living” to “dormitories for learning”

Abstract

This study examined educational welfare facilities built for water dwellers' children, a unique space that occupies a social gap between water- and land-dwelling. Employing approaches of architectural history, cultural anthropology, and folkloristics, the study concentrated on the viewpoints of children, the actual users of these facilities. Results indicated that the water dwellers focused on in this study resettled on land mostly due to natural or human-caused disasters and law amendments. Furthermore, rather than prompting water dwellers to relocate on land, school education and educational welfare facilities have served to expand the range of future choices available to children.