Housing and Rural Environment
Year:2016 | Volume:35 | Issue:154|Papers Count:9

"Lifestyle and its scales" are prominent and influential cultural factors in shaping dwelling and residential environments. At various individual and collective scales and through the cultural traditions, lifestyle is the apparent aspect of culture in human life, organizing behavior settings in the built environment. Various definitions have been proposed for housing lifestyle scales. However, the present study is an attempt to enlighten designers’ minds through a systematic qualitative research methodology by analyzing lifestyle scales in manmade native environments. The samples have been chosen from the culturally integrated group of Qashqai people. Unlike social scientists, who use the concept of "lifestyle" to differentiate among various social classes and explain social status criteria in a society, this research has focused upon a behavior-environmental analysis of lifestyle scales in household dwellings. The method includes environmental and activities photography, residential units’ mapping and behavior settings diagramming. These are then followed by conducting interviews and using questionnaires to explore the preferences and meanings at four levels which benefits from means-end model as the theoretical framework. According to analysis of behavior settings diagrams and its implicit meanings of activities, the lifestyle scales in cultural groups of case study were classified as follows: 1) individual lifestyle scale 2) family lifestyle scale 3) neighborhood social lifestyle scale 4) social kinship lifestyle scale 5) social public lifestyle scale. The results of this study indicate that human lifestyle occurs on different scales, and settings are organized in each lifestyle based on the type and purpose of the interaction with others. Spatial organization of behavior settings that serves lifestyles scales, are affected from obvious characteristic of settings activities and its implicit meanings. Data analysis is emphasized, that lifestyle scales as a prominent cultural component will have a direct impact on shaping the built environment. Based on the study it is concluded that lifestyle scales are closely related to human values which provides foundations for behavior settings leading to spatial configuration of residential environment. The findings of this study also approves that man-made environments in general, and residential environments in particular, are products of human cultural systems. The analytical findings and especially its methodology in the analysis of overt and covert elements of lifestyle are applicable to understand the lifestyle scales in the other built environments. Cultural rural and nomadic groups still constitute a significant part of the population of Iran, so the methodology of this research could be used as an operational model in the design of dwelling for country's current subcultures. The most important results of this study is that help to study and better understand the concept of "lifestyle" through behavior settings diagrams and its along meanings in different scales in a family dwelling, which is systematic, objective analysis of findings and exploring the results of the life built environment is applicable in the fields of environmental design. For environmental design matches the functional demands of operators and human cultural systems is necessary that behavior settings used in various scales of life of every individual, family or group with its implicit meanings that impact on spatial organization of life environment be explored. The important thing in this issue is that in terms of cultural differences, it may that in different environments, different settings in lifestyle scales is used than they were in this research, therefore, it is emphasized that any design problem begins from human social systems analysis.

The environment can be an effective factor in inducing positive social behavior, and the residential environment is no exception to this rule. This research aims to identify the effective variables on sociability in housing projects. With reference to the importance of variables in the outcome, the main aim of the research is prioritizing effective elements. While adopting a qualitative method of enquiry, the Delphi technique has been used to collect the opinions of experts about the priority of criteria. The data were collected with questionnaires. Initially and through a literature review, several factors that are strongly related to design field (Architecture, Urban Design, and Residential Spaces) were identified. The questionnaires were consecutively sent to 25 experts. 18 key experts answered the survey forms. Their responses were analyzed for the purpose of identifying major criteria. Following revisions as a result of the comments received from the first round, the participants were asked to repeat the assessment in the second round. A t-test was used to determine whether or not the experts’ opinions on the first and second round were consistant. The results of the research showed that the final set of variables grouped into 5 categories: (1) physical factors; (2) semantic factors; (3) contextual factors; (4) activity factors; and (5) personal factors. Physical factors consisted of functional distance, functional centrality, flexibility and adaptability, functional propinquity, space geography, housing type, human relation with nature, material, and so on. Semantic factors were spiritual experience and place. Contextual factors consisted of neighborhood, services and safety. Activity factors were life style, time and process. Personal factors consisted of privacy and interaction, age, gender, education, occupation type and need to help. We used Shannon’s entropy to determine the importance weights of variables. Physical factors were the most important attribute and activity factors were the least important one. The physical factors of housing have a significant role in increasing sociability. The analysis of the results of the research proved the theory that built environment impacts behavior. This would provide a wealth of data that could be used for future research.

