A Qualitative Study of Culture of Living in Apartments in the City of Hamedan

The present paper aimed to anthropologically examine the culture if living I apartments in the city of Hamedan. The theoretical framework for this study is the anthropology of space and place by Amos Rapoport. The studied field included three residential complex of ‘Sa’idiyyeh, Madani and Bu Ali’ in the city of Hamedan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the ‘key informants’, including the board of directors, watchmen, service men and 40 residents of the three complexes. The methodology applied in this study was ethnographic fieldwork. The data was collected through interviews and direct observation and was analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method. Findings show that due to excessive migration from villages and small cities to the center of province, living in apartments has become more common and at the same time, its related issues and problems have risen up. Un-balanced and un-planned development of living in apartments leads to behavioral, interactional and cultural problems which are the characteristics of living in apartments in Hamedan.