International Journal of Architecture and Urban Development
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Winter 2016

The study evaluated the physical qualities and satisfaction in students’ housing in selectedStudents’ Housing for the University of Ibadan. Through survey method, eight hostels were purposively selected tocapture variation in gender, level of study and hostel design. The sampling frame showed that 5605 students at UI werefound in 2,147 rooms. One out of every 10 (10%) of the rooms were selected which amounted to 215 students selected.The result shows that the functional qualities of the hostels were perceived among the students to be well aboveaverage (55.3%). Similarly, both aesthetics (95.8%) and structural (89.3%) qualities of the hostels were perceived tobe excellent among the students. Also, respondents were satisfied with various services and amenities provided in theHalls of Residence (54.4%) and 35.3% expressed neutral satisfaction. The study concluded that, Physical qualities andSatisfaction are important in the study of Students’ Housing Design.

This paper reviews the experience of Persian designers and planners for creating the most livableand greenery capital city in the hole region of Middle East throughout the 17th Century. New concepts of urban greendevelopment emerged in that time. Some of these ideas where extremely creative and vanguard from there era andstill some of them are the main theoretical basics of urban green planning in the modern world. This paper focuses onIsfahan’s greenway planning ideas and discusses how the city transformed to a sustainable city in Safavid period. Thediscussion is based on the combination of the organic and planned forms of greenway design, which was unique by thattime and made the garden city of Isfahan. The Maddies1, which are the branches of water derived from the river andflowed inside the urban context, are studied as the bases of organic greenway and the Charbagh2 and Naghshe-JahanSquare are investigated as the planned green developments.

Banjarmasin is known as a tidal waterfront city and it is called City of a Thousand Rivers. The city level was approximately -16 cm below the sea level and almost a swamp-land. The urbanization and the city development programs have changed the city’s physical and spatial plan from a wetland to a mainland structure. The issues of the city's transformation have changed the city structure from the waterfront city into the mainland city. Confusion about its architectural identity occurs in the tidal land context from the water-based architectural typology transformation to land-based architectural typology. Reinterpretation of architectural identity needs to be made so that the image of the tidal city will not disappear. The purpose of this study is to revive the architectural identity of Banjarmasin city. This research will be useful for academic and practices for the local management control of the city’s government The research procedures could be interpreted as typo-morphological in a tidal waterfront city, through several approaches employing the interpretive-descriptive-retrospective methods in the history of Banjarmasin’s urban development and Banjar’s community adaptation in this tidal environment.The research findings are: The architectural identity of tidal city can be found in the adaptation of Banjar’s community behavior; The architectural tidal identity has been fading, becoming ambiguous and unfamiliar to the present generation of Banjar community; Reinterpretation of the tidal architectural identity may serve as a guideline for the city’s lay-out developing from the architectural design of the present and the future.

Urban space can be the most successful public arena in this century if employ the potentialsfor collective cooperation in creative ways in order to provide further services. The theory of creative city tries tostrengthen the qualities which enhance the image of a city for the citizens and create a dynamic city in terms of cultureand intercultural learning. Therefore, the existence of generator, open, and the popular spaces are necessary along 24hours a day. Since the nightly work and activity gradually became parts of the urban life, urbanization requirementsconverted night into day for people, and the urban spaces allocated a special position in this phenomenon. Desirableurban spaces should be made in response to the present urban environment of the cities. Accordingly, the purpose ofthis study is to present designed solutions in order to interactive lighting to create live and urban spaces. The studyuses a qualitative research method and a case study, based on field studies via a questionnaire and direct observations,meanwhile recognizing the principles of making creativity in urban spaces and the study of physical and socialenvironments of Ahmadabad Avenue- Mashhad are investigated by using SPSS to analyze formal, qualitative andvisual values in the space. Results of this study indicate whatever emphasized in urban design and the darkness comesfollowing the sunset, may arise disorder in its performance, to helping artificial light modeling keep its efficiencyduring the night.

