نشریه نامه معماری و شهرسازی
سال پانزدهم شماره 37 (زمستان 1401)

In informality studies in a general and informal settlement, in particular, the informal is represented based on a dualistic approach concerning the formal issue, and such distinction is a social construction derived from the mainstream development discourse in which, the exchange (instead of consuming) and speculative (instead of realistic concept) are used as the criteria for spatial development. In this case, any space constructed out of this meaning is labeled as undeveloped and informal spaces that are the deepest deviations from the ideal development trajectory. Formality-informality border rooted in modernism and capitalism trends to encourage "non-west others" to pursue idealist development path by employing humanitarian colonialism, authoritarianism, and technocracy. The dominated urban planning and policymaking in Iran is also derived from such dualistic thought which has evoled from deconstruction of informal settlements to empowering their residents to overcome this social reality. Due to the increasing growth in the population living in informal settlements over recent years in Iran, it seems that it is time to question the success of dominated thought. Therefore, the present study aimed at going beyond such dual-dominated thought by introducing some alternatives to the development of current and relevant conceptual constructions, including undeveloped, third world, informal settlements, and so forth. This requires a radical reading of the urban informality and informal settlement by adopting "post-development critical discourse". According to urban studies derived from the "southern world", alternatives, such as subaltern and everyday urbanism, are introduced for the dominated urbanism in the world. The research structure has been organized based on the critical paradigm and philosophical framework that consider reality as a complex and dynamic procedure with several levels. In this case, the hidden level of reality must be analyzed to leave the surface and actual behind and discover the deep structures. Accordingly, this study was conducted to provide some teachings based on the findings obtained from the analytical-critical review of world theories. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to indicate the necessity of a critical approach to revising the mainstream urban development and planning regarding informal settlement in Iran. Findings showed that such teachings are based on the study of daily life and lived reality in informal settlements to scrutinize the generators and mechanisms of such lived space. In this case, some new theories and conceptual alternatives can be presented beyond the stereotypes and dualities in dominated planning. Subaltern experiences help produce the theoretical alternatives and provincialize the authoritative knowledge geography and theory production. The concept of informality is beyond the governmental rules and regulations without confirming dual perception and identifying dynamic, sophisticated, and robust relationships between formal and informal activities. Formal/informal distinction is presented as a fluidity, instability, and situation movement. Formal and informal relations are neither fixed nor abstract concepts. Subaltern urbanism describes informal settlements as a context of residence, livelihood, self-organization, and policies, while this is not an integrated theory like global urbanism. Therefore, teachings of such alternative theories generated in local communities in the southern world can pave the way for revision, conceptualization, and social construction of an alternative to informal settlement reality in Iran.

The built environment is constantly changing, which, due to its dynamic nature, make it impossible to interrupt, because it means rigidity and stops, which leads to its decline. Unfortunately, the historic centers of cities have often been abandoned in the process of urban development, and due to limitations of somehow conservative policies and lack of dynamic and responsive design strategies, it is not possible to adapt to the needs of residents in such contexts and become lifeless centers in the city. The historical context of Gorgan, despite the many ups and downs it has experienced, still has a special quality. The spontaneous and organic patterns of context are influenced by its location and the historical roots of the formation of neighborhoods, paths, and important historical elements of the city. The mismatch between development control policies and dynamic processes of change over time has led to a decline in context quality. Nature as a model that goes through a similar process of growth and decline and uses effective strategies for 3.8 billion years can be a good model for inspiration. Nature's systems maintain their dynamism by controlling their growth and decline in a cyclical process. The mimicry of organisms and ecosystems is often termed ‘biomimicry’. Biomimicry is the emulation of strategies seen in the living world as a basis for human design. Another nature-inspired concept that is used in this study is the adaptive cycle. The Adaptive Cycle is inspired by a cyclical process that ensures the survival of the ecosystem. This study aims to explore the characteristics of ecosystems and the feasibility of their application in the time-sensitive policy-making process to regenerate the historical context of Gorgan. The methodology of research is based on descriptive-analytical approaches. In this regard, the study of thought-provoking commonalities between the fields of biomimicry and urban design has provided the possibility of explaining the theoretical framework and providing a mechanism to evaluate changes in both substantive and procedural dimensions. Substantive and procedural evaluation of change provide an analytical look over challenges the context faced in two time periods. By reviewing the existing literature on the characteristics of ecosystems, four key concepts of adaptive capacity, self-organization, identity preservation, and interactions were extracted. Seven criteria of harmony with nature, latency, polyvalent spaces and diversity, indeterminacy, heterogeneity, modularity, and connection that have spatial dimensions were introduced for applying these key concepts in urban design. Identifying the challenges that the context has faced in different periods shows that the policy-making process doesn’t follow a dynamic path. It needs to consider the policymaking process in a cyclical and non-linear view. To this end, the research result is the time-sensitive policy making model which guide and control regenerative policies by phasing actions based on the adaptive cycle. These measures are presented according to the analysis of the current situation of the context in the form of a model for defining projects in four phases of rehabilitation and renovation, pioneers and public infrastructure services, identity developer, and conservative projects.