The design process proceeds spatial formation and embraces retrofitting, revitalization, preservation, degree of life, and prosperity. Designers strive to create novel good-looking forms compatible with the environment considering human being, culture of the society, norms, behaviors, and characteristics of each community and ethnicity. The design problematics in rural fabric starts to complicate when traditional forms and designerly novelty are both equally significant. In many cases, there is a gap between already existing environment and the rather new expectations of individuals and groups residing in these rural fabrics. This problem can be considered as a specific problem to be addressed by decision-makers.The initiation of the problem-solving design process requires appropriate understanding of design problem by the designer. When the problem is well defined and the data gathering method is clear, finding a solution is straightforward. However as the information about the problem becomes more extensive, shortcomings in knowledge will surface. Rural design problems are environmentally wicked and the design process requires a relevant understanding of design problematics by the designer. However, in real design circumstances, however, not all design problems are initially well defined and is very unlikely for all the factors influencing the design to be clarified and analyzed at the beginning of the design process.In Rural design process, problems surface as studies focus on partial solutions to resolve specific issues. Conventional designerly problem seeking and solving, focuses on very specific issues in an analytic reductionist manner. This rarely leads to appropriate identification of the factors affecting design and analysis of the issues relevant to the rural design decision making. In addition, the result of partial solutions on other design issues is often neglected. It appears that this issue is rooted in lack of awareness and insufficient knowledge of problem seeking and problem solving in the design process by design practitioners.The present research sets out to investigate the nature of problems challenging designers during the design process and their various properties. In addition, factors modifying the relationship between design problems and solutions are further sought. The main attempt was to descriptively and analytically ways to better identify problems and problem-solving based on the literature review in the context of rural fabric design. Considering the fact that design problems often involve intricate, complicated and irregular structures, the present research focuses on three types of design problems: the well-defined or well-structured, the ill-defined or ill-structured, and the wicked. Some design problems are vaguely-defined type, which can be explored using the spirit of the time and a creative approach.The results of the present research show that recognizing all issues facing rural design does not necessarily lead to an ideal design but it is necessary for an optimal design. Furthermore, the results also suggest that problem-focused and solution-focused orientations are not totally independent but rather are coevolving processes. Therefore, proposing a solution for specific problems modifies the understanding of other problems involved in the design process. This makes it necessary for problems to be reevaluated at every problem-solving cycle particularly designing in a rural fabric.

Family welfare through humane communication as well as interactive opportunities among family members and relatives has always been integral to pertinent housing design. Due to different needs of family members at different age or social status, the residential spaces should be designed according to these real needs or it would result in an increasing individualism and unfavorable impacts to family structure. In the process of human psychological development, privacy and community are two essential needs, which have a special place in the hierarchy of human motivational needs. Every pattern of human behavior requires a desirable level and good balance of both types of communications. However, current housing policies in Iran mitigate the chance of providing spaces that increase residences interactions. This study introduces a special instruction and principles to design residential spatial territories and pursues spatial approaches in housing design that promotes family relationship and improves family interactions. This study's main question is the role of housing's spatial organization and its territories in the family members' mutual interaction. The aim of this research thus is to identify the role of spatial organization of housing and its territories in creating interaction and communication between family members and providing grounds for a suitable pattern and model for housing design. In fact, the design of spatial organization of housing as one of the most valuable physical and cultural pieces of each community plays an important role in flourishing and improving the society. In this regard, the design of individual as well as collective territories, communicative spaces, spatial linkages, and the position of territories to each other is taken for analysis. A qualitative research strategy based on questioners is used for the purpose of this study. In this regard, three different prototypes were proposed in the questionnaires. Subjects responses were summarized and coded represented in tables and matrixes. The resulting analytic information derived from these tables and matrixes, exhibit significant differences between residents of each prototype. After categorizing the responses and finding out satisfaction codes in the responses, these codes were counted to define which prototype was more satisfying. After this, the results were compared to the literature review and the final guidelines were developed. These guidelines will help to provide a space syntax, which is a modifying factor in design of individual as well as collective territories, communicative spaces and their spatial configuration. Designing residential spaces based on these guidelines helps to increase residences’ satisfaction and improve their interactions with their family members.

