Measuring Physical-Spatial Adaptation of Urban Settlements of Gorgan City to the Islamic Iranian Housing Indices

Adaptation of western culture and patterns in Iran construction field and leaving old traditional architecture behind which were once Islamic-Iranian have caused some kind of alienation and lack of identity to appear in many residential and urban areas. Accordingly, identification of aspects and features of the physical identity of Islamic-Iranian housing construction and distinguishing it from modern western style of construction will help resuscitate Iranian-Islamic culture and indices in construction of buildings. The current study is aimed at surveying housing situation in Gorgan City from the view of Islamic indices and Iranian culture. The type of the research is applied -comparative and its method is historical and interpretational. The indices in this paper include physical, environmental, and cultural indices and the study utilizes components including the type of building style, their proximity, environmental situation, proximity to cultural and religious centers and housing adaptation of native culture and traditions. In order to acquire necessary data, two methods of field study and library study have been used. The statistical population of the current study includes Gorgan City, and the sample includes 375 buildings where questionnaires were distributed among households. For analyzing the data, SPSS software application, Excelm and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used. In order to draw maps and illustrate the dispersion of indices in the city, the geographic information system (GIS) software application was used. The findings show that housing in Gorgan City, considering the changes in recent decades, has left its native and traditional architectural style behind and by copying foreign, especially western, patterns has missed its past identity; on proximity of residential units and their adaptation with native culture and tradition of residents, Iranian architectural principles have not been observed and this problem has led to the dissatisfaction of residents in such houses.