Urban Planning
Mostafa Toghi; Meisam Akbarzadeh; Ali Sabuhanian
Volume 5, Issue 17 , February 2016, Pages 5-14
Abstract
Today, factors such as lifestyle, work and shortened distances, populations mostly live communally and in high densities. Everyday, the number of old, single family houses decrease while the number of apartments ...
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Today, factors such as lifestyle, work and shortened distances, populations mostly live communally and in high densities. Everyday, the number of old, single family houses decrease while the number of apartments and towers increase. An increase in the number of floors of building causes an increase in the number of people residing in them, and thus increases the probability of error and incident - for example - fire. Furthermore, evacuation of a large number of people from the narrow corridors and steps during a short period of time is unlikely. Therefore, determining a safe and quick evacuation plan through direct observation of real situations, carrying out controlled experiments (maneuver) and simulation methods for the collection and analysis of pedestrian behavior in different situations is of great importance. In crisis mode, direct observation is rarely possible. Maneuver, in addition to being time-consuming and costly, is more likely to have behavioral errors. Moreover, atsmall and sparsely populated sites, maneuver can be assessed in terms of evacuationby holding practices . However, t such experiments at the more populous and larger sites is not feasible and simulation is used to forecast the effects of various emergency evacuation scenarios. Meanwhile, obtaining real data in this field requires costly and time consuming maneuvers and it is impossible to assess projects that have not yet been implemented. Hence, in this study software and simulations are used as is the norm at present for undertaking research in this field. In this study, first, different models and approaches used for simulation are introduced and discussed and then a software based on these models was used. Then, an office building in Isfahan was studied to determine the most likely threats and hazazards through surveying experts in the field. According to a survey regarding the probability of damage to electricity rooms, gas and powerhouse facilities on the most vulnerable and the radius of destruction plants, gas plants, machine rooms, electrical rooms, will be the most pathogenic.[H1] In the following seven scenarios, possible risks were defined and simulated in the software. By carrying out the shortest path analysiscurrent exit doors of the building were evaluated, and taking into account that a greater number of people used the east side of the building, an emergency exit door on this side was put forward. Furthermore, this study identified six critical corridors (bottleneck at evacuation). Solutions presented in this study include widening doors of the building, installing emergency exit signposts, maintaining and making regular safety checks of facilities keeping relief supplies in the building (such as high pressure valves for firefighters), reducing the number of fixed barriers ( such as gates, fences and chains at private parking lots ) and replacing them with interrupted plastic barriers. , Marginal car parks should be better managed to create enough space for rescue vehicles to pass through and control parking on the main walkways near the main entrance .
Urban Design
Hadi Pendar; kamran ZEKAVAT
Volume 5, Issue 17 , February 2016, Pages 15-28
Abstract
Residential areas are constantly changing. Some of these changes occur in an environment’s evolutionary process over time. Urban design pays particular attention to the process of structural transformation in the residential environments for improving the quality of life; environments that have ...
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Residential areas are constantly changing. Some of these changes occur in an environment’s evolutionary process over time. Urban design pays particular attention to the process of structural transformation in the residential environments for improving the quality of life; environments that have experienced various paces of physical change in the periods of transformation. Therefore, for evaluating environmental qualities, it is necessary to obtain the residents’ assessments of the incongruence and consecutive cycles of buildings construction at different paces. In recent decades, many neighborhoods in Tehran have had substantial physical changes as a result of increasing pace of urban development.
The main question of this research is how people experience the impact of physical changes at different paces and what those criteria are. Other questions examinethe relationship between affective-evaluative narration of residents and adaptation to new condition in low to high rate of changes and the indicators that influence satisfaction of experience of different paces of physical changes in the residential environment. Therefore, understanding cycles of construction at different paces leads to assessing the quality of residential environments using residents’ points of view. The purpose of this theoretical framework is understanding the process of experience and evaluating original inhabitants’ satisfaction rating of the pace of physical changes .