Concepts are the context of human thinking and acting and involve all aspects of his life. Like all man-constructions, architecture depends to the conceptual system of his mind. According to some researches in architecture, patterns can be defined as a basis for showing this system in the regulation of physical elements. Attention to this can be considered an answer to some of the questions that address the causes of poor quality of contemporary rural housing. This area of architecture as a rich heritage of past patterns is a concern of many researchers. With an overview of the concepts and aspects of patterns, this article tries to peruse the importance of concepts system as a foundation to build the pattern and the link between architecture and culture. In this context, through a review of theories about patterns and their situation and relationship to the concepts, some of the traditional houses of villages of Razavi Khorasan are studied. Because of the diversity of climate, culture and architectural typology, Razavi Khorasan is a suitable area for the present research. Studies of the rural house typology of this area was performed in two stages,the results of which can be usable for Researchers to achieve a better understanding of the architecture of in this context. What can be achieved on the basis of the preliminary studies is that architectural patterns are formed based on a system of concepts that define the various architectural elements such as windows and rooms. These concepts are shaped in such a way that shows their characteristics, situation and layout in pattern and building. In this aspect any concept can be investigated at the scale of its own characteristics and the scale of its Influence and effect on the present system. These concepts are present in patterns on the one hand and on the other hand, are part of the cultural characteristics. So the concepts of patterns are the first link between culture and architecture. Due to characteristics of culture and its limitation on time and space, architectural concepts are available for analysis only in their time and location and in a proportional manner of society changes. Investigating Concepts within the framework of the study indicates the architectural concepts are fluid categories. They are highly dependent on both time and space. On the other hand, the relation between the concept and their system is a two-way communication with collateral impact. Due to the importance of time and place in the formation of concepts and patterns and the relationship between elements, architectural patterns will be able to adapt with the condition of time and place of the society if the architects are able to adapt and create a new conceptual system in architecture. To achieve this objective it is necessary to consider some points that will be present in the results in this paper after a review of relevant features.

People and their behaviors are part of the residential environment, based on which the separation of these concepts in a research is erranous. The culture is configured through mechanisms such as the layout of spaces. Housing can provide users with their cultural values. Hence, various artifacts and their meanings become more important than performance in the design process. The purpose of this study is understanding the spatial configuration which is harmonious with social and cultural relations of native Laft residents.: In order to realize the space configuration of native residential regions, Space Syntax analytical method is used in recent study. For this purpose, the houses were divided into 4 groups according to their placement and 5 samples were selected from each group for further studies. Consecutively, the justification graph for each sample was drawn with ‘A-Graph’ software. A justified graph is a diagramming technique for revealing the topology of a spatial organization. A justified graph organizes the spaces in a building in relationship to each other with the carrier at the bottom and the other spaces arranged in rows above corresponding to the number of steps in from the carrier. Some social features which are perceived through the justification graph is as follows:-‘Depth’, which is Number of lines to a point from the "carrier" or any other point of reference, calculated by counting the number of steps (solid lines) from the carrier.-‘Relative Asymmetry’ or ‘relative step’, which measures the tree-like quality of a justified graph- Each space has n neighbors and each space gives 1/n control to each neighbor. The ‘control value’ for any point is the sum of values for each receiving space.Using the graph results, the samples were studied in three scales: micro, medium and macro.In micro scale, parameters including depth, integration, permeability, control, and space type were investigated. In the medium scale, the relative steps of each two spaces were used to determine the intensity of the relationship between spaces. And finally, the relative depth, the relative steps and the integration of the whole building were studied at the macro scale.: Accordingly, in the vernacular part of this region, there are shallow homes with single-layer plans, for whigh the spatial hierarchy is not so complicated. The houses have two main cores which are the yard and the patio. Houses are divided in to two main clusters: client areas and server areas. In the client spaces, the porch connects them to each other, and therefore establishes their hierarchy. . Hence, the guest room is the shallowest room, and the wind catcher room and the bedrooms are located on the next levels. Rooms with the greatest depth, are the more private spaces. On the whole, the yard and the patio spaces are public spaces, Majlesi is semi-public, bedrooms, wind catcher room, bathroom and storage, are private spaces and patio space is a control space for entry into private spaces. Most of the house is dedicated to the performance spaces and only 15% of the closed space is allocated to communication.

