TY - GEN
T1 - Exploring Children's Relationship with Natural Elements in Schools under UAE Hot Climatic Conditions; Exploratory Literature Review
AU - Bakri, Tasneem
AU - Aoul, Kheira Tabet
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the College of Engineering, at the United Arab Emirates University, UAEU.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - In today's world, entire populations spend ninety percent of their time indoors, a fact largely substantiated in the literature as yielding negative impacts on people's health and well-being. As a first response, the current green design movement stressed the need to reintegrate nature in the built environment, which carries significant positive impacts on building occupant's health and well-being. In this regard, Biophilia -people's affiliation with nature- is an aspect often studied to reach the optimum integration, partly based on nature's positive effects on cognitive performance, productivity, and the psychological state of buildings' occupants. Children living in a hot desert environment such as that of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may further lack exposure to natural elements, which, in turn, can have negative impacts on their health and well-being in such critical developmental age. The literature indicates a knowledge gap of studies investigating children's preferences of natural elements in learning environments of the Middle East or countries of similar hot climatic conditions. Hence, this paper reports on a literature review exploring first, in brief, the concept of humans' affiliation with nature, then reviews more specifically what has been established in terms of children's current experiences with natural elements in learning environments under desert, extremely hot climate, and their possible preference for vegetation, water, and other natural elements, as prospectively architecturally integrated to their learning environment. A literature review was conducted and facilitated capturing the children's present perception of a pleasant experience when associating learning environments with natural elements. The study's preliminary results highlighted the current gap in the literature when it comes to children's experiences and preferences in countries with hot climatic conditions.
AB - In today's world, entire populations spend ninety percent of their time indoors, a fact largely substantiated in the literature as yielding negative impacts on people's health and well-being. As a first response, the current green design movement stressed the need to reintegrate nature in the built environment, which carries significant positive impacts on building occupant's health and well-being. In this regard, Biophilia -people's affiliation with nature- is an aspect often studied to reach the optimum integration, partly based on nature's positive effects on cognitive performance, productivity, and the psychological state of buildings' occupants. Children living in a hot desert environment such as that of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may further lack exposure to natural elements, which, in turn, can have negative impacts on their health and well-being in such critical developmental age. The literature indicates a knowledge gap of studies investigating children's preferences of natural elements in learning environments of the Middle East or countries of similar hot climatic conditions. Hence, this paper reports on a literature review exploring first, in brief, the concept of humans' affiliation with nature, then reviews more specifically what has been established in terms of children's current experiences with natural elements in learning environments under desert, extremely hot climate, and their possible preference for vegetation, water, and other natural elements, as prospectively architecturally integrated to their learning environment. A literature review was conducted and facilitated capturing the children's present perception of a pleasant experience when associating learning environments with natural elements. The study's preliminary results highlighted the current gap in the literature when it comes to children's experiences and preferences in countries with hot climatic conditions.
KW - Children
KW - Exploratory
KW - Hot climate
KW - Nature
KW - Preferences
KW - School environment
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85125802451
T3 - ZEMCH International Conference
SP - 690
EP - 697
BT - ZEMCH 2021 - 8th Zero Energy Mass Custom Home International Conference, Proceedings
A2 - Tabet Aoul, Kheira Anissa
A2 - Shafiq, Mohammed Tariq
A2 - Attoye, Daniel Efurosibina
PB - ZEMCH Network
T2 - 8th Zero Energy Mass Custom Home International Conference, ZEMCH 2021
Y2 - 26 October 2021 through 28 October 2021
ER -
