Housing and Rural Environment
Year:2015 | Volume:34 | Issue:151|Papers Count:8

A major part of land in Iran is located on the high to very high seismic risk territory. The recurring destruction and life-loss or human casualties in rural settlements are very often due to this natural phenomenon. Reconstruction of the demolished rural areas is performed under three different policies by the government: integration, relocation and in-site reconstruction. The Bonyade Maskane Enghelabe Eslami (the Housing Foundation of the Islamic Revolution), as a responsible governmental organization, choses among these policies with due reference to the overall conditions.. In some cases the urgency and time shortage would lead to overlooking some financial, social and cultural considerations in the reconstruction process. It is generally accepted that relocation is not a favorable option among reconstruction policies. When adopted, this policy has been frequently unsuccessful rendering the choice an undesirable one. However, there has been reports of successful relocation projects which ended with satisfactory results, and the villages relocated after Manjil earthquake of 1990 have been an example of this case. In this study we are going to identify the reason behind this accomplishment, concentrating on the case of Estalakhkoh village.The hypothesis of our study is as follows: "relocation among reconstruction policies not only is not considered a negative option but if provided with needed prerequisites and provisions would lead to a higher level of liveliness and preserves the rural society". To prove our hypothesis some questions should be addressed including what are the characteristics of successful relocated rural societies? The method chosen in our study to address the questions was investigation of a relatively successful sample of relocation during long years of post-earthquake era. Through this case study an understanding of the prerequisites of a successful relocation may be achieved and the first steps for generalizing the results may be taken.This is a qualitative research reliant on extensive review of the related literature and documents, along with comprehensive and semi comprehensive interviews. Based on the analyzed data a theoretical framework as well as an accurate description of the present conditions of the settlement was completed.Our comprehensive studies revealed that relocation is not a favorable option among other options of reconstruction, but sometimes is inevitable and no other choice would be plausible for the governmental authorities. On a general level, we can conclude that relocation is only accepted and successful when the new setting offers better amenities than the previous. In fact the successful cases of relocation may succeed in resuscitating the previous lifestyle, dynamics and identity of a damaged rural society in all physical and social aspects. Hence, knowing all aspects of a rural society would be vital for a good reconstruction endeavor. Also, improvement in public socio-economic and health level as well as higher participation of the local community in all stages of reconstruction were the leading reasons for fairly well adaptation to the new location. These findings may be used as a recommended practice in similar conditions.

Public participation is a reasonable method through which the needs of the community and the options for design in the environment can be integrated. Is spite of comprising a large part of population in most countries, the children and youth have been mostly overlooked in the process of public participation in improving the environmental quality. Using participatory models in the process of producing environmental projects can be considered a useful tool to achieve public participation in treating their environment. Many studies have been undertaken in order to build models of children's participation in the seventies, and the discussions have continued since the treaty on children's rights by many local governments.Iran also joined the Convention on Children's Rights in 1993. But henceforth there has been little effort in the areas of planning and design to facilitate the participation of children in this area. The qualitative methods chosen as the dominant approach in most studies in the field of children's participation, and the use of pre-existing participatory models have made these studies partially non-applicable. It is of utmost importance to evaluate the indicators and build local models to use in the procurement process for urban and rural projects relevant to environmental, social and cultural conditions in Iran.One of the major projects that have the greatest impact on quality of life in rural areas is the Rural Guiding Plan. The findings of previous research suggest that the implementation of plans makes the inhabitants content with the living conditions in the village. At the same time, these plans have not achieved much success in terms of improving the environment and increasing public participation.This paper aims to test the efficiency and localization of a model to use the adolescents' participation in the design process in rural communities of Iran. The study explores a mixed method research in which adolescents assess their lives with the help of a collaborative model. The participants then evaluate and categorize the indicators of their favorable environment in their depiction of the ideal society. In spite of the deficiencies of the research tools, such as the limited indicators and measurements, the test results show that the proposed model is more realizable than previous models due the adoption of mixed method research. In conclusion, the method proves to be more efficient in the existing frameworks of planning in Iran. In addition, it has not only been successful in revealing the low level of satisfaction with the rural environment among the adolescent inhabitants, but has also shown the high demand for participation in environmental planning and design of their rural living context among the participants from this age group.