Cities undergo a gradual transformation over time, and this is a time-based process. If the basic definition of the urban fabric is considered a criterion for including the building blocks of the city, beyond the issues related to architectural style and historical background, the arrangement and composition of blocks have a significant impact on the development of the fabric. In some cases, this combination gives the texture so much that it can make a difference. The shape of each city can be analyzed not only in terms of space but also in time, so to emphasize the relationship between the elements and how they communicate and interact over time; they can be examined in a typo-morphological framework. This approach can include a hierarchy of scales, development cycles, and a set of target objects, or the ‘block types’ and areas in successive historical maps. Obviously, because of the noticeable functional differences, it is futile to expect contemporary cities to be physically the same as old ones. Still, it is likely that in the current situation and by considering the functions and physical conditions of contemporary cities, it will be conceivable that physical actions lead to a logical relationship between the old and new, in a way that preserves the city’s integrity and identity. In this regard, this research tries to answer the study’s central question - how to determine the morphological types of urban texture elements with emphasis on urban blocks in a particular area and the process of change of each element. This study aims to present a morphological model of urban blocks as one of the main elements of urban development. The case study of the old city of Lar is one of the examples that have been less studied so far, and a comprehensive survey of the historic fabric and its developments has not been fulfilled. In addition to having a coherent structure of interconnected neighborhoods, old Lar has a fabric in which a pure sample of the architecture of hot and arid regions of Iran, intertwined with one another, formed blocks that, in terms of composition, It is a unique case of the evolution of the physical structure amid Iran’s historic cities. In addition, the 1960 earthquake caused sudden changes in parts of the urban fabric, and the resulting damage destroyed parts of the physical structure. Thus, the investigation of the case of the old Lar’s historic fabric, as a suitable representative of the fabrics in which both the course of historical development and the effects of natural disasters and subsequent intrusions and seizures affect urban blocks, has been considered in this research. In this regard, after extracting the types and clustering them using the basic algorithm of grouping analysis based on the ‘k-means clustering’ method, the course of changes of each of them has been investigated. As a result, with a descriptive-analytical approach and methodological framework, while re-reading the historical-deliberate process of historical fabric’s blocks metamorphosis from a combined morphological process perspective in the historic fabric of the old city of Lar, a model for the development and continuity of original morphological features has been developed.

Music is an abstract art with specific quantitative and qualitative characteristics that can have positive effects on humans, including children. The effect of music as an enriching art on the child's sense of hearing has always attracted the attention of the field of music education to facilitate it by the different methods. On the other hand, the design of a child's educational space is an important problem for designers. Therefore, in the present article, these two fields: the considerations of learning music and the quality of educational space for children, form the main basis of the research and answer the question of "How to create a effective space in the interior design for children to learn musical concepts?". For this purpose, the research is based on a qualitative strategy and logical reasoning. First, the theoretical foundations of the child's cognitive development and effective theories in this field were examined, and by explaining the effect of music on the child, various methods of music education and their classification were proposed. The next step was to identify the theoretical foundations of educational space design for the child in terms of shape, color, proportions, materials, and light by examining the components affecting the child's spatial perception. Finally, according to the direct and indirect methods of teaching music to the children and determining the necessary environmental considerations, it was identified how to design a suitable place for teaching musical concepts. From a methodological point of view, theories of children's development in music education were used to clarify design issues, and at the end, design solutions were proposed to display some musical concepts in the form of interior architectural elements in order to create a musical environment for children. For this purpose, based on studies can be manifested in general aspects of architecture and music, and also according to the major division of music education for children (direct and indirect education). Children can learn music directly by experiencing different instruments which are designed to familiarize them with different sounds of instruments as well as the way the sounds are produced and transmitted. Natural elements such as plants and water also illustrate the fantasy aspect of music. Furthermore, according to studies on the tendency of children to symbolize and play to learn different concepts at the age of 3 to 7 years, one of the main solutions is through symbolizing and representing simple musical elements such as rhythm and repetition in the design of walls or openings. For instance, using dimensional and color proportions to evoke the rhythm of 2/4 and the texture of the music in the design of the wall pattern, which can be an acoustic tile or the floor pattern which allows the child physical activity during music education or symbolizing musical components such as notes. This article can be a prelude to a more detailed consideration of the fact that the components of interior architecture can be designed as an educational strategy and are compatible with the conventional methods of teaching music which can pave the way for further studies.

