environmental perception

Health depends on a wide range of factors. Biological, environmental and social factors play a role in health. relationship between some individual variables and environmental factors on health remains unknown. Health depends on a wide range of factors. Biological, environmental and social factors play a role in health. We aim to promote health condition in a wide range of neighborhoods. Since designs of urban environments influence on the health of people, this study was performed to determine the relationship between Perception of environmental variables and public health in residential neighborhoods as well as the role of environmental preferences as a mediating variable among the people of Mazandaran. Collected data using a questionnaire were provided in two parts. The first part of the questionnaire is about the health which is based on the standard questionnaire (SF36). This questionnaire on a global scale is applicable to assess the level of health evaluation. In part two, the neighborhood characteristics environment, its security, facilities, aesthetics, and destination were measured. To do a survey, 450 residents were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that individual indicators except gender were effective on the level of health, so that with the increase in age and level of education, we saw a decrease in the level of health. In general, environmental indicators had an impact on the level of health. So that with the increase of the mentioned environmental indicators, the health indicators also increased.

Problem statement: 

Considering the river channelization and the establishment of flood control structures, individuals’ perceptions of river ecological processes and environmental safety have been disrupted. A lack of proper understanding of flood risk leads to decreased adaptability in communities and increased damage and casualties during floods. Therefore, nowadays, flood risk management, in addition to structural solutions, has incorporated non-structural measures, such as flood risk perception. In this regard, it is essential to determine the role of related disciplines in non-structural approaches.

This research aims to explain the role of urban design in non-structural measures of flood mitigation by modeling the factors influencing flood risk perception and flood-adaptive behaviors. It assesses the impact of perceptual factors of the urban environment (perceived qualities, sense of place, and vision of nature) in the context of Iran.

The overall approach of the study is quantitative and is categorized as cross-sectional survey research. It began with deductive reasoning based on the theoretical foundations. Following an analysis of the theoretical literature, the impact of perceptual factors of the environment on flood risk perception was identified, and a conceptual model was developed. To assess the research model within the context of Iran, 221 questionnaires were completed in the Zibadasht neighborhood around the Kan River. Data were analyzed using Smart PLS software and structural equation modeling methods.

According to the results obtained in the Zibadasht neighborhood, urban design can play a significant role in improving flood risk perception by adjusting the perceived qualities of the environment and enhancing individuals’ place attachment to the Kan River. In addition, strengthening the place identity of individuals in relation to the Kan River is one of the factors influencing flood-adaptive behaviors in this area.

Children are the most sensitive and impressionable age group in society, playing a crucial role in the renewal of each generation. Without attention to child development, cognition, and education, societal progress is hindered. Architects and psychologists have highlighted the importance of light, color, and play in the built environment on learning and behavioral success. Studies also emphasize the negative impacts of excessive noise in learning environments. The study aims to evaluate the impact of environmental development stimuli on sensory perception in second-grade primary school students to enhance space efficiency in educational environments. The research employs a mixed-methods approach (both quantitative and qualitative). Initially, it involves document collection and analysis of various factors affecting environmental development. Subsequently, the overall school plan was examined using Depthmap software. Semi-structured interviews with the students and teachers provided insights into their opinions, values, and behaviors within the educational environment. Statistical analysis was conducted using questionnaire data and spss26 software to explore data relationships. In the following, according to the coefficients obtained from the research variables, graphs are produced. The results reveal that the key indicators impacting children's sensory perception in educational environments are, in order of importance: flexible space (14.93), spatial diversity (15.32), multifunctional spaces (14.76), and play areas (14.71).