In most post-disaster reconstruction programs, relocation of affected settlement is perceived to be an appropriate solution to reduce vulnerability and increase safety to the risk of future hazards. Nonetheless, investigation of various experiences in the country illustrates that outcomes of relocation have not firmly been acceptable for affected people who have been displaced after the disaster. So, in some experiences people left the new settlements built by safe technologies in safe places and came back to old ones despite their vulnerability and probability of hazards. In order to explain the necessity of revising the policy of settlements relocation after disasters, the study is trying to indicate in-situ policy for Alishahi Village after 2010 Earthquake in Fars Province and to investigate its pros and cones. This is done by using field experiences of authors during the reconstruction procedure, field observations and in-depth interviews with the field study approach and case study method one year after reconstruction. The policy taken in Alishahi reveals that relocation and resettlement after disasters is not the only choice which is available and by eliminating or reducing vulnerability of the built environment against hazards which may occur in the settlement, in-situ policy may be evaluated as a better option in terms of people’s satisfaction and utilization of existing assets despite higher costs at the beginning of reconstruction. It should be kept in mind that resistance against hazards cannot be obtained unless accurate observation during reconstruction period is taken into consideration. Also in order to have resistant buildings after this period, community capacity has to be elevated by holding educational programs. Besides, while it was thought that the use of indigenous materials and labors and reliance on local knowledge of villagers would lead to a slowdown in the reconstruction, but in the mentioned experience and in comparison with similar villages, this reconstruction was done according to the predetermined schedule with public participation in the various stages of the housing including: planning, deciding and implementation. It also emphasizes that designing new houses have to be according to villagers’ needs, demands and nostalgias, so it won’t cause interference in their way of life formed during years and lead to least modifications after reconstruction time.

Mehriz historic city is located near the Yazd-Kerman road almost 25km to the south of Yazd. It is a good example of a desert town in the central Iranian plateau, where the weather is extremely hot with arid and semi-arid climate conditions and where the water is provided only by the qanats.Living with the desert means a consistent process of environmental adaptation and a harmonious interaction between man and nature that is reflected in earthen built fabric. The exiting physical structure of Mehriz has, therefore, captured a long process of formation and transformation that is resulted in the today’s garden city.This study is an effort in identification and understanding of the historical processes of urban development and physical changes in the city's historic neighbourhoods. Along with tracing historical and morphological development of Mehriz over time, and on the basis of field observation and document analysis, three main issues were studied: first, investigating neighbourhood centres and places of public gathering and social relation; secondly, understanding the defensive system and the issue of urban security; and thirdly, surveying the water supply and distribution systems. Results show that each of the traditional neighbourhoods of Mehriz had separate neighbourhood centres and people exercised their religious practice in their own locality. Moreover, each of these neighbourhoods has a specific water supply system and a defence system apt for its own population. These neighbourhoods have been relativley independent villages in the past, and had their own local management, water and land for gardening and agriculture. The question whether Mehriz has been established on the basis of the idea of a garden-city or is the result of a long process of physical accumulation, integrating several villages and outskirts in the bigger framework of the current city has been scrutinised. This paper demonstrates that although today Mehriz reflects the image of a garden city, this is the result of a long process of morphological development, integrating the old boroughs and agricultural and rural landscape into the current frame of the old borough of Mehrijerd. Thus, Mehriz in the past has not been an integrated garden city and has only gradually evolved into such urban form.

At present, there are still large numbers of existing buildings in Iran that are made of adobe. Isfahan is a historical city in Central Iran which enjoys the abundance of its historical and non-historical adobe buildings, some of which belong toseveral centuries ago. There are also many small villages inside and around Isfahan region that are totally made of adobe and accomodate tens of thousands of inhabitants. Recently, many researches have focused on improving the structural behaviour of adobe buildings, which includes enhancing mechanical properties of adobe units, and retrofitting and strengthening methods of existing adobe structures. In order to improve the mechanical properties of adobe made of soils in Isfahan region, used for restoration or reconstruction of the buildings, the effect of additives including sand, gypsum, lime, brick powder and straw with different amounts and were studied by planning 21 mix design schemes. After adding additives and making mix designs, the relevant mechanical tests were conducted. The obtained mechanical properties for every mix design were then compared with simple adobe (without additives). Soil used for making adobe is obtained from Habibabad region, North-east of Isfahan. The laboratory tests have been devided in two groups; The first group was considered the primary phase of the project, which consisted of the tests on plain soil including water content, grading, sedimentation, plastic limit, liquid limit and methylene blue tests. The second group or the second phase of the project was conducted on adobe samples and was comprised of compressive strength, flexural strength, abrasive strength and capillary absorption tests. The laboratory tests and relations used in this study have been applied according to the procedures suggested by Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE). Formulating the mix designs and laboratory tests on the designed samples were performed in the the soil and construction materials laboratory of the University of Isfahan during eight months. Obtained results indicate that gypsum or the combination of brick powder and gypsum are the best additives for adobe made from North-east Isfahan soil due to the resulting improvements in mechanical characteristics. The most appropriate mix ratios to be added to the plain soil are 25% gypsum of total weight or combination of 10% birck powder and 20% gypsum to be added to the soil. Lime as an additive has always played a negative role and reduces mechanical strengths of adobe, and therefore it is not recommended.