In the past decades, under the influence of Postcolonial theories and their critiques on the Eurocentrism prevalent in architectural history, the curriculum and textbooks of architectural history survey courses have changed in some European and North American countries. The purpose of these changes is decolonizing the curriculum to achieve a more balanced representation of global architectural history. However, in Iran, these kinds of revising curriculum are not observable. Thus, it raises the question of: is there a necessity to make amendments in the “world architecture” course in Iranian architectural education system? To answer that, one needs to clarify whether the “world architecture” course in Iran is also “Eurocentric”, or it has its unique characteristics. The world of world architecture course is a constructed object, rather than it being ahistorical, universal, and natural. Nevertheless, it is not clear what this world is and what it has to do with our past and our present problems. To understand this constructed world and our place in it, we need to map its conceptual geography. One way of recognizing the constructed “world” is to analyze the texts that make it visible. Since the questions of “world architecture” in the university entrance exams are good representatives of the dominant discourse of the curriculum planning and teaching of this course, the authors have conducted a qualitative content analysis of the tests related to this subject in centralized entrance exams for the Master of Architecture (M.Arch.) programs from 2002 to 2021. The aim of this research is to shed light on the ways of the world-making in the questions of “world architecture”. To this end, we coded 165 tests in Atlas.ti software and extracted the main constitutive categories of world architecture from them. Then, we developed a coding framework and analyzed the relations of the emerged categories with each other. To conclude, the constructed “world” in world architecture tests belong to the European ‘man’, whose cultural and geographical canon is Italy and the city of Rome and the Renaissance and Baroque periods are most significant historical periods for him. From all monuments of all times in the world, the constructions related to Christianity —like churches, baptisteries, abbeys, and monasteries— have an exceptional importance. In other words, the analysis of the tests reveals that the Eurocentric approach to world-making is dominant in the discourse of world architecture in the Iranian education system. This Eurocentric world not only dominates, but also fails to establish a meaningful connection with its “Others” in the Global South. In this way of world-making, the history of non-European, their constructions, their periodization, and architectural styles are placed in a lower position than those of Europeans and are considered just a prelude to the history of European architectural achievements.

The World Heritage Convention was set up in 1972 and was welcomed by many countries, becoming an international instrument for identifying, preserving, and managing common heritage of mankind. However, after a few years, significant gaps in the World Heritage List emerged due to imbalances in geographical distribution or specific subjects. For instance, Europe, historic cities and religious buildings, and Christianity compared to other parts of the world, other relics, and other religions, respectively, had far many inscriptions. Furthermore, there were far too many historical periods in comparison to the prehistoric period and the twentieth century, and “Elitist” architecture was inscription far too often in comparison to indigenous architecture; in general, traditional and alive cultures were given very few places on the list. Therefore, the World Heritage Committee launched a plan known as the Global Strategy in order to identify and bridge the gaps in the List in an attempt to create a representative, balanced, and credible World Heritage List. In this regard, ICOMOS and IUCN reviewed the World Heritage List using specific methods to identify the gaps. ICOMOS used typological, chronological-regional, and thematic frameworks to analyze the World Heritage List and the Tentative List until 2004. The typological analysis analyzed the properties based on form and structure, just as the World Heritage Committee has done since the World Heritage List was established. ICOMOS classified the world into various regions and identified historical periods in each region using a chronological-regional framework. The relationship between man and his surrounding environment was highlighted in the thematic framework, and his response to his surroundings was analyzed in the formation of tangible properties in historical periods. As a result, after ICOMOS and IUCN presented their reports on the gaps in the World Heritage List to the World Heritage Committee, the Committee imposed a restriction on annual inscription by countries, and countries were asked to identify the gaps in their World Heritage List using the evaluation methods introduced by ICOMOS and IUCN, and propose new nominations with the goal of filling the gaps in the overall list as well as each country's list. Using the ICOMOS's method and focusing on cultural heritage, this study reviewed the World Heritage List and tentative list of Iran to identifying the gaps in the lists. In doing so, all Iranian inscriptions on the World Heritage List as well as Iran's tentative list, were reviewed, and all ICOMOS's classifications were applied based on the information in the case of these works. The analysis in the typological framework was carried out for Iran and the world through analytical comparison of the status of each category in order to make a comparison between Iran's status and the current situation in the world, using the most recent information published by the Committee. The results showed that the World Heritage List of Iran has significant gaps in categories such as natural heritage, transnational and transboundary properties, geographical distribution, and special types of heritage such as industrial heritage, 20th-century heritage, or subjects such as utilizing natural resources, movement of peoples, and developing technologies.