Following the culverting of rivers and the implementation of flood control infrastructure on riverbeds, people’s perceptions regarding the ecological dynamics of rivers, as well as environmental safety have been widely disturbed. This lack of accurate flood risk perception can potentially lead to many casualties and damages during severe flood events. Therefore, to achieve flood resilience, in addition to structural criteria, the improvement of non-structural criteria such as risk perception to enhance adaptation and preparedness of communities against floods, is considered a challenging topic. Considering the transition of river management from structural approaches to integrated approaches, which emphasize the participation of related disciplines, and the capability of urban design to enhance people’s perceptive experience of the environment, this study aims to conduct an interdisciplinary systematic review to investigate how urban design enters and integrates into the discussion of flood risk perception. By expanding the social-ecological model (SEM) of the study at different individual and environmental levels, three theoretical perspectives of environmental psychology, human geography, and nature conservation were selected as the foundation of the interdisciplinary study. Subsequently, by conducting a systematic review in the Scopus database in six steps, the role of urban design in improving flood risk perception was investigated. Urban design in the fields of environmental psychology, human geography, and nature conservation can play a critical role in expanding the perceptive experience of rivers and improving flood risk perception through perceived and aesthetic qualities, sense of place, and regulating ecosystem services, nevertheless urban design is facing many challenges in the mentioned fields. Therefore, as an initial step, urban design must determine how to adapt to these intervening factors and establish a balance with them.

Mental imagery has always played a central and essential role in the discussion of mental performance in cities. It is one of the primary mental events of a human being that allows him to plan, route and make decisions for the future in the city.

In this research, recent studies in the field of mental imagery and its surrounding topics have been analyzed based on the Prism guidelines for systematic review and meta-analysis.

In various parts of the research, it was tried to analyze the main factors related to the field of mental image formation of cities from different points of view. Finally, after analyzing and categorizing the thoughts of many theorists, the conclusion was reached that various dimensions can have an impact on this important issue according to the environmental and contextual conditions. In total, nine main and influential dimensions including physical, cultural, functional, environmental, value, semantic, socio-political, individual, and mental dimensions were identified. The basis of its division is the frequency or the amount of repetition in the researches.

Regarding the dispersion of research conducted in Iran, the highest amount of studies was in Tehran with 40%, followed by Rasht and Mashhad, which included 20% and 10% of the total volume, respectively. From Iran (English sources) in France and Germany, there is more study dispersion. In addition, in Russia, China and India, studies in the field of mind and city have increased significantly in the past years, and studies have been conducted on urban branding and mental imagery.

This research started by examining the concept of mental imagery with an emphasis on urban science, which is considered only a part of the big world of urban imagery studies. Although mental imagery is an interwoven and complex issue due to its relationship with mental elements, but this concept is quite clear that the way mental imagery is formed in the mind consists of several layers, each of which has a significant impact on each other and cannot be separated.

The Iranian garden can be considered one of the most prominent and best models of landscape design in Iran, which is the result of the interaction between humans in the face of nature, since the interaction formed between man and nature results in mutual effect of them on each other. The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between stimulation of the senses, perceptions and the geometry of the Iranian garden. In other words, the three basic factors of man, environment and the relationship between man and environment are examined to determine how each one acts and reacts, and influences the other. The methodology in the present study is qualitative with a comparative approach to present the general structure of a unique example, which is the Tajabad Natanz Garden. It expresses the general theoretical foundations arising from the perceptions of the environment and psychology related to it. Field observation and library documents were used to collect information. The obtained result indicate that the Iranian garden as a whole is the product of the connection of components, each of which alone does not convey a specific meaning and concept to the audience, and the coexistence of these elements and components together forms the concept of the Iranian garden. Thus, in recreating the Iranian garden in the physical environment of life, including in contemporary cities, increasing attention should be paid to its perceptual process by modern man to provide an appropriate response to the needs of contemporary man. It will improve the mental health of the society in the first step and leads to the connection in the areas of meaning and provides the conditions for individual self-fulfillment in the second step.

Paying attention to the human-environment relationship in environmental psychology and realizing the higher levels of sense of place through the architectural design process enjoy significant importance in the current society, especially due to the poor quality of the public spaces. Since the environmental perception and creating the sense of place are different in each culture, designing in each environment requires understanding the dominate culture. Therefore, the main question of the research is: How do the socio-cultural factors affect the perception and recognition process of the sense of place physical components in public spaces? Also, how can their effects be studied in an explanatory model? Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the realization of the sense of place in public spaces, considering the culture as a moderator variable and adapting the physical factors of these spaces with the perceptual-cognitive aspects of the mind and present the result as a model. Afterward, this model would be validated in case studies. The current research is applied-developmental one in terms of purpose. In the first phase, the research is conducted using the analytical-descriptive method and results in an explanatory model by investigating the previous researchers’ theories. In the next stage, the current study is completed statistically using the field approach and surveying the opinions of the users in the case studies. The research results reflect how the sense of place process is formed and how its higher levels are realized from the moment an individual is in the place with an emphasis on the impact of the socio-cultural mainstreams in an explanatory model. In which, the specific impact on perceiving the physique appropriate to the various personal features of the users results in creating different levels of sense of place in public spaces. Therefore, considering the effect of the cultural component, it is possible to achieve different degrees of physical factors preferences in users of each specific region. Then, by considering the cultural factors, users' preference of physical factors of the place in any region, can be reached. Also, with concerning the analysis result, and applying them in public spaces, it is possible to achieve a high level of sense of place, increase the quality of life and compensate for the identity crisis of today's societies.

