Housing and Rural Environment
Year:2012 | Volume:31 | Issue:137|Papers Count:7

Earthquake is a phenomenon which exists throughout the history of our country. Having review the history of disastrous earthquakes in different part of the country, such as 585 and 1024 AC earthquake of Tabriz, 855 Rey, 893 Ardebil, 956 Hamedan, 957 Fars, 1085 Khuzestan and many other strong earthquakes (Madani 2008) revealed that Iranians had knowledge about this phenomenon since the dawn of history. This issue have has been focused in recent decades, because the intensity and level of earthquakes can be recorded and analyzed.In20th century, four of the most powerful earthquakes in the world happened in Iran, and UNDP's 2003 report "Disaster risk reduction, development challenge", introduced Iran as a second top countries in case of mortality caused by earthquake. The geological analysis of Iran's lapd reveals that, our country is a earthquake prone region and there are numerous faults which needs consideration while designing and constructing buildings.According to this viewpoint most of the constructions in the country implemented on basis of vernacular means, there is need to analyze and understand the prevention techniques regarding disasters from earthquake, which have been examined in past and can be used again. Vernacular knowledge of any caste is part of their national wealth and assets which also include their beliefs, value and awareness.People with the help of this knowledge, the search for their need and provision of their food, clothing, housing, tools and other needs have been conducted in their environment during centuries.Designing and construction of housing and other required physical spaces for many years were built with the same knowledge and special engineering, that valued architecture of heritage in cities and villages are as the result of those eras.With respect to the historical background of earthquake phenomenon in Iran, this article is to focus some tools and techniques which Iranian engineers have invented to cope with earthquakes.According to that, the nature of earthquake and its impact on buildings have not changed, regenerating and knowing this knowledge can be used in similar buildings. This article also tries to emphasis on the knowledge of vernacular techniques to regenerate and detect the vernacular paradigms of retrofitting and vulnerability reduction of buildings.

One of the important issues in any architectural work is its construction technique. Each architecture in accordance with their identity or character has a method, technique and special process. But today with technological progress and similarity of construction techniques, details and standardization of many of equipments have caused these differences to be diminishing and make the image of different regions alike.A considerable part of these problems is related to architectural education, in fact education of architects and experts in this field undoubtedly. part of this education and training is related to the Department of Education of Technology, because technology system has been defined in a way that has not much sensitivity in the cultural and local aspects. Consequently, with regard to the effect of technology on cultural system and here on architecture, definitely it needs more ponder, especially in the field of architectural education. This article is a search for adopting appropriate approach on the nature of technology and its problem in educational programs content of architectural field that have been implemented in Iran at the present time. To reach the objective, two part. have been considered: First section includes finding the existing problems, criticism and study the existing rubric based on the article's objective, and the second part to present a suitable solution in order to resolve the problem in three scopes: 1) Rubric content 2) Educational approach 3) Designing educational spaces.

Architectural heritage is considered a fundamental issue in the life of modern societies. In addition to their historical interest, cultural heritage buildings are valuable because they contribute significantly to the economy by providing key attractions at a time when tourism and leisure are major industries. The need for preserving historical constructions is thus not only a cultural requirement, but also an economical and developmental demand. Herein, among different Iranian rural buildings, pigeon towers or dovecotes are of a great importance. Each pigeon tower could accommodate thousands of Persian wild pigeons, accommodating annual harvests of dung for field manure and for the softening of leather in Isfahan’s famed tanneries. These structures played an important role, similar to subterranean canal systems (qanats) in sustaining the hinterland that made possible an eventual urban center at Isfahan. Initially, humans found utility in their food and eggs, but soon realized that their rich, dry droppings made for valuable fertilizer. Hence, special pigeon towers were built so that thousands of pigeons could breed in them, their droppings accumulating at their base.Pigeon towers represent one of the most remarkable examples of eccentricity in Iranian architecture. The pigeon towers of Isfahan are a perfect example of humans and nature working together in the name of mutual interest. At a time when chemical fertilizers did not exist, a method for generating large quantities of fertilizers was imminent. Taking advantage of their natural environment, the architects of Isfahan created pigeon towers. By attracting wild pigeons with seed and a safe place to roost, the towers acted as a natural collection point for waste which could then be used as fertilizer. Hundreds of rural dovecote, dating largely to the Safavid period, exposure in Isfahan villages. On the other hand, valleys formed by creeks in central parts of Anatolia seem to have offered suitable environments for ancient settlements.Cappadocia region and two valleys nearby the town of Gesi accommodate a number of villages surrounded by hundreds of rural dovecote in different types. This paper investigates different types of rural dovecote in Isfahan and Central Anatolia. The results show that there is a fundamental difference between the structures of dovecote in these two countries. However, dovecotes of central Anatolia are now one of interesting points and have influenced rural tourism industry in this country. Therefore, there are unique species of pigeon towers in Isfahan villages, which deserves more attention and by restoring them can have a small step in advancing our rural tourism industry.

