Moments of Awe: Connecting young children to nature on their daily journeys

Abstract

Awe is one of the most special, rare, and powerful emotions that we as humans can experience. It is awe that creates the foundation within us from which we can build empathy and care for environmental stewardship. Urbanization, monotone architectural styles, and an increasing use of technology have reduced our opportunities to feel this emotion. This thesis seeks to explore how we can create opportunities for young children to experience awe and develop emotional connection to nature in the everyday places they experience in their cities. This thesis provides a design framework for urban neighborhoods based on the principles of Marketta Kytta’s Bullerby model for child friendliness, with the goal of creating opportunities for children to experience moments of awe and to create emotional connections to nature. This framework emphasizes the of importance the intersection between a child’s independent mobility and an increased amount of affordances. This framework is explored through Scandinavian case studies. It is then applied to the Cascade Neighborhood in Seattle to create three design typologies that provide surrounding preschool children opportunities to experience moments of awe.