Paths located in ancient districts are flexible and lively places to understand man’s position in the environment and his/her connection with the past. Developing the sense of belonging to place in neighborhoods of the old texture of Yazd by people’s interaction with the paths can be effective in managing and reforming the affairs of neighborhoods, residential environment and organizing neighborhoods. This factor can create a strong and two-way relationship between the perceptual organization, order, and determining urban space, with the help of environmental perception factors. The purpose of this study is to better understand the urban elements and components, and percept the meaning of places and strengthen individual and social identity. The question of this research is determining the role of visual elements of Vaght O Saat path in Yazd in the amount of audience perception based on environmental perception factors. To answer this question, Vaght O Saat path in Yazd was selected, the research method in first part was field and descriptive-analytical using library resources and valid research, and in the second part, data and research variables were analyzed based on survey method with observation tool, questionnaire and interview. The views of passers-by in the field of identity perception of visual elements were collected through questionnaires with statistical volume taken from Cochran’s formula, and were analyzed in the form of SPSS software, during statistical tests. Different components in the environmental perception of Vaght O Saat’s path were considered, which included deep connection with the path, their awareness of the context and environment and background, and being from Yazd. And. On the other hand, the results of study show that visual elements such as archways, ribs and stonecarpet flooring of plinth and entrance of some distinguished public buildings, has a particular importance in reviewing visual elements of Vaght O Saat path in Yazd. In this regard, the registration of the pass that its protection and restoration can stabilize and intensify the role of path in the organization of residents’ perceptual system, is one of the strategies to preserve and revive this historical passage.

Creativity is a certain property of the man that has been especially valuable in human societies and knowledge such as environmental psychology. Accordingly, the present research tries to answer the question “How many important the effects of physical factors of architectural place are on the users’ creativity and what is the role of architectural design in organizing them to enhance it?” Therefore, the purpose of the present paper is to explain the main characteristics of creative places in a pattern form by identifying and categorizing the physical factors of the built environment. In terms of methodology, the configuration of the present research is based on Grounded Theory and a mixed method in which the findings resulted from a comprehensive documentary and field study has been completed and validated by applying statistical techniques on the data collected in a purposeful case study. The sample of this case study is three universities in Kermanshah, Iran, consists of educational environments of architecture in which teachers and post-graduate students identified and expressed their creativity-stimulant behaviors as well as the physical items of the environment that afford those activities. Finally, we concluded some of the spatial features, functional spaces, and their associated environmental affordances as the main items affecting the users’ creativity enhancement that ultimately have been classified and rated by an exploratory factor analysis as creativity-effective environmental attributes to be considered in designing the future environments in general and educational environments especially, as the main strategy. It could be pointed to the dynamism, generativity, justifiability, enrichment, and durability, on the one hand, and naturalism, interactivity, formal and functional balance and appropriateness, diversity of usage, multi-semantic in form and function, individualism, and composure, on the other hand, in the form of two distinct and correlative categories, among the most important of these attributes.

