Biophilia...I was introduced to this concept by the movie "the nature of the cities". Cities by their very character are very active, dynamic and full of energy. According to a study the average urban dweller will spend an hour traveling to work each day, about 9 hours working, 7 hours sleeping, and rest in miscellaneous activities and recreation which is mostly indoors.Ironically, 'Urban life' has become highly introverted, in terms of physical environment.
As shared in the movie by the Yale University professor Stephen Kellert, relation between efficiency of a person and physical environment is very deep. Studies prove that a person feels less motivated, less energetic, has less attention span when made to work in a windowless, air conditioned environment over a long period of time. Our cities have been designed to compete with nature, in a effort to prove the might and control of man over nature. This mindset helped man, achieve great innovations. But now, we find ourselves at a dead end where our cities, and the structures are being designed to be so independent, that they have no relation to natural environment whatsoever. Intrigued by the concept of Biophilia, I searched online and found the term literally means "love of life or living systems.". Introduced by Edward O Wilsonm, the Biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Wilson describes it as "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” He speculates that this affection is part of our biology. It is in our microcosm. It follows that to achieve harmony, it should be present in our macrocosm as well, where our physical environments are designed to reflect this.
