Azita balalye oskui; parastoo jafari
Abstract
Highlights
- Social interactions, among other things, affect peoples’ attraction to public spaces.
- Permeability, flexibility, and accessibility are the spatial structural factors that directly impact social interactions in public spaces.
- The main goal of the formation of the Space Syntax ...
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Highlights
- Social interactions, among other things, affect peoples’ attraction to public spaces.
- Permeability, flexibility, and accessibility are the spatial structural factors that directly impact social interactions in public spaces.
- The main goal of the formation of the Space Syntax Theory is to describe the social rationale behind the basic layers of spatial configuration.
- The spatial plan has a direct impact on interactions in the space.
Introduction
Man is intrinsically a social being whose surrounding space constitutes his social relations. The extent to which the environment affects man’s performance has always been a major concern for environmental designers. Marketplaces are highly important in this regard as thriving, bustling public places. The urban space combines social relations and the structural context, which meets man’s collective functions and conveys a semantic load. It is not made simply for being seen and walked through, as it also helps form social relations among various people in the community. The urban space involves the pleasure and enjoyment of various social groups and their active, continued social presence therein. The marketplace structure has served as the heart of Islamic-era cities in the attempt to meet man’s basic needs, including economic, religious, social, and tourism-pilgrimage needs. It provides a good example for investigation of the reasons for high social interaction and how these interactions are affected by the architectural context. This article seeks to answer the following questions:
How does structure impact the social interactions in the historical bazaar of the city of Tabriz, Iran?
How does the bazaar structure contribute to the improvement of social interactions in Saray-e-Amir?
How does the bazaar structure reduce social interactions in Saray-e-Dodari?
Theoretical Framework
This research aims to identify the structural components affecting the interactions in the marketplace and investigate the role of Tabriz’s bazaar as a living, dynamic example of traditional Iranian marketplaces in the interactions occurring there. A review of the literature indicates that Space Syntax can help examine these issues, and an investigation of the components obtained from previous research may serve to help investigate the relevant factors. The components include permeability, flexibility, accessibility in the space syntax, flooring, furniture, spaces for stopping and sitting, visibility, etc. These are structural factors affecting social interactions, which can be investigated with various spatial techniques. As suggested in the literature, the term syntax bears contextual meanings; in other words, it is defined in association with relevant terms. If a building is considered as an object composed of a spatial-communication system, this system will be represented by a plan that manifests the function of syntax in the architectural space.
Methodology
This research uses both descriptive-analytical and survey methods to investigate social interactions and the effects of structure thereon. Upon specification of the components of the marketplace space syntax and social interactions, the study investigates the impacts of the marketplace on the interactions. It provides a comparative examination of various activities of a set using particular space syntax (depth map) software to select and control the three components of permeability, accessibility, and flexibility in the form of integration. Then, the study uses a questionnaire to examine the effects of the structure on the interactions in the marketplace. In this method, each of the components extracted from previous research is investigated separately in the two bazaar spaces using a valid, reliable questionnaire. As mentioned above, the bazaars include Saray-e-Amir and Saray-e-Dodari, which differ in terms of function and geometric characteristics, and experience different interactions.
Results and Discussion
Research findings on space syntax suggest that the extent of each selection, integration, and relationship component in Saray-e-Dodari covers a broader spectrum than those in Saray-e-Amir, demonstrating the greater relationship between the former bazaar and other parts of the marketplace. This relationship is poorer in the latter bazaar. This is because Saray-e-Amir is situated at the beginning of the marketplace, while Saray-e-Dodari is located in the middle between various parts. It is demonstrated that the higher the rates of relationship, selection, and interaction in Saray-e-Dodari, the greater the spatial accessibility, permeability, and flexibility. The questionnaire results based on the space users’ views also indicate higher social interaction rates in Saray-e-Amir than in Saray-e-Dodari.
Conclusion
It is concluded based on the results that the three components of relationship, interaction, and control, which constitute factors improving social interactions from a space syntax perspective, directly impact accessibility, permeability, and flexibility. An investigation of all the three main components of space syntax suggests that centralized spaces and entrances impact the improvement of traffic, concentration of the users, centrality of these two in the decrease in user attraction, and creation of reclusive spaces for social interactions. Furthermore, a review of the structural factors indicates the positive effects of appropriate flooring, visibility, readability, and use of natural elements on the extent of social interactions, as the components of appropriate furniture, accessibility, and pause space differ in the two bazaars, which indicates the changing level of interaction there.