According to studies, designing street landscapes is a field that, despite its importance, has been neglected so far. Street landscape perception is a complex concept that needs to be broken down into constituent components in order to be studied and understood more precisely. Given that the main focus of this research is on active walls of the ground floor, the components constituting street landscape are divided into three general physical, functional and contextual groups. Regarding physical components of street landscape perception, pedestrian movement path can be considered as a room consisting of various lateral surfaces including flooring surface, active walls surface, surface facing the passage, and surface hanging in the space. In this sense, pedestrian movement path is simulated as a room where the observer is in the middle of the path and perceives the space from a human point of view. The functional component of street landscape perception consists of two sub-components of land use and behavioral activities and patterns. The contextual component also consists of a sub-component of historical and identity backgrounds. Urban design qualities of designing street landscapes in this study includes functional qualities of sidewalk landscape including comfort and convenience, safety and security, readability and mental image, accessibility and communications, timeliness and transparency; and aesthetic qualities of sidewalk landscape include sensory richness, order and unity, complexity, color, texture and materials, spatial hierarchy and sequence, and human scale and enclosure. The components constituting active walls consist of two physical (including external and internal elements of a building) and functional (including ground surface activities, readability, orientation, sense of invitation, and interaction of citizens with street space) dimensions. In order to achieve a comprehensive view in this field, a combination of different methods has been used. In the first phase of the study (development of the research framework and theoretical foundations), library studies method was first used to investigate and collect the components and criteria from studies related to street landscape perception and active walls of ground surface. In the second phase of the study (gathering information on street landscape and active walls in the studied site), quantitative and qualitative methods of assessing street landscape perception, including behavioral observation, checklists, technical drawings (plan, cross-section, and facade, qualitative drawings (sketch), image recording (photography), and activity recording were used. Scoring each of the indicators was done in the form of the 7-point Likert’s scale. Then, the data obtained in this section was analyzed in the next phase (analysis) using SWOT matrix. The purpose of using this model is to develop and adopt appropriate strategies between internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) in line with the research goals. In this study, SWOT analysis is followed in four steps (evaluation of external and internal factors, matching and determination of strategies, formation of internal and external matrix and implementation priorities, and preparation of Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). Weighing the internal and external factors including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as scoring the strategies were done using opinions of a group of 15 urban design experts. This is while in the earlier phase, namely, SWOT Matrix adjustment and scoring it, participation of 71 experts of urban design, faculty members and students of urban design field was used. In this regard, a total of 59 internal factors (21 strengths and 38 weaknesses) and 35 external factors (23 opportunities and 12 threats) were identified. Among the strengths, the optimum orientation of residential unit openings toward public space and connection of the area to two main and busy streets of the city as a factor of enhancing social security and vitality have the highest final scores. Restricted behavioral pattern of space users and high share of forced activities compared to voluntary and social activities are considered the strongest weaknesses. Among the external factors also the possibility of designing diverse land uses attracting all social strata and possibility of designing micro-scale urban spaces aiming to increase diversity of behavioral patterns of those present in the space are considered the most effective opportunities, and inactiveness and abandonment of other old and valuable land uses and distortion of street landscape, especially ground floor landscape due to multiplicity and diversity of uncoordinated openings are considered the strongest threats. Therefore, low mean scores obtained from the studied indices indicate relatively poor quality of street landscape components in the area. The scoring matrix of the four components of street landscape perception divided by the first to third sequences and the eastern and western fronts of Khayyam Street can be analyzed saying that given the sum of the obtained scores in each sequence of the street, generally, the third sequence has the highest score followed by the first and the second sequences with the lowest score indicating poor quality of the studied components in this sequence. The mean score of the set of indicators in Khayyam Street is equal to 3.88, which is somewhat lower than the average level. The low mean scores obtained from the studied indices indicate relatively poor quality of street landscape components in the area. Sum of internal factor scores is 1.894 and the sum of external factor scores is 2.965. Given the sum of final scores of internal and external factors, the selected strategies fall into the cell of conservative strategies. In other words, the street landscape, and especially its active walls, despite its weaknesses and threats, has relatively large strengths and opportunities. Therefore, strategies for creating spatial openings and designing urban spaces of varying scales in them and attracting observers’ attention to signs and other physical events and enhancing citizens’ sense of presence are prioritized over other strategies.