Lack of appropriate theoretical framework for understanding the process of evaluating residents' affective appraisal of physical changes in morphological analysis and quantitation of satisfaction to its inefficiency can be considered as relevant theoretical gaps.
This qualitative study was undertaken as a case study research method and accompanied with morphological methods, semi-structured questionnaire and deep interviews for data gathering.
Based on surveys of residents and comparing its results with morphological studies, three groups of alleys that have had low, medium and high pace of physical changes, as units for the field study were selected. 38 original residents of Niavaran were selected for in depth interviews by a purposive sampling of six streets. Age of mental reconstruction was determined as 20 years.
In depth interview questionnaires based on qualitative questions was carried out for data gathering. Analysis of data was performed using phenomenological method. After deploying interviews by theoretical coding method, comparing codes and recognition of the differences and similarities between them, main issues were extracted.
The results shows that while the pace and intensity of change is controlled and context values are stable, the residents have shown sympathy to context identities and nostalgia that is gradually forming in frameworks reference. However, the residents’ sensitivity to high pace and intensity of change gradually reduced. Amongst the residents that have experienced the different intensities of physical change, meaningful observations were made in terms of sensitivity toward the primary shape of living space. It seems residents’ experience of changes at different intensities is influenced by a series of conditions and fields. Highlighting the importance of physical space in understanding and interpreting residents’ experiences of high paced change, causes the physical to convert into a criterion for determining the type and intensity of change.
The theoretical framework for understanding the physical changes creates an opportunity for urban planners and urban designers to write physical policies based on residents’ points of view of process of physical changes from low to high pace.
Because of the qualitative nature of the evaluation which obtains data regarding residents’ experience in different environments , it can be a good basis for meta-analysis studies and can achieve a theoretical framework responsive to the conditions of similar environments in Tehran metropolis.
Urban Scape
sadaf ostad ghafari
Volume 5, Issue 17 , February 2016, Pages 29-40
Abstract
Legibility is one of the most important characteristics of good urban environments which improves the communication between people and place by helping them to perceive and recognize their environment more deeply and precisely. Unfortunately, achieving legibility in today’s urban environments has ...
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Legibility is one of the most important characteristics of good urban environments which improves the communication between people and place by helping them to perceive and recognize their environment more deeply and precisely. Unfortunately, achieving legibility in today’s urban environments has become very hard due to the increase in incoherent developments and partial renovation projects. Moreover, in practice, the concept of legibility has often decreased to some simple solutions to facilitate urban orienteering. However, a comprehensive meaningful concept which includes different parallel aspects and components should be considered. Contrary to the customary one- dimentional solutions, legibility- based urban regeneration would be an appropriate approach which enables the urban regeneration action to play a really effective role in enriching people’s perception and awareness of the environment as well asproviding them with a joyful and memorable experience. The most effective factor which can enhance legibility at different scales of the urban environment is a strong and plain organized structure which turns individual parts and elements into a coherent whole through creation of a comprehensible order. Therefore, it improves legibility by increasing distinction and clarity of both objective and cognitive image of the environment. On this basis, the purpose of this study is to identify principles and strategies which increase legibility in old urban textures by regenerating its main structure, which means revitalizing and retrofitting both its physical and nonphysical aspects. For this purpose, it is necessary to present a thoughtful and comprehensive explanation of legibility and its physical, functional and sensory- semantic components, and also, to specify its meaningful relation with the concept of the main structure, the role and the position of each component in urban main structure and in regeneration plans. Thus, providing effective guidelines for main structure regeneration with the purpose of increasing legibility becomes possible. These guidelines, contrary to the superficial and partial approaches to regeneration, are able to provide a comprehensive holistic framework to deal efficiently with various individual problems of the urban environments and lead to its actual revival, improvement and enrichment through adopting all valuable physical aspects along with their non-physical contents. Thus, a comprehensive in depth study of the concept of “legibility”, in order to identify all its different components and effective factors, can be very helpful. In this paper, legibility- based urban design principals are proposed in three groups based on the three identified components of the concept of legibility, which are the physical copmonents, functional components and sensory- semantic components. Therefore, these principals can support physical unity and coherence of the built environment, its functional vitality and activeness, and the sensory- semantic hoard enrichment of the human environment. In fact, the main focus of these principals is on complete alignment and convergence among the environment’s physical appearence, its function aspect and its sensory- semantic content. This also can provide best compatibility and favourability between people and environment by improving the environment’s identity, unity and comprehensibility. Thus, it promotes people- environment relations and communications significantly.