Housing plays a major role in the quality of human life and constitutes an important part of living costs especially for low income families. Because of its high cost, most governments assist for the housing supply, especially for low-income groups through social housing or low-interest rate loans. In 2005, a "special rural housing improvement plan” was ratified in Iran which aimed to reduce the vulnerability of rural housing against natural hazards and improve the living quality in rural areas. Under this policy, low interest rate housing loan was provided for residents willing to construct new houses. This article aims to evaluate rural residents' satisfaction with the quality of these newly built houses. Utilized data in this research comes from a questionnaire survey conducted in 2012 in the Shaft county of Guilan Province, Iran. A total of 332 residents in 10 villages who used rural housing loan were interviewed.Findings indicate that compared to the old houses, main changes in the new rural houses comprise physical improvements including concrete/iron structure, use of durable building material, better facade, smaller housing size and fewer rooms. Another important change is related to the change in architectural design, such as open kitchens, placing bathrooms inside the houses and excluding the non-residential spaces from residential units. Moreover, housing utilities have been enhanced by increased accessibility to land line telephone and natural gas supply.In terms of satisfaction, results show that most residents who received rural housing loan are quite satisfied with the physical conditions, better protection against weather conditions, improved facilities and more beautiful exterior design of their new houses compared with the old ones. The results of kruskal-Wallis tests on contributing factors showed that the residents’ satisfaction in the study area varied based on the geographical location, population of villages, housing size, construction time and the previous location of rural residents.

Historical and ancient zones of cities are a part of historic and cultural heritage of settlements. These zones are occasionally affected by physical degradation and deterioration over timedue to lack of proper maintenance and performance. Thus, rehabilitation and proper maintenance, even renovation in some cases are essential for the survival of their physical structure and functional role. These challenges in rural areas are as strong as urban zones. The assessment of physical deterioration in these zones in order to select the best intervention pattern is one of the most important challenges facing the urban planners and managers...Therefore, it is necessary to develop strategies for proper prioritization and efficient intervention in the degrading zones.The first purpose of this study is recognizing the indicators of physical degradation in urban and rural zones, and the second is designing the suitable pattern for assessing vulnerability and physical degradation. Also, with the use of spatial analysis based on fuzzy logic instead of Boolean combinations, the study was able to process the ambiguous data and integrate it with TOPSIS. This process helped in detefinition of a model fot the assessment of the rate of physical degradation in different zones. To test this model in field practice, Maraveh Tappe City was selected as pilot research sample. Results show that the entire urban zone is divided into four areas base on the degree of degradation, including appropriate urban zones, zones of intense physical degradation (first priority for interventions), the relatively degraded areas (second priority) and areas in need of rehabilitation (third priority).

An ‘Informal’ or ‘squater’ Settlement exists where housing has been created in an urban or peri-urban location without official approval. Informal settlements may contain a few dwellings or thousands of them, and are generally characterized by inadequate infrastructure, poor access to basic services, unsuitable environments, uncontrolled and unhealthy population densities, inadequate dwellings, poor access to health and education facilities and lack of effective administration by the municipality. In the urban system of Iran, informal settlements are one of the important issues. This is especially important in the large cities, an example of which can be found in the city of Mashhad.This city is the second largest city in Iran, and has gone through a rapid physical and population growth in recent years. Part of this growth has happened in the informal settlements around the city. Studies show that Mashhad city currently has 42 informal settlements with a population of 804000 in 6354 hectares, which make uo 33% of the city’s population and 22% its total area. These neighborhoods have undesirable housing conditions. Furthermore, it is important to note the unfavorable economic conditions of the residents in these neighborhoods, and the low-income immigrants which shape part of its population.The international studies on informal settlement improvement indicate that the downsizing of the dwelling is an important step in this regard. Correspondingly, the downsizing of the dwelling is defined as providing the adequate space with the application of a minimum of resources, which would ensure the physical and spiritual wellbeing within a satisfactory domestic environment.Success rate in this approach hinges on social, economic and natural conditions in different contexts. An important aim in this study was to identify the priorities in the downsizing process of the dwelling in informal settlements of Mashhad city. The research method in this study is descriptive and analytic. Primarily, the research team studied features of informal settlements, downsizing policies of the dwellings and their relevant criteria. Subsequently, features of informal settlement in Mashhad were identified. Natural indicators were obtained from spatial information layers and social and economic indicators of socio-economic databases in Mashhad.In the next phase of the research, ARC-GIS software was applied in order to establish a spatial database for the informal settlements. The 14 criteria were selected from the characteristics of these communities which include the social (population, household size, and ethnic diversity including Turkish, Kurdish, Luri, Turkmen, and Arab), the economic (income and land price), and the natural (topography, distance from the fault, and from the watercourse). Then, informal settlements were prioritized, using multiple criteria spatial decision of the supporting methods. This system is composed of spatial and multiple criteria software.Due to the large population and vast area of informal settlements in Mashhad city, it is important to take advantage of all the potentials to improve the quantity and quality of housing conditions. In this regard, the potentials of the private sector is one the factors worth noting. The results show that the downsizing process in informal settlements of Mashhad should be based on a categorized priority ranking among the squatters, and should be supported by pertinent supporting programs.In this regard, Golshahr, Sheikh Hassan, Baze Sheikh and Shahid Rajai should be considered as priorities for the downsizing programs.