Nowadays, majority of the cities’ entrances have become uniform and cliché spaces in lieu of manifesting the identity properties and showcasing the cultural ID. The degree of uniformity is so extreme that they are not even understandable. Therefore, it is necessary to seek creating of the required preparations for understanding of such an identity alongside with creation and enhancement of the identity in the cities’ entrances. In other words, manifestation of identity in a tangible and perceivable manner for the onlookers is of great importance in the entire urban spaces, especially cities’ entrances as the first space of the individuals’ familiarization with the city. The objective in offering the present study is investigation of the role of perception and the factors influencing it on the ever increasing conception of the landscape drawn on a special identity in a neighborhood and this has been specifically conducted on the western entrance in Gorgan. To do so, this qualitative research deals within the format of an applied research based on a descriptive-analytical method with the exploration of the aforesaid subject and offers in the course of its examinations a matrix table for exploring the relationship between the indicators influencing the environmental comprehension of the cities’ entrances with various species of the cultural landscape. The main method of data collection has been documentary research, library search and field survey. The results obtained from the present study indicate that paying attention to various factors like age and gender groups, the observers’ mobility or staticity, being pedestrians or passengers, being citizens or travelers and others in the designing of the spaces influences the increase in the individuals’ perception of the well-identified spaces featuring cultural landscapes. On the other hand, the application of various human and manmade factors and natural elements is effective on the creation of a perceivable cultural landscape. In organizing the entrance in Gorgan, as a northern city with unique climate and special natural environment, paying special attention to the natural factors, as the most distinct factors of creating cultural landscape, is of great importance. Engaging the various age, gender groups, etc. as well as the proportional designing based on their perceptional properties in such activities like creation of rosaries, urban farming and agrotourism and so forth can enable the achievement of a perceivable cultural landscape.

The technology of virtual reality provides the user by an environment so that he can exercise new experience of presence in the environment by simulation of direct perception. This technology was introduced as an amusement tool into the digital world for the first time. Display monitor of this technology does not result from a simple phenomenon, but it is a monitor equipped with some sensors that operate as tracking devices and send some data about the location of user and also the direction of user’s vision to computer. Individuals experience virtual environments with respect to potentials of platform or hardware, with different appearances. The hardware of virtual environment could be a simple object i.e. a mobile phone and a pair of virtual reality eyeglasses; and or it could be a complex one including cloth-wearing equipment and computer that enables the user to move in thephysical environment. Nowadays, most immersion process in virtual environments is mainly focused on using Head Mounted Display (HMD) that is well-known as virtual reality eyeglasses in the market. A pair of virtual reality eyeglasses include a hood or headwear composing of LCD monitor that places at the front of eyes to present the user a stereoscopic view, produced by computer. The stereoscopic view is related to a process in which two photos are taken from the same object with a slight difference in viewpoint; and then they are seen together which provides an image with depth and stability of the environment The environmental perception is deemed as one of the key topics concerning human-environment relationship at macro and micro levels; and with respect to ever-increasing development for using virtual reality technology, review of addressee's perception by this technology might be vitally important in improving the use of this technology in various sciences and particularly in the architectural field. Accordingly, the present research aims to analyze the potential for environmental perception in virtual reality system by comparative analysis and on environmental perception both directly and through utilization of technology of virtual reality, and also based on the assessment of visual perception components in a process. The methodology of this study is of the empirical-surveying type so that the addressee’s have looked at space and surveyed it by direct technique and wearing of virtual reality eyeglasses at a time. Given the specialized nature of this investigation for analysis of virtual reality elements, the statistical population of this study was selected from students of architectural disciplines. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed according to Cronbach alpha coefficient and content validity was also approved by the comments of experts. Finally, based research variables, and according to various levels and dimensions of conception, two comparative models were conceptualized among direct visual perception and visual perception through the technology of virtual reality and also were explained based on surveying data by LISREL software. The findings derived from these two models might indicate the strong and weak points of visual perception through the technology of virtual reality versus direct visual perception at different dimensions and levels.