Urban Design
Ameneh Nasr abadi; Mohammad Reza Pourjafar; Ali Akbar Taghvaei
Volume 5, Issue 17 , February 2016, Pages 41-54
Abstract
Geometrical shape of Chaharbagh axis –one of the main historical axes in Isfahan, Iran, belonging to the Safavid era- has seen much evolution and development over time. Furthermore, it has experienced historical changes consistently over the different periods .The basic structure of Chaharbagh ...
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Geometrical shape of Chaharbagh axis –one of the main historical axes in Isfahan, Iran, belonging to the Safavid era- has seen much evolution and development over time. Furthermore, it has experienced historical changes consistently over the different periods .The basic structure of Chaharbagh Street, the masterpiece of urban design in Isfahan, dating back to the Safavid era, is based on patterns and geometric shapes and forms the main subject of this paper. Studies show that the main focus of Iranian architecture and urbanism is based on aesthetic perspective and Iranians have always placed a great deal of importance on beauty and aesthetics of space and have considered science of geometry as a powerful tool to achieve create balance, harmony, beauty and order in space. Architecture of the Islamic period with their hidden geometry inspired the viewer's eyes to be illuminated with the beauty of existence. In fact, numbers, proportions and patterns were used and connected, the to create the beauty. In addition to the geometric patterns and their related numbers, Islamic architecture applied sacred meanings to the system which played a symbolic role which people comprehended. It seems that, in this case, geometry was used as the way to create level, volume and sacred symbols. Thus, in designing the shapes and forms, Iranian architecture communicates between proportions based on abstract and supernatural principles. Forms expressed with symbolic language is named holy geometry and have remained over time. In the traditional world, geometry is inseparable from the rest of the pythagorean sciences such as arithmetic, music and astronomy. Architecture that was closely linked with geometry was often of holy and important places to manifest of truth.Thus, in the Safavid era, people created a heavenly place through architecture for themselves which paid attention to the beauty and holiness of a place.Iranians were trying to apply proportion in the dimensions of the buildings to reflect the cosmic relations which were included in the golden ratio. Indeed, using the geometric in design as an art form to create shapes, patterns and proportions, reminds us of the importance ofarchitecture in the world.Therefore, in this study the use of geometric measures and seeking transfer sizes (modules) are an important basis for creating aesthetic beauty in the Chaharbagh axis. The method used in this research is descriptive analysis based on the historical literature, books, and maps, extracted forms and geometric proportions of Chaharbagh in the Safavid period. Then, formation of the Chaharbagh was elicited by using the aesthetic value of geometric design. The result of the analysis in this paper indicates that Chaharbagh of the Safavid era communicated comprehensively the material and the spiritual and geometric proportions merge forms to comply with a sense of value Proportions had established a coordinated structure, between the components and totality and show the extreme usage of geometric role in the beautiful Persian architecture.
Islamic- Iranian Cities
Alireza Mohammadi; Ebrahim Firouzi Majandeh
Volume 5, Issue 17 , February 2016, Pages 55-66
Abstract
Objectives: The city of Ardabil, as one of the most important cities in the territory of the Islamic civilization, in recent decades, is faced with the problem of unbalanced distribution of mosques in the city. This uneven distribution can be dependent on such factors as population density, historical ...
