Space Ontology International Journal
Volume:5 Issue: 4, Autumn 2016

For several decades,Iranian cities are experiencing major and fast urban growth. At the top of them is Tehran, Iran’s capital city, with doubled population in 30years from approximately 6 to 12.5 million in 2016. Undoubtedly such a magnificent raise in population has increasedthe need for settlements and the city has to respond to it. Today, Tehran,is the center for such exogenous development while suffering from a wide range of difficulties in urban development. Since human settlement plays a critical role in urban development, it needs to be considered carefully. Currently, apartment residency is the most common type of dwelling in Tehran, as well as most of Iran’s major metropolitan areas. This article focuses on the cultural and social deficiencies of contemporary mass housing in Tehran. A survey is conductedto investigate the seven proposed concepts to promote social facilitation, social participation and cultural aspects of apartment residences. Furthermore, the concepts are aimed to promote place attachment and place identity and raise residential satisfaction as well as quality of life. The results show that, implementing these concepts will promote social and cultural aspects of contemporary residences in Tehran and consequently other fast-growing cities of Iran.Subsequently, such improvement will facilitate in achieving the social and cultural aspects of sustainable urban development in metropolitans in Iran.

While in the historic urban fabric of Iran's cities, there are numerous traditional buildings that have stood up for more than one hundred years, today's buildings, in spite of advanced construction technologies, are not comparable with those traditional ones in terms of resiliency and durability. The sustainable vernacular strategies in design and construction of these traditional houses are the main reasons of their durability. This study discussed and analyzed the vernacular approach and climatic design of traditional Qajarian.houses, which survived for at least one hundred years in Iran. Building orientation according to the sun, construction materials, compatibility with water sources and wind power, and finally structural organization are five parameters which have been analyzed in two buildings in the hot climatic region of Iran. Data collection relies on library research and empirical case study. This research shows the analyzed buildings’ design and construction are the response to their climatic situation and are compatible with their contexts.While these buildings are located in two cities with some climatic differences -especially humidity-, their vernacular design strategies have some similarities. However, their differences due to their distinct climatic conditions are undeniable. Finally, the research displays that these buildings put into service climatic opportunities, which are the aftereffect of centuries of optimization of building orientation, material use and construction capabilities with less environmental impact.

Migration and quality of redistribution of population across country is one of the main factors that planners take into account to control population and guide its movements to economic poles. Scientific recognition of migration phenomenon is important for managing and policy making in the country. These movements change migration pattern, in a way that along with increase in population and the number of cities, urban-urban and rural-urban pattern of migration turned to be the dominant pattern of migration. This pattern was geographically influenced by regional differences and social and economic attractions of cities and villages. Unplanned movements of rural population may bring undesirable consequences to regions and improperly change the region’s morphology and spatial structure pattern of the entire region. The main purpose of this research is to investigate and understand the patterns of intra-provincial migrations during last decades and to analyze the underlying factors. The method adopted for this research is quantitative and the approach is descriptive-analytical. Research data includes intra-provincial migration data in scale of the province’s rural sub- districts (Dehestan) during 1996- 2011, which is obtained from the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI). To analyze migration data, the methods of calculating the intensity of crude migration and factor analysis were used; then, correlation of spatial structure of West-Azerbaijan province with the variables of density, distance, connection and intra-provincial migration rate was examined. The results show that spatial structure of West-Azerbaijan was unidirectional in 1996; but, the spatial distribution trend of migration during selected 15 years revealed a kind of decentralization and tended towards clustered spatial pattern. The pattern of spatial connection changed from duality model to continuity model.

It seems like in the contemporary era and with the use of approaches which are formed during a passage from structuralism to poststructuralism, a number of fundamental changes have taken place in the different types of relationships between the works of architecture, their methods of productions and different readings of it along with the differences in the types of research and criticism among them. Such changes are present to a point that the borders between the works of architecture have become fairly vague and their relationships are probable, as these links can extremely question the self-existence nature of the work. We can search a set of orders in the mentioned link with this approach based on the amounts and quality of the connection between the works of architecture.With an assumption that the role of western architecture on the contemporary architecture of Iran can be subject of reading either as: 1.receiving an impression, approaching or arriving for a personal language; in other words, solid Interarchitecturality through a production-oriented process, or 2. as the suspension of a link on a level/ surface (layer); in other words it is a type of light Interarchitecturality.

With current new urban developments, no balance can be found between green spaces and open areas present within urban networks and natural land patterns since urban networks are dominating ecological networks. Accordingly, one of the major tasks of urban and regional planners is the optimal land use allocation to urban green spaces. Therefore, to achieve this goal in this research, locations of newparks(basis on physical, social and economical factors) were analyzed using weighted linear combination (WLC)techniques and evolutionary algorithms. After comparing the results of the two methods, suitable locations for the development of urban green spaces on a local scale were proposed, on the basis of which it was found that heuristic algorithms have good potential to work with spatial data and evaluate land use suitability since they obtain better solutions with greater accuracy and flexibility in less time. Afterwards, suitability analyses of existing local parks(basis on physical, social , economical and ecological factors) were performed using the WLC method and Fragstats software. It was discovered that the existing parks are not on a suitable level based on the study criteria. Therefore, it is suggested that newer parks be established in areas with greater potential and small green spots as well asin the northern parts of the city for improvement.

This study aims to convert to tangible elements (i.e., physical structures of cultural tourism) the various cultural dimensions and past symbols of Tabriz (which are considered collectively as tourism goods) by partially revitalizing the historical Imam Khomeini Street which is considered to be an arena for social life and a suitable environment for visiting tourists. The SWOT method was implemented to analyze the existing situation regarding this case study upon examining the relevant cultural tourism concepts. The Delphi technique was used to provide a questionnaire the results of which were used as coefficients for selecting the most effective strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T). The design strategies were also extracted from the SWOT table and the most prioritized of these including SO1, WO3, ST2, and WT1 selected using the quantitative strategic planning matrix.

Tourism is rapidly developing as a profitable and clean industry in the world. Today, tourists consider urban areas as tourist attractions since, in addition to the body which has its own charm,every space is dominated by an identity. In this descriptive, comparative study, the criteria determining the urban space identity are attempted to be specified through documentary studies. Then, 105 questionnaires were distributed among various user groups of the space including the residents and shopkeepers at Imam KhomeiniStreet, the citizens of Qazvin, tourists coming to the city since the beginning of the year 2014 and experts on Qazvin urban area. The urban space identity was specified by analyzing the questionnaires. Moreover, the main criteria determining such an identity were determined according to each group’s view point using the Friedman test. The results of the study indicated that Imam Khomeini Street and its micro spaces had strong cultural and religious identities in the past. Furthermore, it was revealed thata historical identity had been also added to them over time. However, for various reasons, the identity dominating such urban spaces has declined in recent years, and have somewhat been forgotten. Based on the findings of this study,we can hope to attract historical and religious tourists into the city as well as urban spacesthrough putting an emphasis on historical and religious identity of Imam Khomeini Streetand its micro spaces.Among the proposed approaches, sufficient funding for the presence and accommodation of tourists, turning historic houses adjacent to Imam Khomeini Street to traditional accommodation for tourists and transforming abandoned spaces adjacent to Imam Khomeini Street to cultural spaces for attracting tourists, such as crafts workshops, theater, indigenous art gallery, traditional restaurant with local music, etc. can be named. Other approaches also include holding special programsfor introducing Qazvin such as festival of Qazvin Day in form of some various programs including music, theater, local festivals, etc.