Evaluation of every environment’s image is not just the result of impressions made by its external attributes on the mind of the observer. It is, however, created by the imagination of the observer. A city is lodged by a wide variety of people whose evaluation of the images they form in their mind is critical. The desirability of urban environments for various social strata, especially for women, depends on the relationship between human beings and the environment as well as their priorities and preferences. The distinctive characteristics of women in terms of feelings, sensation and evaluation of the environment should not be preferred over one anonther. To achieve a realistic and true viewpoint, it is impossible to ignore the interests and preferences of the citizens in relation to their living place. Since the relationship between an individual and their surrounding environment is formed in various levels such as the individual (e.g. feeling, perception, values, mental experiences, etc.) and social level (e.g. various social groups or the ones which are similar in terms of age and sex), it is better to examine the characteristics of various groups and social strata on the same level. The interpretations and mental images and meanings formed by women are unique depending on their values, priorities and experiences. There are some factors affecting the recognition of pleasantness attributes in urban space in women’s view, inducing what attracts women’s attention in the environments, how they are memorized, their mental image and their evaluation of the percieved space and the environmental preferences in selecting a desirable location. This article examines the factors affecting women mental image in order to allow the creation of a favorable environment from the perspective of this social group. It evaluates the preferences of their space. What is important is to identify and assess the main criteria for women in determining the optimum location with respect to the meaning derived from evaluated images. The aim of this research was to improve desirability of the environment from the perspective of women as well as their right to choose and evaluate the image of public spaces of Tehran.
The research method is based on the techniques developed by Jack L. Nasar. In Nasar’s study, a phenomenological hermeneutic approach is used to describe the connotations and emotions image representation of women in the experience of urban spaces desirable / undesirable and nature of development of the city of Tehran. For this purpose, 15 in-depth interviews were conducted through purposive sampling. Interviews were recorded and the obtained data was written in the form of tables. Repeatability analysis was performed on the data. The results indicate that the optimal site selected through women’s mental image of highly desirable locations is associated with the concepts of freedom, justice, place dignity, socio-cultural prestige, historical identity, beauty, being stylish and full of details, quiet and cozy, vast but with privacy, green, happy mood and health.

Gender or Sex? Is there a difference between them? Do opposite sexes feel dramatically different about the same places or the same built environment at the same time? Are there any diversities between understanding and perception? Is there a possibility of existing different perceptions between different genders of a same built environment? The distinction between sex and gender (the anatomy of an individual’s reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics), which can refer to either social roles based on the sex of the person (gender role) or personal identification of one’s own gender based on an internal awareness (gender identity). The sex and gender distinction is not universal. In ordinary speech, sex and gender are often used interchangeably. In one hand the term perception (from the Latin perception) is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information, or the environment. Perception is not only the passive receipt of these signals, but it is also shaped by the recipient’s learning, memory, expectation, and attention. On the other hand there is the term understanding. Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object. Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object of understanding. Understanding implies abilities and dispositions with respect to an object of knowledge that are sufficient to support intelligent behaviors. The present paper aims to well achieve the necessary items in a built environment’s design, which has been designed properly for both genders (male and female). Thus such built environment is an outcome of considering and cognizing the differences between two genders’ perceptions. It should be emphasized that a built environment’s perception is one of the most important and complex aspects of the recognition and measurement of built environment. Meanwhile, one of the most important aspects of these differences and another significant feature is gender, and it seems that gender is related to people’s attitudes and perceptions of a phenomena. Therefor as a result of such differences it can be inferred that, different people in confrontation with a built environment may have different perceptions. It seems that such complicated issues have not been studied independently while the beneficial results of such advantageous experiments can have a significant impact on improving the quality of human environment. Therefor this brief study intends to properly respond the following questions: “is there any meaningful association between gender and the perception of the built environment? Are there any significant difference in the features of a place, in the perception of the built environment by the inquiry samples, among the sexes?” To achieve the answers of the proposed questions analyzing a public place where both genders may attend equally should be chosen. Of course there are many various places with different functions where both males and females might widely attend. We chose cultural centers out of the many functional built environments that are being used by both genders. The cultural centers were selected in different locations in Tehran and Groups of male and female respondents have been used due to evaluate implication of the perception of the built environment. The convincing reason of choosing different location is to prevent the regional factor to influence this survey. The method is semantic differential or SD. It is a type of a rating scale designed to measure the connotative meaning of objects, events, and concepts. The connotations are used to derive the attitude towards the given objects, event or concept. The semantic differential is today’s one of the most widely used scales used in the measurement of attitudes. One of the reasons is the versatility of the items. The bipolar adjective pairs can be used for a wide variety of subjects. Based on the results of this research, people in dealing with the built environment are considerably sensitive about all aspects of that place, visual categories, and emotional, cognitive and functional aspects. This issue should be noticeably considered by designers. Therefor they should consider a suitable approach that all users’ senses are properly stimulated. This could lead to more complete and evocate understandings of the built environment. Taking everything into consideration the results of this study can lead to achieve remarkably the differences of female and male perceptions, and with considering these significant differences, to improve the quality of both sexes presence.