Urban Planning
mohammad hasan saeedi motlagh; naser barati
Abstract
Highlights
The quality of perception of the residential environment as a tool for urban planners to promote and organize the environment promotes social interaction.
Using Bonito, Fornara and Bones in 2003, the effect of residential quality perception components on continuous social interaction ...
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Highlights
The quality of perception of the residential environment as a tool for urban planners to promote and organize the environment promotes social interaction.
Using Bonito, Fornara and Bones in 2003, the effect of residential quality perception components on continuous social interaction was explained using double regression.
Among the indicators, the highest impact factor belongs to the maintenance and care of the environment, the attachment and urban streets respectively.
Modelling of perceived residential quality index effects on continuous social interactions have been confirmed and explains nearly half the variations of social interaction.
There is a significant relationship between social interaction and the quality of the perception of residential environment in the Bagh Shater.
1. Introduction A tool for urban planners to improve and organize the environment of residence, the quality of its perception can provide the requirements for the formation and promotion of social interaction. The obligations of neighborhoods and neighborhood units include the provision of a tool to enhance social interaction and of a place for citizens to meet each other and the management and coordination of civic activities. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to investigate the effects of the indicators of residential environment quality perception on continuous social interaction. 2. Theoretical Framework A factor that affects the quality of life involves the establishment of an appropriate level of collective and social interaction in living environments. The perceived quality of the residential environment is defined as the experience of life satisfaction and happiness. Likewise, the process of perceiving the urban environment is a determining factor in an individual’s image drawn and stored of his surrounding environment, and plays a fundamental role in the formation of his residential environment and his satisfaction with it. Environmental perception is a process where one chooses the required data according to his needs from the environment. Environmental quality is complex, and includes the mental perceptions, attitudes, and values of different groups and individuals. The quality of the environment can be defined as a fundamental part of the broader concept of quality of life. The process of social interaction is the key to the perception of social processes. Environment information is achieved through perceptual processes that are evoked by mental images and guided by human needs. Finally, perception of these processes can help to measure the effects of residential environment perception on social interaction. 3. Methodology To investigate the effect of the perceived residential quality indicator on continuous social interaction, this research used the descriptive-analytic procedure and the survey method. The population of the case study involved the inhabitants of the Bagh-Shater neighborhood in Tehran, Iran. The sample size was selected based on factors such as location and urban planning and architecture features. First, the indicators and components of perceived residential quality were assessed, and the qualifications of the perceived residential environment quality indicator were then studied using Bonaiuto, Fornara, and Bonnes’s (2003) questionnaire. Finally, the effect of the residential quality indicator on continuous social interaction was analyzed. 4. Results and Discussion The results demonstrated that modeling the effects of the perceived residential quality indicator on continuous social interaction confirmed and explained nearly half of the variations therein. The indicators with the highest impact factors included the maintenance and care of the environment, attachment to the place, and urban streets, in that order. With respect to the main hypothesis of the study, there was a significant relationship between social interaction and the quality of perception of the residential environment in Bagh-Shater. This resulted in a positive, almost high correlation between the quality of environmental perception and social interaction, which increased as the quality of environmental perception rose. Based on the obtained results, the best policy to improve continuous social interaction was to enhance the capacity of local communities, thus enabling individuals to maintain the neighborhood spaces where they lived. 5. Conclusion The results obtained on the effect of attachment to social interaction were in line with Fisher’s (1977). Accordingly, this could be associated to a large extent with the way in which an individual has established social relations with people and social institutions. If it can facilitate the flow of citizenship through man’s sense of attachment to the environment, urban space can serve to improve continuous social interaction and, consequently, the quality of the residential environment. The results of this study were in line with the views of Peter Kaltrop (1989) and the new principles and guidelines of urban planning, which have considered the creation of neighborhood units with high walkability as the main factor in establishment of social interactions and enhancement of environmental quality. Moreover, they were consistent with the promotion of social interactions according to the results of Torabi and Rafieian’s research, based on the significant impact of the sociability of space, which is a physical characteristic of space, indicating the effect of the environmental quality in promotion of social interactions. This alignment can also be accounted for by the structure of the network of passages and the general ossification of the neighborhood, which plays an important role in formation of appropriate spaces compatible with social interactions despite its old, distressed quality.