Development of historically valuable rural setting, whether based on conservation, preservation or restoration viewpoint, relies on different variables, which are rooted in a profound understanding of the meaning of rural setting. Rural setting is the integration of building, behaviors and beliefs of human beings, but what makes rural setting as a unique phenomenon is its indigenous culture that is an important component to create the balance between development and conservation approaches. Human’s interaction with nature and nature’s response to human needs makes up the concept of vernacular, which holds within itself the culture that at least in its tectonic sense would signify ‘the center-piece of Iranian architectural tradition.’ Preservation of these values, in line with development, is necessary for the present generation, and justifies further research in this context.The prevalent dependence of human on technology in rural areas has crossed over its traditional limits of basic needs for security and comfort and shifted toward higher levels of welfare, which in turn calls for new measures in development. However, the definite need for protection of historic architecture in line with development requires deeper understanding of factors that are both rooted in valuable historical heritage and is capable of embracing development. This paper examines the interaction of development and preservation of values bearing in mind vernacular culture. Furthermore, in conservation and restoration processes, especially in rural setting considering its context, this component is a very important developmental strategy from local scale to global scale. Conservation based upon this approach is emphasized on the process of life and human harmony with nature and their mutual interaction. In indigenous culture, the relationship between tradition and nature, the craftsmanship and bilateral influences of native people as they modify their surrounding natural conditions is of greatest authenticity. Accordingly, conservation, restoration and development based on indigenous culture, is emphasized on the process of life & human harmony with nature and the interaction between them. This attitude leads to minimum negative environmental impact that results in a responsive design culture empowering sense of place, designing with nature and utilizing natural forms and processes, respecting the objective aspects of nature while considering the people in the design process. Such design would be vernacularly pertinent to by benefitting from sustainable elements in revitalization to enrich their restored identity. These sustainable elements are the qualities and capabilities that rural space possesses due to history and rich cultural heritage and collective values of society that is crystallized in its physical and spatial forms to be transferred to the next generation. In other words, the ecological and vernacular milieus are relatively reliable systems for transferring cultural heritage of society and its values. In this manner, new actions such as adding new functions that are performed upon buildings with rural historical value should be respective to their identity and cultural values. This study raises issues such as the role of culture as an important development strategy in connection with tourism, vernacularism, and sustainability, in addition to the subject of place identity in the cycle of restoration of historic architecture all of which as guiding hypotheses towards the aim of the research. It also aims to evaluate the success of development plans for valuable rural settings with reference to vernacular culture. The argument draws on the views of various Iranian and foreign scholars and describes their experiences. The nature of the research question, along with its process and aims calls for a qualitative content analysis, description, and interpretation.

