International Journal of Architectural Engineering & Urban Planning
Volume:32 Issue: 2, Apr 2022

Architecture lays on the intersection between art and science. However, while the social effects of architecture are coming to the fore, there emerges to be a notion that technological progress in the construction sector demands more scientifically inclined research in the field. This notion can not be segregated from the technical aspect and it is through this notion that architecture can be conceived fully with respect to both art and science. Feltrinelli building in Milan may be a great example to understand how architects reinterpret place, language, and program by way of “authorial gestures”. This article tries to break down Feltrinelli building to its essential elements in order to get a better understanding of how these elements are technical, while they play a significant role in architectural poetry and make a unique whole with a distinguishing character. In order to get into essential elements, we used architectural techniques such as site survey, modeling, photography, and drawings. By the use of these techniques, we can clarify our point that the way architecture is conceived goes beyond mere functions and techniques.

This study aims to investigate how lighting design can be used as an environmental design feature within historic sites in cities to turn a space into a place through placemaking processes. Accordingly, the research question is: What artificial lighting design aspects need to be taken into account in historic sites within cities through a placemaking process? Naghshe-Jahan Square’s in Isfahan, Iran, is chosen as the case study as it is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This research uses ethnographic research methods as a qualitative research method for collecting data about the lighting scheme of Naghshe-Jahan Square. Based on the main aim of placemaking which is to Strengthen people’s connection with the public places they share in order to maximize shared value, this research uses two ethnographical techniques; behavior observation and semi structured interviews with the visitors of the historic site. Accordingly, people’s behaviors and interaction with the site and their opinions on how the lighting of the site makes them feel and facilitates their needs is collected. The findings of this study suggest that artificial lighting can positively influence turning historic sites to places at night-time and accordingly improve the quality of people’s lives in cities.

Intraurban land-use change and factors affecting it are critical subjects in land-use planning. If unplanned, such changes can reduce the quality of life and spatial justice and ultimately lead to urban unsustainability. This paper aims to identify factors influencing unsustainable land-use change and analyze the intensity of such changes based on those factors. The artificial neural network analysis was employed to model the significant factors. The results indicated that the dynamics of the economy and the capital markets, a boom in the land and housing market, government interventions in the urban texture, gardens, and infill land have a dominant role in determining the rate of change in urban land use. According to the results, relevant indexes of the land and housing market and political and economic factors play a crucial role in Tehran's unsustainable land-use change.

This study seeks to investigate the effect that environmental factors have on the use or non-use of bicycles according to gender in urban travels in Iran. To this aim, while conducting a questionnaire survey among 304 bicycle users (162 males and 141 females) within the dedicated bicycle network in Shiraz, "T" test and "Regression" statistical tests were conducted to investigate the preference differences between the two groups (male and female) and specifically, the effect of factors among women. Based on the findings of the aforementioned statistical tests, both men and women faced barriers to using bicycles in urban travels, although a difference was observed between the two genders in the effective environment they preferred. This difference is especially significant regarding socio-cultural indicators considering the specific traditional-religious context in Iran. Therefore, in addition to indicators such as "sense of safety," "path security," "using dedicated bicycle lanes," "path greenness and attractiveness, " women's cycling is significantly affected by indicators such as "community custom and people's judgment" and also "religious norms." Based on the analysis, education of women about the benefits of using bicycle and the creation of synergy between cultural and religious institutions of the society to remove social, cultural and normative barriers for women's cycling in Iran along with planning to increase urban bicycle transportation lanes with the necessary environmental qualities and standards can increase the per capita and eliminate the disparity in the number of men and women who cycle in developing countries such as Iran.

This research explores the correlation between ‘walkability’ and the ‘sense of place’ in Tehran’s streets, particularly streets leading to the Imam Khomeini square (Maidan-e Tup-khana) at the heart of historic downtown. The goal is to evaluate the walkability through a measurable method in order to prioritize strategies to enhance various aspects of the historic districts. After reviewing the extensive urban design literature, 23 measures were selected and categorized into three aspects of the place: physical, perceptual, and behavioral. Data for each aspect were then gathered through structured questionnaires administered to diverse groups of experts. An expert panel, including 30 professionals from seven fields including urban planning, urban design, urban renewal, urban sociology, transportation, architecture, and urban management, rated the streets based on their confirmed criteria. Moreover, people have been consulted on the results proposed for the future of the district. This study concludes that the sense of the place will increase by enhancing walkability. The place quality has been more balanced in pedestrianized Bab-e-Homayoun. The panel agreed that Lalehzar Street had the first priority for improving its walkability. Complete Street is a proposed model for this street confirmed by people. This research, however, recommends at least ‘complete street’ patterns mixed with the pedestrianization model for the studied area which might be expanded to the whole historic downtown from Maidan-e Tup-khana to Arg (citadel), then toward the first and second Tehran’s fortifications. Here, Jabakhaneh Street works as the X-axis and Sabz-e-Meydan represents the Zero number of Tehran City.

