Neighbourhood rights in the context of the geomorphological limitations of rural settlements (Case study: Oraman Takht village)

Iranian-Islamic architecture and urbanity as an approach inherited from traditional uran development present specific patterns of planning and management of Iranian historic cities. Nowadays, these patterns can be observed in traditional cities and villages. These patterns have been always in harmony with local climate, environment and social condition. Some of the settlements with specific spatial patterns that have been shaped according to the local geomorphological constraints present a specific model of settlement. Neighborhood right as one of the basic rights in Iranian-Islamic system have been embedded in all human settlements and observed through traditions, behaviors and principle social codes of conduct.
Oraman Takht village of Kurdistan presents a particular residential pattern where contemporary urban rules and regulations are in conflict with neighborhood rights.. Therefore, this research seeks to answer the following questions: how neighborhood rights can be defined in the context of the interaction between ownership rights and public interests? And, how the process of dealing with “legal conflicts” through “customary agreement” can be conducive to the realization of neighborhood rights?
This research relies on examining the holy Quran as well as contemporary laws and regulations. Adopting a descriptive approach, the paper addresses the research questions using holy Quran teachings and field observations in social and built environment of the Oraman Takht village. Masooleh village in Gilan and Oramannat villlage in Kordistan are presented and analyzed as our case-studies.
The findings of the research determine how customary agreements can present a way for the sustainability of settlement development and observing neighborhood rights. This sustainability can be achieved in the context of conflicts between ownership rights and public interests; This implies that urban laws and regulations and ownership rights cannot - on their own –ensure the sustainable development of social and built environment in settlements like Oraman Takht. Through this traditional process, legal conflict can be addressed through social agreements based on traditional customs of the society
This research also shows that climatic, environmental and social conditions of settlements, creates an environment where social interactions are not formed based on formal codes, and regulations, but on the basis of social customs that balances the interaction between private property rights and public interests. In this traditional process, the legal conflicts are transformed to social agreements. This issue arises not from a gap in laws and regulations, but from the conflicts that arise between private property rights and public interests in private and public places. This conflict cannot be addressed in the domain of formal laws and regulations, but within the common laws of the society. Addressing such conflicts is possible through a shift from “law-based conflict of interests” to “custom-based agreement” for achieving neighborhood rights.