Architecture and Urban Development (IJAUD)

Ecological destruction in human-dominated landscapes has significant impacts on environment sustainability internationally. Landscape planning can play a role in mitigating the effects of human-related activities. One element of landscape planning involves the analysis of the biological, spatial and social arrangement of areas in an urban environment and identifying characteristics that are underrepresented in urban natural public spaces. In this study, the quality of public spaces resulting from the regeneration of Tehran’s river-valleys’ natural environment is assessed in relation to landscape ecology principles. We use the components of Bio-spatial-social Logic, Eco-environmentalsocietal Function, Mind-experiential-aesthetic Logic and Eco-environmental-societal Excellence, as the components of a framework, to exامینe the quality of existing urban natural public spaces and to define deficiencies in the current urban landscape system. Based on multivariate ecological, environmental and societal space, the evaluation made by this component model indicates that the principles of landscape ecology have been disregarded in Tehran’s Rivervalleys land development and various ecological problems have been evolved from its river-valleys’ regenerating projects. Our criterion is based on the alteration of landscape’s content composition and spatial configuration variables to eco-environmental-societal excellence features. The analysis provides a systematic, function evaluation of urban natural public spaces, in three hierarchical levels of Environmental Equilibrium, Geographical-anthropological Sustainability and Eco-environmental-societal Excellence features. Some strategies are introduced for Tehran’s rivervalleys’ landscape variables change.

A comparative study of the corresponding styles of Western and Iranian modern architecture has hardly ever been carried out in detail. This paper aims to sketch out an outline for such an investigation and to present a summary of empirical evidence accompanied by field observations to elaborate the ongoing trend of relationship between architectural styles in Iran and that of the West. This is particularly the case from the last decades of the 19th century onwards in which a number of styles of architecture, commonly referred to as the imported/modern urban architecture, have had significant impact on our national architecture. This paper will compare a number of cases in European cities and Tehran and exامینes their merits and interactions. It will be argued that despite the current professional contempt and the official disregard of these predominantly strong examples of modern architecture in Iran, they represent a valuable legacy of practice for architectural students, as well representing an important era in our urban history.

Recent increased Islamic awakening in many Muslim societies, have given a momentum to rise of contextual necessity for Islamic culture. As religion and way of life, Islam framed in city. City morphology according to Islamic ideology has brought interest to the discussion among the specialists and professionals involved in Muslim world for many decades, particularly in Iran. This goal can be achieved by experts and intellectuals and her particularity should be defined and illustrated. The present paper will attempt to synopsize and express some visions for contemporary and future urban form and architecture for Muslim cultures and societies principally for Iran. This research will try to pursue the main frameworks for the study of cultural fabrics reflecting on urban configuration, and also will delineate the qualities of spatial aspects, and make some recommendations at the end. This effort is a tentative rebirth which, it is hoped, will stimulate further discussion and research on the merits of the Islamicity.

In this paper, an exchange of letters between the philosopher Jacques Derrida and architect Peter Eisenman is used as a catalyst to discuss the material qualities of glass and its relationship with the concept of transparency in architecture. In his criticism of an architecture devoid of human qualities, Derrida uses glass, defined through Walter Benjامین’s writings, as a hard and cold material that does not allow any human attachments and transparency as an absence of aura or a sense of awe. This paper attempts to elaborate that there can be different interpretations of transparency in architecture and that the material qualities of glass can be used to construct a different understanding of architecture in the current world of mass media and information. It is also argued that a particular approach to architecture has become possible in which textual constructs veil glassy buildings resulting in a translucent architecture that exploits different media to extend its influence beyond the limitations of a particular material, site or context.

Islam is regarded to pay attention to the characteristics of urban life which can be practiced on the urban settings. Not surprisingly, Islam has made a great focus on the form and design of cities and prescribed detailed and elaborate regulations for individual and communal life. Seen from other way round, the penetration of Islam into various regions such as Iran, Europe, and Africa had an undeniable impact on life style, urban design and social interactions. As an ancient civilization with a rich set of knowledge, culture, art and unification beliefs, Iran became the host of Islamic ideology, relying on the propagation of its achievements while keeping its principle and value criteria independent of time and place. Architecture has two dimensions; material and spiritual and its body consists of structure, construction and different materials while its spirit and meaning of architecture is derived from history, memory and long lasting national and native values of a homeland which ascribes a specific meaning to architecture and produces a mental image in the minds. In this paper, we are seeking for criterion to assess Islamic architecture and evaluate it. Architecture is of different dimensions, each has its own value criteria but determining the Islamic architecture and Islamic city of architecture let alone stating whether architecture in this period is Islamic or not demands a great effort while it is worth mentioning that Islam is not limited to a specific age and place and can meet the needs of human being in different period.

The term Globalization undoubtedly has affected all parts of humanity life in current century. Globalization as a comprehensive phenomenon has influenced economical, political, social and cultural aspects of our societies. Contemporary architecture as a multidimensional category is depended on various factors and needs to be pursued in different fields, in order to reach to a perfect comprehending of it. In countries that they have not experienced modernity completely and also they have not passed the traditions, facing with global flows will cause different encounters. Although some defend the global and homogenous behaviors, the others as a reflection to that, support of particular and heterogeneous ideas. This dilemma also could be seen in traditional societies in confronting with modernity, but by the aim of global flows it has an incredible speed which could not be imagined before. By the rise of consideration to complexity theories and relational and fuzzy discourses, some kind of symbiosis ideas have aroused that are not going to omit while they are trying to connect contradictory issues together. The specifics of these points of views are going to be clarified and reviewed, so that to make clear the globalized and localized approaches in contemporary architecture and also to conceive an interconnection of them as a “glocalized” architecture.

One of the main reasons of unsustainability of city development in Iran is that planners and mayors have not almost been able to create connections between different dimensions of a city. Sustainability indicators are evaluation tools of cities operation applicable in living environmental, economical, and social aspects. The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework including the description of wide specter of indicators, with regard to the operation of environmental sustainability indicators. In order to have a common framework for sustainable indicators of Iranian new town, we create a charter in America and Australia. Therefore, we will study some samples of sustainable cities according to the documents and library related studies and comparative method of study. The result of this paper is as follows: The introduction of sustainability indicators for codification of sustainability indicators of Iranian new town.

The intervention of urban design in Irans architectural structures has been for many years a challenging issue for architects and urban designers over their professional realm. The preservation of architectural structures in Iran has always resorted to extremes. This control and direction has sometimes resulted in exclusion of architecture position and has sometimes, once faced with lack of proper direction, led to confusion in urban realm and environment. This study reviews the theoretical literature including issues such as context, urban design realm as well as urban design control and then investigates a number of case studies selected from urban design measures carried out in Iran in order to identify the weaknesses and the reasons behind them. In regard to the theoretical basis achieved through literature review and the current procedures in Iran and also an analytic framework research, it seems that through modification of the executive system, implementation process for projects, application of urban design review tools for projects controlling, attention to gradual enlargement of cities and lack of certainty in design predictions in urban design process, the current challenge in Iran among architects and urban designers can be minimized. So the results of this analysis will illustrate a new vision- a native one - for alternative policies in relation between architecture structures and urban design controls.