Identity of the city and its advantages can be found over time. Constructive elements of form, composition and method of operating time enable everyone to associate a meaning, enhancing the ability to create a mental image, a sense of place and urban identity. So characteristic of the city can create a mental image in the minds of its citizens. Consideration is what is common between both cities. Characteristics of urban identity is based on the natural, synthetic and human cities’ characteristics. So, the image in people minds might be the same from what is expected from the spatial organization of the city. Image of the city, including the degree of perception and recognition, links the city’s elements as well as the city and the its events, places and times with non-spatial concepts and values. Some factors affecting the design of components and urban forms are including culture, religion, construction methods and materials, the aesthetic concepts or residential treatment. These factors, alone or in combination with appropriate priorities can influence urban and architecture design. Every space, more or less, has an identity and the ultimate identity of the space is the subsequent of its functional, physical, environmental, cultural and semantic identities. This makes it possible to distinguish the Iranian urban space from urban spaces of other nations by determination of the identity characteristics of each kind of space. Unfortunately, today many cities have no identity, in the sense that if the environmental features of a city have many commonalities with those of another city, the two cities are said to have the same identity. Such a shared identity would be unfavorable. It is also possible that a city with its unique geographical, cultural, social, economic, political, and physical characteristics is environmentally responsive while another city with the same identity is found to have different geographical, cultural, social, economic, political, and physical characteristics. Therefore, it can be said that the latter suffers from the identity crisis since its physical characteristics are not compatible with its underlying shaping components. The purpose of this paper is to explain components of the physical identity of Iranian traditional cities. Therefore the “model of the urban form components” in four Iranian traditional cities -Shiraz, Isfahan, Yazd and Bushehr- will be put into the test. Selecting these cities is because of their historical context, their historical value and
the city values. Research • Expression of Natural, Synthetic and Human Components of Physical Identity of City:In general, the natural, synthetic or human components form the physical identity of cities. Natural structural components include geographic coordinates, climate, vegetation, soil variability, water route and … form the natural identity of the cities. Synthetic components include the totality of urban forms, structures of the cities, the most important indicators of cities (squares, gates, markets, palaces and important buildings of the cities) and urban mass (old districts). The human components include lineage and ancestry, the situation of religion, customs and dialects. • Expression of Components of Townscape, Urban Image, Urban Form and Urban Sense: The Image of traditional Iranian cities includes townscape, urban image, urban form and urban sense. The overall affects that observer from various cities in mind, landmarks, paths, edges, nodes, districts, facades and urban spaces are substantial. Each of these items can vary in different cities. The sense of the city includes people and their activities, physical characteristics and sounds of the city or town smells. This research’s method explored in the Iranian cities is a descriptive - analytical and field method to gather information and documents are available. Therefore, to establish the formal identity of the cities may be introduced in the following: 1. Physical factors affecting identity formation Iranian city is formulated. 2. Knowledge, understanding and skeletal structure of cities and efforts to preserve, regeneration and update them to safeguard the values inherent in contemporary cities. The results show that there are elements of cultural, political, economic and climate in the Identity of Iranian cities. In other words, the formation of many Iranian cities has been caused by these factors. So it can be stated: 1. Politics impacts on the identity formation in Isfahan. 2. Culture impacts on the identity formation in Shiraz. 3. Economic impacts on the identity formation in Bushehr. 4. Climate impacts on identity formation in Yazd. Noteworthy is that lack of understanding and structure of traditional cities creates great harm to them. Moreover, efforts to preserve and restore the values of sustainable development in Iran has had a positive impact on traditional urban patterns. Components of identity and its impact on the city are significant as a prelude to understanding urban planners and those involved in the construction of cities.

Environment and landscpae has different qulities created through perception and used in landscape design and planning. In addition¡ perception is mental structure caused recognition and aesthetic expriments. Therefore¡ recognizing different methods of environmental perception has and important role to evaluate landscape and its spataial quality. In the current study discriptive method has been applied. The results show that proper sensual stimulus improve visual perception. Landscape designer shoud decrease speed of movemnet in complex landscape to prepare appropriate condition for users to percepet landscape completely and clearly. Furthermore¡ direct path can be designied for fast move in monotonus landscapes. Finally¡ it should be noted that recognition is a process that is valued by viewer images and perception.