Earth is considered as the cheapest material readily available for construction in rural areas of Asia, South America to Africa. The main reasons for the popularity of adobe can be summarized as follows: (a) local material is available everywhere; (b) a high level of skill and technology is not required for the production of adobe bricks and constructions; (c) repair and maintenance of adobe structures do not require specialized labor; and (d) inherent properties of earth make it an efficient heat and sound insulating material. Despite these numerous merits, adobe houses are prone to damage under seismic vibrations and they are susceptible to water.In this study, the solutions for seismic performance improvement of new adobe walls have been examined. To improve the performance of walls, two resolutions have been tested to improve properties of the block and mortar. For this purpose, blocks have been enhanced by natural additives (such as palm fiber, rice husk, wood chips and straw) with various percentages 0.3%, 0.6% and 0./9% in weight. The bricks were made in size of 22 ´ 22 ´ 7 cm (face × bed × end), and their mechanical properties have been examined. The best reinforced block, by best compressive strength and its durability against water is selected. Natural fibers have been used for a long time in many developing countries in cement composites and earth blocks because of their availability and low cost. However, the use of mud bricks for structural elements of buildings is the subject to an assessment of its mechanical properties, the investigation of which constitutes the aim of this paper.This study presents an experimental investigation on mud brick wall under axial compression. The average compressive strength of bricks is 4.73 MPa. To determine the performance of straw additives in mortar, mortar used to build walls is considered in two forms: non-reinforced mortar and reinforced with straw fibers and their mechanical properties have been measured. Then six walls in sizes 120 ´ 22 ´ 22 cm were made with two different kinds of mortar and bricks (simple wall and reinforced wall). Walls were put under diagonal compressive axial load in order to evaluate type of cracks, ultimate load capacities, deformability, and energy absorption characteristics. Cracks and their depth in samples with reinforced mortar were reduced. The ultimate strength of conventional walls and the walls with reinforced mortar were 16.6 and 22.77 kN that shows an increase of 37% in the ultimate load level. The energy absorbed by the typical walls and reinforced walls were respectively, 268.16 and 573.02 Joules, which shows an increase of 1.14 percent in energy absorption. Final displacement for ordinary walls and reinforced walls were respectively 23.1 and 32.96 mm that shows a final increase of 43 percent. Test results showed thatstraw additives can be used as reinforcing material in mortar of mud brick walls with better economical and the structural efficiency.

Housing or shelter is a basic requirement in human life, and it is a social right for every individual and family. The article 31 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran asserts the right of every Iranian household to a suitable home. To clarify the term, a home has been defined as a protection against adverse climate conditions; a place that provides peace, security, health and vitality for its residents, which may prove to be effective in creating stability in families and in strengthening the bonding between its members.The subject criteria relevant to housing are broad and complex, composed of diverse dimensions. Aside from its physical aspects, the criteria related to the inhabitants of a home directly open the discussions on social, cultural, and economic factors.The sustainable housing indices have prominent role in rural development planning to ensure the sustainability of various dimensions including the social, economic and physical condition of housing. Hence, in order to deliver a plan in the housing sector, an exact definition and analysis of these sustainability indices are necessary. With regard to the importance of these definitions, this study aims to recognize and analyze the factors affecting the sustainability of rural housing. To achieve this goal, the rural area of Malavi in the township of Poldokhtar has been selected as a case study. The research follows a descriptive-analytic method, and explores correlations using a mixed-method research. The study examines sustainability in different dimensions, based on the data gathered through questionnaires, interviews and field observations. The statistical sample for the research was chosen through accidental sampling among population of the Malavi rural area, consisting of 180 residents. The obtained coefficient from Cochran’s formula is 0/74 percent which indicates the high reliability of the research tool. The obtained results from the analysis of the SPSS software show that the five factors of amenities-welfare, economic, structural endurance, efficiency and harmony with the environment are able to explain 82 percent of the variances in the statistics. The consideration of these factors in the rural housing development planning is necessary. Although all of these factors have eigenvalues greater than unit, the importance and role of the first item (amenities–welfare) explaining 29.85 percent of the cases, is more effective than other factors. Overall, the findings show that the success of housing projects in rural areas is not only affected by factors such as the structural endurance of the building or its amenities, but a combination of factors is effective in achieving sustainability in rural housing developments.