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.
Islamic- Iranian Cities
Abbas Ghaffari; Morteza Mirgholami; Bita Shafaei
Abstract
Highlights- Spaces such as Rasteh-Bazaars, which are identical in form and material, exhibit consistent acoustical behavior.- By decreasing sound intensity, sonic comfort does not necessarily increase.- In tranquil urban spaces, with the occurrence of "Difference in SPL", the tranquility and quality ...
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Highlights- Spaces such as Rasteh-Bazaars, which are identical in form and material, exhibit consistent acoustical behavior.- By decreasing sound intensity, sonic comfort does not necessarily increase.- In tranquil urban spaces, with the occurrence of "Difference in SPL", the tranquility and quality of the soundscape decreases.- Simply following the standard values of SPL and RT is not enough for sonic comfort.- The environmental characteristics and qualities of spaces such as geometric proportions have a direct effect on pleasantness of the soundscape. IntroductionSoundscape is a subfield of urban studies that deals with the quality of sound heard and perceived in urban spaces. Numerous characteristics affect the quality of urban space soundscapes, and the acoustic behavior of the space is thus an influential factor which depends on its environmental characteristics. The acoustic behavior of the space indicates that the physical body of any environment amplifies or attenuates sound waves in the face of sound. As the environment body intensifies sound once created in space, sound waves stay in the environment longer, and increase sound intensity. Conversely, when the acoustic behavior of space attenuates, sound waves are destroyed in space shortly after created by sound sources. In this case, the intensity of the sound heard in the environment can be relatively stable, provided that the audio sources are constant.Theoretical FrameworkThe amount of time it takes sound to drop to 60 decibels after created by a sound source is called Reverberation Time (RT), which is measured in seconds. In soundscape studies, Sound Pressure Level (SPL) is also a physical component in decibels, which is used to measure sound loudness. Thus, Sound Pressure Level and Reverberation Time are two components that can specify the acoustic behavior of a space. In addition to acoustic assessments, soundscape studies address how people perceive the sounds around them and how desirable and pleasant they are. In fact, acoustic measurements are a tool that can help to create the desired soundscape, because sonic comfort depends to a large extent on the SPL. However, what greatly matters in soundscape studies is the perceptual loudness and subjective sonic comfort. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the factors affecting these subjective components. The perceptual quality of urban soundscape is specified through subjective assessments.MethodologyThis research discussed the effect of environmental features on the acoustic behavior of Rasteh-Bazaars, in Tabriz Grand Bazaar, and on the quality of the soundscape therein. Based on the objective evaluations, the acoustic behavior of the Rasteh-Bazaars and the factors affecting it were specified, and the desirability of the Rasteh-Bazaars soundscape was clarified using subjective evaluations. Objective assessments were made to specify the acoustic behavior of the Rasteh-Bazaars based on the measurements of SPL and RT. The B&K 2260 set of equipment and ACAM100 acoustic camera were used to measure RT and SPL. Both of these values were evaluated in frequency spectra. Subjective assessments were made based on a descriptive soundscape questionnaire, where a total of 165 people answered the questions. The questionnaire assessed sound loudness, sonic comfort, sound preferences, and soundscape descriptors through the Likert scale. Based on the results, it could be found how the people present in the Rasteh-Bazaars of Tabriz Bazaar felt about and perceived the space soundscapes.Results and DiscussionThe findings demonstrated that spaces such as Rasteh-Bazaars, which are identical in form and material, exhibited consistent acoustic behavior. If accompanied by physical changes such as ones in the space axis and spatial integration as cavities, this homogeneity could change the acoustic behavior and the heard sound. This finding could add a new concept called homogeneous spaces to the field of soundscape design. This means that homogeneous urban paths can be designed so that the soundscape is perceived almost uniformly along them, and diversity and distinction can be provided through physical changes in the urban soundscape that can be perceived during movement. The findings also indicated that sonic comfort did not necessarily increase as sound intensity decreased. Even in tranquil urban spaces with low SPLs, the tranquility and quality of the soundscape decreased as the phenomenon of difference in SPL occurred. This important finding demonstrated that a new component called urban soundscape clarity should be evaluated in the study of soundscapes in tranquil urban spaces to investigate the occurrence of difference in SPL in tranquil urban spaces.ConclusionBased on the comparison of the objective and subjective findings of the research, it was found that it was not sufficient for provision of sonic comfort to simply follow the standard values of SPL and RT. This is because the phenomenon of difference in SPL could have a negative effect on environmental and sonic calmness, as mentioned earlier, in a silent space. The subjective perception of the soundscape depended on factors other than the physical quantity of the sound. In fact, the values of SPL and RT, which indicate the acoustic behavior of the space, could not serve as the sole basis for assessment of the quality of the soundscape although somehow involved in people’s perceptions thereof. The environmental characteristics and qualities of spaces, such as lighting and congestion and supplied goods appeal at the Rasteh-Bazaar were found to have direct effects on the favorability of the soundscape.AcknowledgmentThis article was extracted from Bita Shafaei’s doctoral thesis under the supervision of Dr. Abbas Ghaffari and Dr. Morteza Mirgholami at Tabriz Islamic Art University.
