Nurturing children's biophilia through nature connectedness in school buildings for a sustainable future

Interacting with nature is essential for harmonious growth of an individual. Children being sensitive towards the environment, in which they grow, leave a lasting impression on their minds. The Built environment of children features a huge range of educational buildings, from small nurseries to vast schools and university campuses in which children spend over 1000 hours a year. Urbanization has shrunk a number of green spaces within these educational settings compared to earlier days. This has led towards children becoming disengaged from the natural environment and have lessened their opportunities to play outdoors. This is one of the reasons that children have lost appreciation of nature which is around them. Biophobia, an aversion to nature may develop if children's innate feelings towards nature are not flourished in their early years by providing opportunities to interact with the natural surroundings. Virtual nature experience diminishes the value of local natural environments and reduces the future potential for protecting it. "Biophilia" is the inherent human inclination to affiliate with nature that even in the modern world continues to be critical to people's physical health, mental health, and wellbeing. Biophilic design enhances human well-being by fostering connections between people and nature in the modern built environment. Through literature exploration, the paper tries to focus on the need of creating an interconnection between life, nature and the built environment of schools. Studies on the importance of biophilic design and sustainability in school buildings have been enlisted and paper is concluded with the aspects of biophilic building design that makes an impact on the psychological well-being of children.