Staff Profile

My background is in Architecture, specialising in educational spaces, play and children’s environments. Currently I am a lecturer teaching through Architecture, Architecture and Urban Planning and MA Urban Design courses.

In 2019 I completed my PhD at Northumbria University, exploring play in the public space. Previously, I undertook a MA in ‘Designing Learning Environments’ from the University of Sheffield with a focus on children’s environments and participatory design. I joined Newcastle University as a teaching assistant in October 2020 and between January 2021-July 2022 I was a research associate in the project: ‘At Home with Children: Liveable Space for the COVID-19 challenge’.

I currently teach:

• I lead the Architecture and Urban Planning desogn studio for stage 1- ARC1007

• APL2035 - Participation: Theories and practice
• ARC3019- Dissertation Studies and Research Methods * Leading the playful cities elective
• APL3007 - Dissertation in Architecture and Urbanism
• APL8014- Urban design and the use of design codes
• APL3008- Green Infrastructure
• ARC2018- Cities, Cultures, Space

In the past I have supervised dissertations and have taught in a variety of modules across Architecture, Architecture and Urban planning and MA in Urban design in Newcastle and Northumbria University. Alongside my teaching, I have participated as a reviewer in the studio presentations on multiple occasions.

The ideas of participation, inclusion and engagement run through my work and inform both my research and teaching practice. In my teaching I engage with students in a dialogical relation using research-led teaching and experience-learning methods while facilitating critical thinking. 

I am a Fellow of HE.

My research interests focus on the social aspects of architecture, and more specifically, public space, participatory design, children’s geographies, children’s play in the city, educational spaces, informal learning environments, ethnography, playful cities, critical geography, everyday spaces of representation, spatial power relations as well as forms of resistance and re-appropriation of the city.

My PhD, entitled: ‘The boundaries of heterotopia in a landscape of crisis. Examining the playground’s ‘public value’ in contemporary Athens,’ employed the theoretical framework of Heterotopias to explore play in the public space and address the ways the playground space supported alternate orderings and appropriation of its surrounding public space. 

During my MA, I explored the playground space as a place of intergenerational interaction. I have facilitated architectural workshops with children as part of Northumbria University’s Stem program while in 2014 I designed and facilitated participatory design workshops with school children in Athens, Greece. 

I have presented my research and participated in various workshops and conferences in the areas of Architecture, Anthropology, Geography and Education and I have published my research exploring children’s geographies and play in the urban space. I have also worked as a research assistant in various research projects in Newcastle, Northumbria and Durham Universities.

Most recently, I worked as a Research Associate in the project: ‘At Home with Children: Liveable Space for the COVID-19 challenge’. The project was funded by the UKRI/AHRC Covid-19 Rapid Response call and explored what ‘liveable’ domestic space meant for families with children, under pandemic conditions.

• Articles

  • Costa Santos S, Parnell R, Abo Kanon H, Pattinson E, Pitsikali A. Blurred borders. Negotiating copresence in the family home through spatio-temporal strategies for increased adult well-being. Home Cultures 2025, 21(2-3), 159-183.
  • Costa Santos S, Parnell R, Abo Kanon H, Pattinson E, Pitsikali A, Sarhan H. '…nice to get some alone time': children’s spatial negotiation of alone time needs in the family home. Children's Geographies 2024, 22(4), 513-529.
  • Pitsikali A, Sarhan H, Abo Kanon H, Costa Santos S, Parnell R, Pattinson E. “…We Honestly Just Got Sick of Doing Working Together.” Spatial Negotiation of Adult-Child Thrown togetherness During Lockdown . Home Cultures 2023, 20(2), 71-92.
  • Pitsikali A, Parnell R, McIntyre L. The public value of child-friendly space: Re-conceptualising the playground. Archnet-IJAR 2020, 14(2), 149-165.
  • Pitsikali A, Parnell R. Fences of Childhood: Challenging the Meaning of Playground Boundaries in Design. Frontiers in Architectural Research 2020, 9(3), 656-669.
  • Pitsikali A, Parnell R. The public playground paradox: ‘child’s joy’ or heterotopia of fear?. Children's Geographies 2019, 17(6), 719-731.
  • Pitsikali A. Examining the playground as a civic space through the lens of play. Journal of Playwork Practice 2015, 2(1), 45-59.

• Reports

  • Abo Kanon H, Sarhan H, Costa Santos S, Parnell R, Pattinson E, Pitsikali A. The Hybrid Home: adaptable design for small homes with children. Newcastle University: Newcastle University and Dundee University, 2022.
  • Parnell R, Abo Kanon H, Pattison E, Pitsikali A, Costa Santos S, Sarhan H. At Home with Children: Learning from lockdown: Interim findings report: Survey. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University and Dundee University, 2022.
  • Parnell R, Abo Kanon H, Pattinson E, Pitsikali A, Costa Santos S, Sarhan H. At Home with Children: Learning from Lockdown. Interim Findings Report: Interviews. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University; University of Dundee, 2022.