Climate is one of the many factors such as socio-cultural values, economics, materials,administrative factors and technology that influence architectural forms. The climatic solutions effecting on architecture,differ in various regions, cultures, time and technology. The climate of the province of Golestan plays an active rolein the formation and diversity of vernacular dwellings. This region is in contact with numerous environmental factors.It is limited by Alborz Mountain in the south, by Turkmenistan desert in the north-east, and by Caspian Sea in thenorth-west bringing about high humidity in this province. With this background, the paper's question raised: "Howdo the climatic design principles of vernacular architecture respond to microclimates in this region?" In this paper,the focus is on building's envelopes and shells in three local climatic scopes of the region. The paper is based on acombination of research methodologies: field research (integrating case studies) and archival research. The climaticdata are being analyzed by Mahoney tables providing preliminary design recommendations. They are grouped undereight headings: layout, spacing, ventilation, openings (size, position and protection), the relation between buildingand ground, veranda, wall and roof. This essay argues about the knowledge and skill of vernacular and traditionalbioclimatic construction suggesting conceptual strategies for improve current dwelling aiming to a sustainable future.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the preferences of urban dwellers for variouselements of urban parks in order to provide some important suggestions for rehabilitation of urban deficient parks. Inthis regard, this study has conducted a survey in one of the oldest parks in Khorramabad, Iran, to reveal the overallsatisfaction of the park situation and to explore the preferences of users regarding the characteristics of appropriate hardand soft landscape elements of the park. This paper uses five independent combined analyses covering elements of theurban park, including locational, functional, physical, visual and the vegetation characteristics in order to provide themost preferable elements for rehabilitation of this park. For finding significant results, questionnaires are distributedamong 100 park users during spring 2014. Findings of the research show general dissatisfaction regarding the existingcondition of the park and provide some key points that can be helpful for improvement of the quality of the park basedon visitors' ideas.

Nowadays, planning is no longer considered merely a scientific and technical career nor agovernment responsibity. It rather functions as a bridge connecting the planners to institutional changes. In otherwords, the planning theory does not develop in a social, economic and political vacuum, but is formulated byindividuals in social situations with the aim of clarifying the enviroment recommending appropriate procedures andprocesses. The purpose of this research was to identify the explanatory and normative capability of the StrategicStructural Plans theory in the context of institutionalism so as to enhance the capacity of its application in practice. Forthis purpose, the grounded theory was adopted as a research strategy within the framework of qualitative methodology.The data collection instruments involved desk study, interviews with experts, managers and specialists, collaborativeobservations on the environment. The research environment included macro and micro levels. At the macro level, thefocus was on comprehensible conditions and components of Iranian spatial planning system, while the micro levelserved to examine on the local scale the urban planning and management through sample mining in Mashhad, Iran.As a result of this analysis, a total of 159 concepts, 44 categories and 9 major categories and 6 topics were recognized.Among the categories identified, institutionalism in the theory of Strategic Structural Plans was selected because of thefrequent appearance in the data and its relation to other categories as axial category, where the paradigm model wasoutlined emphasizing on the causal and context condition, intervention, strategies and consequences.

City is the most complicated and tangible creature of man. There is a critical mutual communicationbetween human and city; and the effect of one’ living environment is beyond question. Graffiti is a new urbanphenomenon, which has drawn attention in light of its connection with protestation culture and street art. Thanks tosymbolism of graffiti, the artists have added mysterious aspects to their work and distinguished themselves from formalculture. Social protestation is the most notable feature of the graffiti found in Iranian cities. However, to the best of ourknowledge, there has been no notable research work in Iran on the relationship of human, society, and existence fromof graffiti symbolism viewpoint in particular. The present study is an attempt to survey and evaluate common symbolsused on urban graffiti through documentary research. Technique and content analysis in stratified semiology based onIranian-Islamic culture were taken into account.