International Journal of Architecture and Urban Development
Volume:4 Issue: 3, Summer 2014

Events in the building industry in Nigeria in the last decade show the important role the private sector played in housingfinance. With the advent of the public-private partnership concept in almost every sector of the socio-economic spheresof the nation, the role of the private sector in housing finance cannot be over-emphasized. This paper clearly states thatthe low-income public servants do not easily have access to housing finance. The responsibility of generating housingfinance at a relatively low interest rate repayable over a maximum period of twenty five years rests on whoever seeks for ahousing loan through the Federal Mortgage Bank or the Primary Mortgage Institutions. This paper seeks mediatory role ofthe private sector between this class of the society and the mortgage banks to source for funds to enable them to own theirhouses. The research method employed in this paper is the survey research in which questionnaires were administeredon members of three housing estates, two housing estates in Lagos and one in Abuja. This paper examines the role ofthe private sector in the public-private partnership in housing delivery to low-income earners in Nigeria through housingfinance. The findings showed that majority of the respondents had access to either mortgage or commercial banks tosource for funding or the purchase of the houses.

Middle of squares, one of the components of physical aspect is considered as an appropriateindicator in designing successful urban squares, which consequently promotes visual quality. The present study aims todetermine how the above mentioned aspect was presented in the Middle-Ages and Renaissance within Italian squares.Considering the aim of the investigation, library studies as well as visual documentations, with a historical-descriptiveapproach were applied in studying Italian community-oriented squares, Campo located in Siena, Del Campidoglioin Rome and San Marco in Venice. Results showed that, urban designers have employed some indicators, includingphysical aspect and its factors such as proportions, shape, surface design, materials, colors and topography in order topromote aesthetic-visual qualities, as well as human scale and unity of space to successfully design attractive middlesin squares. These all, efficiently influence users’ presence, pause, movement type and trend, direction, speed and eventheir behavior. Accordingly, considering the mentioned aspect is of great importance in designing future squares.

One of the most important natural factors and critical facilities in Tehran is presence of AlborzSlopes River-Valleys which have been considered as natural tourist places for citizens since a long time ago, especiallyin hot summers and play effective role in creating a balance between manmade and natural spaces. Importance ofthese river-valleys as ecological pathways is enhanced with the increase in population and development of river-valleycities can become a vital element of urban life cycle. However unfortunately, their inappropriate use has only reducedthe quality of life in their area. Design of riparian parks, establishing dynamic edges and creating lively urban spacemay give a new spirit into the lifeless body of these river-valleys. This paper has been written aiming at planning anddesign of sustainable resorts in the area of Kan River-Valley (The largest urban watercourse of Tehran) and attemptedto answer this question that has Kan River ecological context and environmental characteristics to become a greenurban corridor? Land use planning process has been used and strategic planning has been performed using analytical- descriptive method of artificial, natural and visual characteristics of the subject area, relying on the table Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threat (SWOT) and using present capabilities and removing barriers. The researchresults show that using sustainable ecologic landscape design and compatible with the environment, is an appropriatestrategy for revitalizing the urban river-valleys.

Although in most of the rural development plans, relocation of informal settlements is oftenconsidered as an efficient solution to increase safety of rural communities against natural and man-made disasters,such as, earthquakes, fire hazards, floods, etc. an evaluation of recent experiences in the relocation projects show thatthe relocated community is often unsatisfied with the new residential areas. In most cases, the new residential areas areadvantageous in compare to the informal settlements in terms of utility infrastructures and architecture design but thepublic remain reluctant to migrate to the new place. This paper, tries to evaluate the role of Community participationin the process of informal settlements relocation projects in Kerman province, an Iranian south-eastern state, bymeasuring people's evaluation of their own participation in the process of decision-making during five key relocationphases, namely, choice of new location, methods of relocation, architectural design of the new areas, constructionprocedures and supervision on the whole project. Questionnaire survey was employed to gather these data and wasfollowed by statistical analysis (by SPSS software) in order to approve meaningful relationships. The results showedthat lack of community participation had been responsible for a number of uninhabited settlement projects and someunfinished construction projects during the whole relocation process.