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Objectives: The city of Ardabil, as one of the most important cities in the territory of the Islamic civilization, in recent decades, is faced with the problem of unbalanced distribution of mosques in the city. This uneven distribution can be dependent on such factors as population density, historical elements and the formation of city neighborhoods. The unbalanced distribution of mosques in the city, can lead to some problems such as congestion and overcrowding in some neighborhoods. The aim of this study is analyzing the spatial distribution pattern and frequency of mosques and its relationship between the population density and the historical elements and determination of the mosque distribution in the city areas and neighborhoods. The type of study is analytical-descriptive and the location of the 179 mosques has been extracted from urban documents. Methods such as Kernel Density, the closest neighborhood average and geographic Weighting Regression analysis was used in Arc GIS 10.3 software.
Findings: The results of using the mean nearest neighbor method, shows that the distribution pattern of mosque in Ardebil city with a coefficient of 99%, is a cluster type. Use of geographical weighted regression method and Kernel Density method, shows that the density and proximity of mosques in the central part of the city are much higher than within the old and median tissues and marginal or new neighborhoods of the city. The main reason for the concentration of mosques in central part of the city is the existence of places like the grand mosque, Bazaar, commercial spaces, the geographical center of the city and old neighborhoods. The use of spatial autocorrelation (Moran index) method showed that there is a significant positive relationship between the population density and distribution of mosques in the city area. New urban districts often face low-density point mosques. In the remainder of the city and in areas with high population concentration, the numbers of mosques are greater. New neighborhoods due to their short life and low population density lack completed mosques. Geographically weighted regression method results showed that there is a high positive and meaningful relationship between distance of the main urban spaces and symbols with the number of mosques. About 81 percent of the mosques are located in the service radius of zero to five minutes of the city’s main spaces and symbols. The buffering method and determination of the mosque coverage area and calculation of religious space per capita in urban neighborhoods showed that the distribution of mosques in neighborhoods of the city is often uneven. The central parts of the city have more mosques, but towns and new neighborhoods often have fewer mosques.
Results: The results of this article show that the spatial distribution pattern of Ardabil mosques is the cluster type and there is a significant relationship between the spatial distribution of mosques and population density and the historical elements of the city. The spatial distribution of mosques in Ardebil city neighborhoods is heterogeneous. Finally, based on the findings, recommendations are presented.
Urban Planning
Mohammad Reza Zamiri; Mahsa Zamiri; Mahin Nastaran
Volume 5, Issue 17 , February 2016, Pages 67-76
Abstract
Introduction
Appropriate shelter and affordable housing as an essential and vital human need and as one of the main and important elements in forming and physically developing cities have become the most important subject in spatial development and planning in contemporary urban areas. Housing, which ...
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Introduction
Appropriate shelter and affordable housing as an essential and vital human need and as one of the main and important elements in forming and physically developing cities have become the most important subject in spatial development and planning in contemporary urban areas. Housing, which by definition means a set of houses, streets and related facilities, is the most important component of a city and its development affects environment, economy, culture and social issues in an urban area. There are many indicators and criteria to evaluate housing conditions such as building quality (i.e. materials), property types, age, and density and so on. Nowadays the importance of spatial approach for studying urban aspects has become increasingly evident. Therefore, quantitative methods should be introduced and used to evaluate development trends in such spatial approach. Studying spatial aspects of urban housing development and analyzing distribution of its features does not have a long history in Iran.
Materials and Methods
In this research, as an applied research, descriptive and analytical methods were used. Thus, the required data was collected from statistical almanacs and results of a recent comprehensive census in 2011 and construction licenses which were authorized by the Bojnord municipality council during the 2004-2014 period. The general trend of spatial development of urban housing was studied and evaluated using quantitative methods such as Shanon's Entropy and Moran's Global Coefficient. The area of the city was divided into 26 subdivisions according to the approved detailed plan (2004). Then, spatial distribution of three main types of housing (one and two-store buildings, three and four-store buildings and more than four-store buildings) was derived through collected data and entered into a GIS database to apply the models. In addition, correlation analysis was used to clarify parameters which influence spatial changes in housing distribution in Bojnord.