Shiraz, with its historical background, known as the capital of the Persian culture, once experienced a boom of international culture-led events using outdoor spaces as event venues. However, its outdoor vibrancy has withered gradually, and the use of public places as venues declined. Despite the existing dilemmas, a new wave of public place reclamation has created a strong trend towards using the spaces as outdoor venues. The main question of the research is what events are held in Shiraz year-round and how many of them are in public open spaces, and what events can be held in the public realm as outdoor. As in Iranian culture, the events and rituals follow the circular chronology of the Iranian, Islamic, and even Christian calendars; this article studies the events of a year-round time lap, making a clear typology in terms of places’ type and form. The listed events have been classified using the CHAID model adapted to identify the variety and temporality of the events that could occur outdoors. Finally, after categorizing the events, the spatial dispersion of events in the Shiraz urban area has been analyzed to reintroduce the existing platform for holding events and, with the help of the ‘Power of 10’ approach, the need to create or equip spaces and add venues to hold outdoor events in twelve urban ‘destinations’ has been emphasized.

The importance of using visual social media as the digital learning and inspiration resources in architecture is blatantly obvious. On the contrary, there are still gaps in the position of those platforms in the elements of creativity and performance within design studios. The major research question is how does the architecture students' use of architectural content on Instagram relate to their creativity and design studio performance? The paper aims to determine the relations of defined Instagram usage parameters with creativity indicators and students' grades in studios. After crafting the theoretical framework, the correlational research method was used to define the correlations between variables by Spearman’s correlation coefficient. All 72 students of the Design Studio III course during 2018-2020 at Tabriz Islamic Art University reported their Instagram usage parameters and design grades. Their creativity was measured by Abedi’s version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, and the data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results revealed significant and positive correlations between the students’ performance and the overall score of creativity, fluency, and originality; but, no correlation was found in elaboration and flexibility. Also, there is a significant and positive correlation between Instagram use and flexibility of creativity. However, no significant correlations were reported between Instagram use and their studio performance. Hence, despite enhancing the flexibility, students cannot consider Instagram as a tool to achieve success in studios. Furthermore, the assessment system of the studios in Iran doesn’t cover all aspects of creativity, and it’s crucial to construct a new architecture-oriented creativity test.

Livability plays a vital role in the growth and development of cities and citizens' quality of life. Identifying and understanding the needs of citizens and making these settlements viable improves the quality of life in urban areas. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate residents' satisfaction with urban regeneration projects and its relationship with making these neighbourhoods viable. The goals formulated in the regeneration plan of the Kolapa neighbourhood of Hamadan have been extracted and used as criteria for evaluating the satisfaction of the project implementation. Livability criteria have also been divided according to the study of research background into four main classes: physical, environmental, socio-cultural, economic, and health criteria. This study has used descriptive-analytical methods and conducted a field survey through a questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha, with a coefficient of 0.863, confirmed the reliability of the questions. The statistical population is the whole population of the Kolapa neighbourhood, and the statistical sample size is 352, which is calculated by the Cochran formula, with a 5% error and 95% confidence level. We used stochastic sampling in this research. The compiled data were analyzed statistically using Correlation, Path analysis and Regression analysis in Spss and Amos24 environment. To what extent has the regeneration project brought the Kalpa neighborhood of Hamadan closer to the indicators of a livable city? According to the findings, among the satisfaction criteria for the project, sense of place, safety and security, participation and access to facilities and services have the highest level, respectively. According to the research findings, it is possible to benefit from people's participation in various stages of the implementation of the regeneration plan and turn neighborhoods into livable neighborhoods with better quality of life. The residents of the neighborhoods have gained a full understanding (such as strengths and weaknesses) of these types of places because they have lived in them for a long time. Therefore, the neighborhood can be regenerated based on the resident's knowledge and participation. Based on the results of path analysis it was found that regeneration projects mainly consider the physical dimension, and therefore other criteria (especially economic, health and socio-cultural criteria) are less considered.