Urban Planning
esmaiil zarghami; abdolhamid ghanbaran; pooria saadati vaghar
Abstract
Lean construction has attracted plenty of attention during the past decade for provision of housing to the lower class. An important issue that has always appealed to large numbers of architecture and urban construction and planning researchers as post-planning assessments is to what extent and in what ...
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Lean construction has attracted plenty of attention during the past decade for provision of housing to the lower class. An important issue that has always appealed to large numbers of architecture and urban construction and planning researchers as post-planning assessments is to what extent and in what aspects the constructed condominiums satisfy their inhabitants once completed and utilized. Thus, useful suggestions can be made to decision-makers and planners of such projects for enhancement of the quality of life in the condominiums through identification of their strengths and weaknesses. An example of these lean construction projects is Mehr Housing, designed and implemented to meet the need for housing among the middle and lower classes of the Iranian society. It needs to be investigated, however, how successful the project has been, and to what extent it has satisfied the residents. Given the great diversity in the design of these condominiums in the city of Hamadan (in that some are enclosed, and others are connected to urban areas), Iran, little research has been focused on Mehr Housing. Therefore, the present research investigated three enclosed and unenclosed Mehr condominiums in Hamadan by focusing on the physical and spatial components governing such condominiums. These included the Ghadir, Farhangiyan, and Andishe (Kuy Reza) condominiums. Most global experiences suggest that the more favorable housing conditions that are expected in enclosed condominiums are not observed. This formed the basis of the research, a descriptive-analytical study in terms of the methodology adopted in the literature review and theoretical framework. ANOVA (with the Bonferroni method), independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, and linear regression were used for data analysis. The results demonstrated that there were significant differences in average satisfaction between the three neighborhoods, with the Madani neighborhood exhibiting the highest average satisfaction, followed by the Beheshti and Andishe neighborhoods, in that order. A prioritization of the physical and spatial components effective on residential satisfaction in the three condominiums also suggested that environmental health was highly effective in enclosed condominiums, accompanied by amenities, additional facilities, and flexibility. Furthermore, the results obtained from the investigation of the relationships between satisfaction with architectural components and individual, demographic, and residential components demonstrated that there were no significant relationships in any of the three neighborhoods between satisfaction on the one hand and age, gender, or academic degree on the other. However, the neighborhood factor (which distinguished enclosed and unenclosed neighborhoods) exhibited significance, where total satisfaction was generally higher in enclosed condominium residents, confirming the main hypothesis of the research.
Slum Settlements
Saeid Alitajer; Pooria Saadativaghar; Mohammad Bashir Robati; Ahmad Heydari
Abstract
In recent years, for reasons such as population growth, increased rural migration, and the migrants’ financial inability to afford housing, the host cities are facing the problem of illegal settlements that are built densely without observing the principles of construction. These are usually known ...
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In recent years, for reasons such as population growth, increased rural migration, and the migrants’ financial inability to afford housing, the host cities are facing the problem of illegal settlements that are built densely without observing the principles of construction. These are usually known as informal settlements which face many problems. One of the problems is the lack of social spaces that could act as the pillar of urban life. The issue of socialization and social interactions has been neglected in marginal and informal urban contexts, but it is more important that than in other contexts. It is because these contexts are in fact one of the most prominent manifestations of urban poverty in most Iranian cities with migration inflow. The promotion of socialization in these informal settlements, which are a part of the city’s body, is one of the main goals for increasing public welfare and citizens’ peace through the provision of their social needs. In recent years, hybrid studies have considered the relationship between cognitive maps and spatial configuration in assessing the shape of the constructed environment, but few studies have focused on adapting the findings of space layout approach by comparing cognitive maps when studying and measuring social behaviors of citizens in one of the most problematic urban contexts, i.e. informal settlements. This is an innovation in this research, an applied area and a step forward in the field of urban psychology, which can help urban planners and decision makers to identify and improve the morphology of more sociable urban neighborhoods. The present study seeks to investigate the effect of the physical-spatial characteristics of these settlements on sociability by examining the neighborhoods of Hesar and Dizaj in Hamedan. In the first step, the related literature and theoretical concepts were reviewed by library research and consulting with valuable sources on spatial configuration, socialization, and informal settlements. In the second step, the maps of the two neighborhoods were simulated in the Space Syntax software and analyzed formally and morphologically as follows. In the analysis of research data, in line with the natural motion theory, the role of spatial configuration was examined in the formation of behavioral and social patterns (in particular, socialization behavior). In fact, this applied study is based on a mixed methodology. In the first step, quantitative techniques were used along with the theory of natural motion, the theory of space syntax, as well as Arc GIS and UCL Depth Map software packages to analyze spatial configuration and its role in the social behavior of citizens with the aim of specifying the physical-spatial factors which influence sociability in urban spaces. The next step aimed at determining the validity and reliability of the results. In this step, the quantitative results were reconsidered by means of the qualitative method of cognitive maps. According to the findings, spatial configuration may affect the sociability of informal settlements through five indicators, namely, control, connectivity, integration, depth, and legibility. It may also affect people’s attendance, motion, face-to-face contact, and conversations (which are the major prerequisites of the formation of social interactions). Our analysis of the abovementioned informal settlements shows that the maps of the quantitative method of space syntax almost overlap with the qualitative cognitive maps. A comparison between the two neighborhoods indicates that the tree-like and continuous space configuration of Dizaj creates a motion pattern that leads to social interactions in the middle parts of the neighborhood whereas the shrub-like configuration in Hesar distributes the patterns of motion and social behavior all over the neighborhood and leads to more desirable social effects.