In modern architecture there is a sort of visual disorder. It lacks identity. The need is highly felt to turn to eclecticism to establish appropriate literature and designing principles. To achieve it, a sort of consensus among users are needed because what architects create is a potential environment for human behavior which can influence them. The users’ role is so great and their attributes can be the establishment of the architecture principles. It can be said that these patterns and principles are the factors that contribute to identify and distinguish the environment and turn it into a specific locality and neighborhood and form its place identity. Constituent elements and their combinations have the capability to associate meaning, create mental image, and form sense of place and identity. On the other hand, these features can be deemphasized or excluded. Planner as a person who deals with city or place anatomy, first directs his attention to external factors that influence on observer and then forms it in his/her mind. It is evident that everyone perceives the images that the planner forms in the environment. However, it seems that there is a great deal of similarities between perceptions of the same groups. These similar and common images which result from a great number of individuals’ agreement on the importance of a specific image are what attract a planner’s attention since the environment created by a planer is used by many. In fact, space users agree on what elements and patters are desirable and undesirable, what elements are bold in their collective memories and what are not be used to trace desirable behavioral and anatomical patterns. Environmental Psychology can be used to answer such questions. Many studies in Environmental Psychology have been done on issues like individuals’ cognitive – mental images of environment by focusing on constituent anatomical criteria of memorable, readable and understandable spaces in a holistic view of city. Lynch’s study can be named as a remarkable example in which he collected individuals’ mental images and by focusing on individuals’ plans, he attempted to understand their mentality of place and select the elements that lead to legibility and durability. In fact, in the area of environmental psychology and in particular mental image of the environment, by focusing on physical criteria of legible and memory maker spaces on an urban scale, many studies have been done, butthere are few studies on the importance of the criteria in scale of a building. Since the aim of this study is identification and comparison of effective elements in making the mental image of Shahzade gardeg in Kerman, the mental images of Statistical Society were gathered and analyzed by Delphi method. As a result, the effective organizing principles on mental images of visitors were recognized. The findings are analyzed and compared accordingly. Finally, we tried to develop the anatomical criteria which influence on mental images. This paper tried to answer two questions:1) What is the mental image?
2) What are the organizing principles that effect on common mental images of visitors?
This research used qualitative and quantitative methods and data was collected in a library and survival ways. Statistical population of this study was 30 female students of architecture that are in the first semester. They were asked to draw their mental images of Shahzade Garden. Then the Delphi method was used to image analysis. Finally, the results were analyzed. These results indicate some effective organizing principles on mental images of visitirsin the Shahzadeh Garden are: 1) the symmetry, rhythm and repetition in the building; 2) overall geometry of space and layout; 3) relationship between the main building, entrance pavilion and the linear path between them; 4) the difference in level existing in garden and the relationship between ponds and also water movement during its; 5) Some details such as stairs, rails and divisions doors and windows And other effective principles on mental images of this building are in next categories of importance. The result of this paper is just related to a case study of linear organization buildings. These results help to develop more appropriate and efficient design criteria as a link between architectural design and environmental psychology.

Urban public realms are as the spaces for presence of people and places for citizen's interaction and urban activities; so occurs many urban functions in them. Therefore, citizen's health depends on the quality and efficiency of urban public realms. A good urban public realm, where users prefer and use it persists. People prefer to reduce their presence in the public realms or change them, if they dont compatible with the needs of users or they dont understand quality of them. Understanding the quality of public realm is a purposeful process in which environmental data is received by the people. So it is dependent on environmental conditions and characteristics of individual perception. The aim of this article is to study quality of urban public realms and facilitate social relations in them. So, it has relied on the phenomenological approach of human and environment interaction in understanding urban public realms quality and utilized to Grounded theory to study the behavioral pattern of Mashhad metropolitan public realms. Spearman correlation test results show that there is a significant correlation between user desires and perceived environment meaning. People's desires and expectations of urban public realms and Discover the meaning of environment are created on the basis of individual and social characteristics. As well, the perceived quality is affected by age, gender and level of individual awareness of the environment and also the purpose of visiting public realms.