Growing Through Green

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Growing Through Green

Pittman, Nira

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10429/2167

Date: 2021-05-17

Abstract:

Children in earlier periods spent the majority of their time in natural environments, which allowed them to reap the physiological health benefits of nature: stronger musculoskeletal system and improved function of the brain cortices. Today, children are spending less time outdoors and, consequently, are suffering from “Nature-Deficit Disorder," leading to many physiological issues. Several factors contribute to a child’s disconnection from nature, such as technology use or a lack of time for outdoor play. However, the following documentation of work will focus on the biggest factor of NDD, which is the existing child facilities that sever this connection. In addition to presenting relevant qualitative/quantitative information on this topic, this thesis seeks to present how architectural design can aid in reconnecting children to nature to prevent Nature-Deficit Disorder and promote their physiological (muscle, bone and brain) health and development.

Description:

Nature provides us with vast, peaceful landscapes and allows us to encounter other forms of biotic factors such as vegetation, insects, and animals. Interestingly, nature provides tremendous amounts of physiological health benefits for growing toddlers and adolescents. Through physical activity and imaginative play, natural environments promote the growth and development of a child’s brain and musculoskeletal system. When children connect with nature and engage in natural play, they strengthen their bone structure, produce new muscle fibers, and improve the functioning of the brain cortices. In earlier periods, children have always reaped these physiological benefits of nature due to their regular interactions with forests, lakes, and nature trails. However, can the same be said about children in today’s time? If not, how has the relationship between children and nature changed? What are the consequences as a result of this change? In the early 1970s, children had more access to nature and spent most of their days outside in greenways, forests, and fields. However, the amount of time children spent in nature began to decrease in the early 1980s, as the number of hours spent in nature were reduced by 25% and continued to drop by 37% in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the present time, only 36% of U.S. children receive the recommended amount of exposure to nature. Kids, today, only spend less than 7 minutes outdoors and more than 7 hours indoors. As a result, children suffer from “Nature-Deficit Disorder” (NDD). This non-medical term was coined by author Richard Louv, who has studied this issue among children in his book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Louv defines this term as the “human costs of alienation from nature”. NDD has a huge, negative impact on the physiological health in children. NDD weakens a child’s frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices of their brain, which, consequently, causes them to experience mental disorders, ADHD, “Sensory Anesthesia” and “place blindness”. NDD also weakens a child’s musculoskeletal system by deteriorating their bone density and muscle fibers, as well as causing heart disease and abdominal ailments. There are many factors that play a role in children’s disconnection to nature and the onset of Nature-Deficit Disorder. An increased use of electronic, limited access to nature, and lack of time due to school, work and other responsibilities are all possible factors. However, the biggest factor is poorly designed facilities that are a part of children’s everyday life and play a role in supporting their physiological health, such as learning centers, childcare centers, and residential buildings. These buildings are often closed-in with little to no openings or adjacencies to natural environments Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to present how architectural design seeks to reconnect children to nature to prevent Nature-Deficit Disorder and promote their physiological (muscle, bone and brain) health and development. By using relevant information regarding nature, child physiology, NDD, biophilic design, as well as performing contextual analyses of relevant case studies, this thesis will, first, develop an overall “design policy” that will provide essential guiding principles for how building typologies for children, within any area in the US, ought to be designed into in order to help them connect to nature. Based on this “design policy”, this thesis will, then, present architectural interventions, within different contexts, that will serve as the “physical manifestations” of this design policy. Nature deficiency is a huge problem within children in the United States. As future architects and planners, it is our responsibility to respond to this problem by designing buildings that not only serve communities but also support the personal health and development of its younger users.

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