Requirements for flexible housing design in worn-out urban fabrics (Case Study: Shaheed Maghoul Neighborhood located in the worn-out fabric of District 6 of Mashhad, Iran

As the most human subject of architecture, housing and residential environments meet various needs of people and provide peace, health, nurture, and self-improvement [1]. Housing must be flexible to the circumstances growing or moving families face. Providing housing in worn-out urban fabrics deals with particular conditions. The Shaheed Maghoul Neighborhood is one of the worn-out fabrics of District 6 of Mashhad, where ethnic diversity can be witnessed. There are numerous non-Mashhadi individuals who did not built their houses and were forced to choose the pre-built residential units for living. The failure of the residential units to fulfill the needs of the residents through different stages of life brings about population relocation, followed by identity loss of the fabric. Flexibility is a proper response to solve housing in worn-out fabrics. In this study, which uses an applied objective and analytical methods, flexible housing provision strategies were initially identified. Next, the preferences of people of various ethnicities for changes to improve living conditions were introduced through a survey method in the study area. Considering the type of life stage people were in, strategies regarding flexibility were identified. According to research results, the cultural characteristics of people living in the urban fabric favor different strategies to meet housing needs in all life periods. Thus, to decrease housing problems in worn-out urban fabrics, attention to cultural and ethnic differences will be fundamental to the effectiveness of the design. However, the divisibility of units in worn-out urban fabrics is suggested among all flexibility strategies. In general, the research results can serve as a guide to enhancing housing quality in worn-out fabrics.