Household Social Changes and the Role of Meaning in Dwelling Environment AdjustmentCase Study: Impacts of Subjective Meanings on Tribal Dwelling Changes

Ideal residential environments must be consistent with human lifestyles as well as be adaptable to human life changes. A study of the perennial changes in the dwelling of the Qashqai tribe showed that modifications have taken place, at the same time as or after specific social changes, to accommodate these changes in their dwelling. Therefore, a systematic study was undertaken to understand why and how showing that subjective meanings play an important role in guiding the physical changes of the dwelling body to accommodate social change. Therefore, according to the nature of the problem, a "qualitative research method" with a "targeted theoretical sampling" and a "means-end model" were used, and changes in the physical features of the dwelling environment were documented through preparing architectural drawings and the diagrams of behavior settings, and the semi-structured interview. According to the objectives of the study, the case of "Qashqai Tribe" was an ideal example for studying social changes and the role of meanings in the changes of dwelling environment, along with cultural integration, in terms of the possibility of changing dwelling features. The findings were analyzed through analytical tables of spatial changes and feature-consequence-meaning diagrams. The features of the built environment are responsive to human subjective meanings. Mental meanings are the most important factors that the environment must respond to. The findings of this study indicate that the features of the built environment are "affordances" at the service of human subjective meanings. The affordances of the environment relate to certain meanings in the human mind and are meaningful to humans, so the important issue is "affordance-meaning adaptation". Meanings are values in the cultural system and affordances are features of the environment. Individuals communicate the meaning and affordances of environmental features and employ the features that afford their meanings. Thus, "affordance-meaning adaptation" is a condition of human mental satisfaction. Man, by virtue of his talent, understands the affordances and uses them according to his capacity to afford mental meaning. Man uses the heuristics of the features of the environment to afford meaning, and if there is no affordance in the environment, creates features that are tailor-made for meaningful accountability. If the affordances of the environments to afford meaning are not efficient in establishing human life events, the features of the environments creating the appropriate affordances will be continuously changed by the meanings. In everyday life, human relationships and social status are constantly changing, therefore, with regard to their mental values and meanings, human beings assess the conformity of existing affordances with the social changes affecting their lives. In the course of evaluation, if the affordances are not adapted to the new conditions, the features of the environment are constantly changing to accommodate changes affecting human life. The charts of "changes- consequence- meaning" of dwellings illustrate that the features of the dwelling environment are continually evaluated for affording meanings, and, if necessary, the spatial features of the dwelling environment are altered in accordance with the social changes of the household to respond to subjective meanings.