پژوهش

Interior architecture is difficult to define, since it touches and ‎comprises so many other disciplines.  By looking at this indefinable ‎term from four different angles, this paper tries to come closer to a ‎clearer profile of interior architecture as a discipline of its own.‎

Statement of the problem: One of the major challenges in the field of urban research is the lack of trust between policymakers and researchers. As a result of this challenge, while preventing researchers from the key decision-making and policy-making processes, inadequate resources are being allocated to the research sector. The main policymakers and manager’s argument is that the work of the researchers is far from the realities of the implementation and practice. By creating a vicious cycle, this issue has led to the weakened and underdeveloped infrastructure and research capacities in faculties, and the theoretical and practical weaknesses of the applied research in various areas of urban management studies. The current study aims to analyze and study strategies for promoting the use of research in decisions made by Tehran urban management system.
This study aims at investigating and analyzing the current process of defining, implementing and leadership of urban research projects in the urban management system of the country. The main approach for this purpose is evidence-based policy-making which provide some solutions for improvement.
The research method in this study is "case study" and its type is "single instrumental case study". Having analyzed a wide range of research studies on the field of research utilization, this paper develops an analytical framework based on the "supply and demand" model. Then, using this analytical framework, the mechanism for defining, implementing, leading and extracting the results of research projects at the Tehran Urban Planning & Research Center is analyzed and eventually, it has become evident that the current mechanism needs specific strengthening interventions for demand sectors.
This paper provides two main results. Firstly, an analytical framework for investigating and analyzing research organizations mechanism in the public sector. Secondly, a proposal to establish a structure entitled "Office for the Empowerment of Urban Management Research" in the current mechanism for managing applied research in Tehran Urban Management System. The specific mission of this structure is developing "policy capacity" and "institutional capacity".

In formal research in Art and Design, one of the most urgent debates has been about methodology. How can we carry out rigorous and respectable inquiry using methodologies and methods appropriate to practice – research without using merely theoretical, laboratorial and scientific methods. It was clear, and still is, that there are no simple answers! The most fruitful way to identify appropriate methodologies has been through an analysis of completed researches, and through evaluations of research in progress. The growth of completed research degrees in arts past two decades by using practice-based methods in many universities in other countries is a sign of the inadequacy of the methods that penetrate by irrespectively the nature of the arts. Because of the diversity and innovation in this field of research, is expected to be various maps depending on the nature of each project so this article presents a selective review of recent PhDs that identify and analyze the methodological innovation that is occurring in the field of arts, in order to give a general map. Practice-based Research is an original investigation undertaken in order to gain new knowledge partly by means of practice and the outcomes of that practice. In a practice-based research, claims of originality and contribution to knowledge may be demonstrated through creative outcomes in the form of designs, music, digital media, performances and exhibitions, etc. Four characteristics were found in practice-based art PhD innovations in the format and structure of the thesis, a pick-and-mix approach to research design, situating practice in the inquiry, and the validation of visual analysis. Research through practice refers to research where art or design practice is the vehicle of the research, and a means to communicate the result. And finally, research for the purpose of practice aims to communicate the research embodied in a piece of design. Artists and designers have taken an active role in contextualizing and interpreting the creative process in practice, as well as the products of this process, by looking at the process itself and the works produced through it. From this new point of view, the knowledge and the skills of a practicing artist or designer form a central part of the research process, and this has produced a new way of doing research. In this new type of research project, part of the research is carried out as art or design practice. The central methodological question of this emerging field of research is: how can art or design practice interact
with research in such a manner that they will together produce new knowledge, create a new point of view or form new, creative ways of doing research? In this article, the making and the products of making are seen as an essential part of research: they can be conceived both as answers to particular research questions and as artistic or designing argumentation. As an object made by an artist–researcher, the artefact can also be seen as a method for collecting and preserving information and understanding.

What do students of architecture rely on as their design strategy? What areas of knowledge serve as ‘primary generators’ of main concepts in the design process? To investigate this problem, two groups of students were selected from two different universities: Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran and Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin. Both groups designed the same project as their first course on Landscape Design. Two years after this course, a survey was conducted in both groups. As a dependent factor indicating primary generators, students were asked about the importance of certain aspects such as ecologic, aesthetic, cultural and economic values, etc. The students were also asked to submit their initial concepts and mention priority topics for the course. The results show that ‘scale’ and ‘ecological factors’ are more important for students as primary generators. It is further demonstrated that the three training priority topics are: (i) basic concepts and landscape ecology; (ii) social and cultural concepts; and (iii) aesthetic principles.

Description as an objective and inductive strategy is one of the fundamental research methods in landscape architecture studies. Descriptive research strategies produce new knowledge by systematically collecting and recording information that is readily available to the investigator and does not require complex analysis in order for it to be understood. Many historical precedents demonstrate how the foundation knowledge of the discipline has been built upon the work of careful and acute observers who prepared firsthand accounts and inventories of the rich diversity of landscape phenomena in the world. Despite its basic roll، it has less been employed in Iranian research designs in a clear way. The main aim of this paper is to point out its importance and critical rolls in landscape studies. Therefore، the descriptive strategy in Deming and Swaffield (2011) esseys are studied. In there opinoin، there are several types of research design based upon observational strategies that are particularly relevant to landscape architecture. This paper explain four types of descriptive research strategy widely applied within landscape architecture- observation، secondary description، descriptive social surveys، and complex description (including case studies). Besides، some examples have been mentioned for better understanding. In general، many sources used in descriptive research، including written documents، questioners، observation، interviews، photos and sketches. Multiple sources may also provide greater certainty and precision about particular phenomena through triangulation. As a descriptive strategy becomes more sophisticated، it becomes more dependent upon the combination، classification، and interpretation of different sources of data. The validity of these kinds of research depends on the rate of supporting various sources with each other، process of extraction data from sources and way of researchers’ induction based on classification، ranking and at the end interpretation.