İklime Duyarlı Öğrenme Ortamları Tasarlamak: Türkiye'nin Çeşitli İklim Bölgelerinde Eğitim Binalarını Yeniden Düşünmek

Abstract: The design of educational buildings plays a crucial role in students' comfort, well-being, and the functionality of their learning environments, with climate-responsive design being critical for addressing global climate challenges, ensuring energy efficiency, sustainability and resilience to extreme weather conditions in addition to occupant comfort. In Türkiye, the impact of varying climatic conditions on school design is often disregarded, resulting in the use of uniform designs that may not meet regional climatic needs, potentially leading to concerns with indoor comfort, energy efficiency, air quality, and, ultimately, adversely impacting student health, well-being, and academic performance. This study aims to investigate the uniformity of educational building designs across Türkiye’s climatic regions evaluate their climate responsiveness and predict the potential short- and long-term impacts on student health, well-being, and academic performance in cases where climate-responsive design is insufficient. Köppen climate classification was used to categorise Türkiye's climatic zones and select pilot cities with extreme heat and cold conditions. The educational buildings in these cities were evaluated for design uniformity and climate responsiveness. Finally, the potential impacts of the identified uniformity and lack of climate-responsive design were synthesised from the literature. The findings revealed that despite significant climatic differences, many schools in Türkiye share similar designs that do not adequately address regional climate needs, which could have important implications for both the learning environment and student equity, potentially exacerbating disparities between students in different regions. The study emphasises the critical need to incorporate climate-responsive design strategies in educational buildings to enhance not only the current indoor conditions but also to address future challenges posed by climate change, improve energy efficiency, and, most importantly, foster equitable and supportive learning environments for all students. Further experimental studies are recommended to assess the impact of climate-responsive design on students' health, well-being, and cognitive performance.