Results and Discussion
This research is one of the first experiences in spatial analysis of distribution of housing properties at city level using quantitative methods. Bojnord is located in North-East Iran and is on average 1,070 meters above sea level and has a population of over 200,000 inhabitants. Current center of the city was formed during the Qajar dynasty, 350 years ago. Since upgrading to the center of North Khorasan province, Bojnord has experienced a rapid and sudden growth in physical, economic and social aspects and as a result in urban housing. Studying quality and process of urban housing growth and development in Bojnord during the aforementioned period using a spatial approach is the main goal of this research. After establishment of the new province, Bojnord has evolved in terms of shape and type of housing development trends. Except for the center of the city and margin areas (which are considered as informal settlements), it seems the trend of housing development in Bojnord aims toward more centralization and density. Such changes might be observed in emerging residential complexes and growing number of apartments in the city which can also be considered as evolving lifestyle in Bojnord.
Conclusion
Based on the results, increasing construction and housing development causes a more centralized pattern in urban housing. Such trend was caused by national elements such as inflation or deflation rather than local parameters such as population and land prices. On the other hand, it may be concluded that urban sprawl has not occurred in Bojnord in this period of time. In conclusion, all kinds of housing planning at all levels (national, regional or urban planning) should take spatial approach instead of leaning on merely physical aspects, and cannot be implemented and evaluated based only on internal factors and parameters.
Urban Planning
negin mozafari; bita latifi; naser barakpour
Volume 5, Issue 17 , February 2016, Pages 77-92
Abstract
Residential satisfaction has been a major and popular research topic for the following reasons. First, individual's evaluations of housing and neighborhoods determine the way they respond to residential environment and form the basis for public policy feedback. Second, residential satisfaction is recognized ...
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Residential satisfaction has been a major and popular research topic for the following reasons. First, individual's evaluations of housing and neighborhoods determine the way they respond to residential environment and form the basis for public policy feedback. Second, residential satisfaction is recognized as important components of an individual's quality of life. Furthermore, high satisfaction among residents encourages them to stay on and induces others to move in, and low satisfaction with the neighborhood environment urges current residents to move out.
On the other hand, although physical characteristics of housing units are known to be very effective in the residential satisfaction rating by many scholars, it should be noted that the dwelling unit itself is not the only factor of satisfaction but it is only a subsystem of the whole residential livability system. In this sense, humans interact with multiple components in their living environment, and continuously influence the environment and are affected by it. This interaction alters an individual’s feeling toward their residential environment. thus, this interaction can be examined in the form of a system that includes residential units, neighborhood and neighbors. In regards to neighborhood satisfaction, although some researches find that the physical characteristics are the most important factors and planners support the importance of physical characteristics, residents consider social factors more important in judging a neighborhood. The current study assesses the level of residential satisfaction in two neighborhoods of Tehran and compares them to create a basis for evaluating urban policies and decisions in recent years and shows the effectiveness of different factors on the satisfaction of residents of different neighborhoods by comparing them. For this purpose, the operating model to measure satisfaction was derived by examining studies of different researchers in the form of approaches (including the belief-affect approach, the commitment approach and the availability approach), factors (individual's characteristics, characteristics of residential environment, feeling and perception of residents etc.) and models (Amerigo model, comparing the level of satisfaction in culturally homogeneous and heterogeneous neighborhoods model etc.). In the proposed model, attention has been paid to all three levels of person, dwelling unit and residential environment and factors which affect satisfaction have been classified under five categories: objective criteria related to the individual, objective criteria related to the environment, objective criteria related to the dwelling unit, subjective criteria related to the individual and subjective criteria related to the environment through a survey questionnaire. Satisfaction levels of residents of neighborhood 1 (located in region three of Tehran municipality) and residents of neighborhood 2 (located in region 11 of Tehran municipality) were compared with each other. A total of 100 questionnaires were completed for each neighborhood. Findings of the study show that the highest and lowest satisfaction in neighborhood 1 were linked to the objective criteria related to the dwelling unit and objective criteria related to the environment and in neighborhood 2, to subjective criteria related to the environment and subjective criteria related to the individual. Overall satisfaction in neighborhood 1 (between moderate and satisfied) was higher than neighborhood 2 (between dissatisfied and moderate).