Ruralism is a specific form of human's settlement, living and an evident exposure of economical and sociological life which lasted somehow sustainable during several centuries. The role and place of villages in economical, sociological and political development processes in local, regional, national and international scale and outcomes of undevelopment of rural areas such as poverty, increasing injustice, fast population growth, unemployment and …, have interacted attention toward rural development and its priority rather than urban development. In recent years, attention paid to physical planning of rural settlements, in order to find the most pleasant state of consistency between space and society which has been placed in the rural development organization and institution's agenda. In this regard, the whole organized and integrated activities carried out to improve the physical environment of rural settlements which have been considered by planners. They are trying to provide an appropriate platform for rural settlements, physical development, also put effort for sustainable approach in rural development by emphasizing on physical development. This article is a applied research and its methodology is based on analytical-descriptive study in which data gathering is based on documentation. The results shown the structural-functional problems in rural regions that rural settlements in economical, sociological and environmental sectors still have been accomplished without considering sustainable development approaches. Since rural settlements have different degrees of severity, are facing with challenges such as poverty, income injustice, rural migrations and villages abundance, lack of special and formal management and high vulnerability. This can be seen that the linkage between sustainable approaches and physical development is very weak.

Rural tourism is not only a major source of employment and income but also a major factor in socio-cultural and ecological development. Moreover, rural tourism helps to improve social and economic activities. In less developed countries, rural tourism is the last option in eradicating poverty and preventing unemployment. The development of rural tourism leads to more sustainable employment, and reduces unemployment rate. In Iran, there are rich cultural heritage, ancient monuments, and natural attractions. It is believed that when obstacles and limitations are removed, the region have the potential to generate sound economical benefit. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the current status of rural tourism in Khangha village in Pave Township. This village located in Pave Township. The population used in this study included residents of Pave Township that selected by purposed sampling. Data collection included deep interview, direct observation, slides, films, and library research. Grounded Theory Approach was used to analyze data through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. During open coding, the researcher read the content of interview line by line and assigned a code to each concept. During axial coding, the concepts obtained in open coding were compared and analyzed for sub-categories and final categories with new meaning emerged. Totally, 43 concepts emerged from which 33 concepts derived from rural experts and 10 concepts derived from specialists in Travel and Tourism Organization. In order to categorize the concepts, they were labeled as (K) for rural experts and (M) for specialists. During selective coding, main categories were compared with sub-categories to form new meanings. Finally, selective coding showed that in addition to tourist attractions, Khangha village was facing some challenges: Lack of infrastructure, lack of insight on tourist and tourism among villagers and government officials, slow deterioration of cultural sites, lack of information network to pass on the latest news, and lack of government support.Climate change and lack of precise statistical information were some of the limitations faced by villagers. In order to validate the findings of this study, a meeting was arranged with government official. Overall, the findings were cross checked and validated. Based upon the results of the study, it is recommended that rural administrators provide motivational incentives among rural investors to initiate financial and technical support in tourism projects. The implementation and monitoring of these projects should be given to the local villagers. All amenities such as hotels, parking, and other facilities should be included in the project.