For over the past several decades, there has been a great concern about energy crisis and lackof non-renewable resources. Residential buildings take more than 25% of the total energy consumption and morethan 75% of energy consumption in these buildings is for heating, cooling and hot sanitary water. On the other hand,traditional buildings of Iran were designed according to ecological conditions upon which, winter or summer sectionswere built. In this article, first, winter section of Yazd traditional homes, which are in hot-arid region and its thermalbehavior, will be studied. This computer simulation is done and validated with energy-plus software, and temperaturechanges of these sections were measured with lascar electronics data logger. The results confirmed its reliability.Second, sections with different proportions such as three-door room, five-door room and seven-door room in differentorientations, and their thermal behavior are analyzed and compared. So the thermal behavior of winter sections inYazd traditional homes during a year shows that in winter, the proportions of five-door room in northwest orientationis better than others.

Spatial planning in border areas in Iran because of long borders and settling more than half ofthe provinces in the country's international borders with neighbouring countries play particular role in the planningsystem. This article aims to clarify the position of border areas spatial planning in the country planning system,identifying its elements, elucidating how these elements relate to other elements, as well as explaining the importanceand urgency of addressing border areas planning. Southeast region of Iran, particularly Konarak to Guater Gulf, whichdue to underdevelopment and drugs issues urgently needs to spatial planning, review as the case study. According tothe importance of this district in soil and water boundaries of Iran, passive defence approach is examined in spatialplanning. This paper tries to explain spatial planning in mentioned border area in the framework of passive defencestrategy by using descriptive – analytical research method. On this basis, according to the features and potentials ofthe study area and with emphasis on the growth poles strategy, plans with increasing the development capacity andpromoting the area's security(passive defence) In four dimension economic, cultural, management and physical.

The design of tourist walkways and developments of strategies for more prolonged presence of people at ancientcontextures are considered as vivid multiple procedures in protecting of contexture, tour guiding and urbansustainability. Shading in open spaces and pathways, especially in tourist areas, is one of the most important factorsin providing the thermal comfort perception. So in innovation of architectural shading samples, some strategies andvariable sunshades are needed by consideration of climate changes in any specified area and the changes of the sunposition in the sky during days and different times of the year, alternately. This study analyzes the proportion of thethermal comfort in one of the tourist paths of the Zandieh complex located in Shiraz. This path lacks the appropriatefunction based on the researches by the thermal comfort means, so identifying a path and an appropriate place pauseconcerning climate conditions, environment, bed and contexture of specified area, presents you a suitable and effectivepattern of a sunshade for the mentioned path, towards urban sustainability. This research is carried out by practical andscientific method of descriptive and bottom-up type. New hypothesis are generated from collected data. Data collectionis based on library and metrical method.

Banberz, Banbor, and Sabziabad neighborhoods are three residential districts on the peripheryof Ilam city, and are facing a lot of problems namely social, economic, and physical, particularly in housing sectorincluding low quality, poor housing, limited-quantity housing. In order to assess the sustainability of housing, 75indicators and to rank districts, SPSS software (exploratory factor analysis) is used. On the basis of economic, social,educational, health, and environmental services and culture three districts (Banbarz, Banboor, Sabziabad) wereselected as marginal neighborhood. Most houses, have been built away from without permission and building permitsand engineering control in small scale measures. According to statistical models; most of household economic statusesare below the poverty line. According to the findings of the questionnaire, fabric and physical feature, type of building,materials applied, quality of building and density of residential units of most units out of any control and withoutengineering standards in small-scale piece of land, were built without a permit and building permit. Given the statisticalmodels, the economic status of households indicate that more than 70 percent of them live below the poverty line.