Constrained by remoteness and underdevelopment, rural areas have limited options for economic development. Traditional ways of earning a livelihood on crops or stock provide the primary sources of income. To stimulate rural economies, it has become inevitable for rural regions to seek alternative uses for local resources. With comparatively advantageous effects in income and employment generation, tourism is an option for enhancing rural lifestyles and for inducing positive changes in the distribution of income in underprivileged regions. This perceived need for a revival of the rural economy has led to the development of catering policies for tourism and recreation out of agriculture's way in rural areas. Tourism has become the priority tool of rural planning. However, rural tourism like other types of tourism has the negative and positive impacts. The negative impacts of rural tourism sometime outweigh its positive impacts due to lack of appropriate management and planning. Local price inflation, migration of labor force, destruction in the local work structure, participation of women in part-time and low-income works, seasonal patterns of demands, change of local culture patterns, reduction of life patterns, different types of pollutions and residues made by tourists, destroying available animal shelters by constructing new buildings, change of local culture for conforming to tourist's culture, environmental destruction in the region are some of the most significant negative impacts of rural tourism.Regarding the importance of the topic, the main purpose of this survey was analyzing the negative impacts of tourism development in Gazarkhan village in Qazvin Province. Methodologically, this research was a descriptive- correlation survey. The statistical population in the research consisted of all household heads in Gazarkhan village (N=750). According to the Cochran formula, 115 persons of household heads were selected by simple random sampling technique. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. A panel of experts confirmed the validity of the questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted to establish reliability of the instrument. Cronbach alpha's coefficient for the scale of "importance of negative impacts of tourism development in Gazarkhan village" was 0.77. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSSWin18 software. The descriptive results revealed that three variables including increase of villagers’ willing to use fancy and decorative goods, impact of tourists' behavior and lifestyle on rural people’s behavior and lifestyle (changes in the type of clothing, speaking style, ...) and create income gap between rural residents in the area, have achieved the highest priority, respectively. Also, the finding of factor analysis of negative impacts of tourism development in Gazarkhan village extracted four factors named as Socio- cultural; Economic, Environmental and Physical impacts explained 60.03% of total variances of negative impacts of tourism development in rural areas.

Introduction: Planned and involuntary resettlement after natural disasters has been considered as a major policy in post-disaster reconstruction in developing countries over the past few decades. Studies show that resettlement can result in significant adverse impacts on the resettled population. Conversely, a well-planned and managed resettlement process can lead to positive long-term development outcomes. Studies on post-disaster housing in rural areas of Iran reveal that these houses do not respond to all the needs of residents. During August 2005 a heavy rainfall event caused a great flood in Golestan province at North East of Iran. This flood damaged a lot of villages. After considerable and detailed discussions, planners and policy makers decided to relocate a significant number of villages and incorporate smaller villages in larger, pre-existing ones. Finally in this area11 villages were replaced and integrated in one place. Methodology: In the present study to evaluate the role of integrating villages to city to improve the quality of life the subjective indicators, levels of satisfaction has been used the decuple domains of environmental quality, housing, education, health, personal well-being, participation, entertainment and leisure, information and communication, employment and income and wealth. Research method is descriptive and analytic and to do it about 200 samples from city resident of Pishkamar randomly selected and the effects of integrating villages to improve quality of life have been studied by using subjective indicators. Data collection tool is a researcher-designed questionnaire that was produced according to research objectives. Used Questionnaire is formed mainly by questions with closed answers in Lykert spectrum five scales (much better: 5 to very worse: 1). Discussion and conclusion: results indicate that the integrating villages have been improved the quality of life in city of Pishkamar in domains of Environment, Housing, Education, individual Welfare, participation, information and communication, entertainment and leisure, wealth, health, income and only in the domain of employment has not improved. As indicates the share of each domain in the quality of life is not equal. Domain of education has the highest of causal effect, But domain of employment has lowest of causal effect. The resettlement policy in the study area may have been successful in reducing the flood disaster risk and improved quality of life (by relocating villagers), but it was not successful in permanent job creation. To reduce the negative economic impacts of resettlement, several measures must be implemented, including: strengthening production capacity and skills (through training and technology transfer), a diversification of economic activities (through the establishment of new economic activities and industries consistent with the rural environment), and increased financial support for the most vulnerable communities.