Architecture and Urban Development (IJAUD)

Since the enactment of the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance in 1971 and the establishment of Antiquities and Monuments Office in 1976, the Hong Kong Government has set up several institutions with particular ordinances and schemes for Heritage Conservation. With the set-up of government initiatives, yet the protection of physical and cultural heritage is still limited due to the ambiguity of policy and planning. So, the main aim of this paper is to identify the loopholes of existing policy and planning of heritage conservation and to suggest revised policy framework. After a thorough review towards the existing policy framework of heritage conservation in Hong Kong, together with the lessons learnt from international case studies (Singapore, Australia and Macao), it is found that six major deficiencies affecting the different aspects within the process of heritage conservation in Hong Kong. They are: Insufficient coverage of heritage’s context; inadequate institutional capacity; limited conservation approaches for privately-owned buildings; inadequate incentives; shortage of funding sources; and lack of transparency. After the identification of deficiencies from the existing heritage conservation policies and institutional arrangement, a new set of recommended policy is suggested to improve the deficiencies. The recommended policy framework contains four aspects: Revision of political system; provision of integrated conservation approaches and incentives; diversification of funding sources and widening of public participation.

In the architecture of Iranian traditional houses, the ornamentations available in the inscriptions of houses entrance portal express the identity of architects and personality of houses owners and are rooted in their religious and national beliefs and faiths. The main hypothesis of this research is changing the physique and application of religious contents in compliance with the thoughts and beliefs of people in Dezfoul historical city in the epigraphs of houses entrance portals. The objective of this study is reviewing the development trend of texts, concepts and physique of inscriptions as well as analyzing the factors effective on the quality and diversity of application of inscriptions. The present research is an applied study and descriptive-analytical method has been applied, and the data was collected by library and survey studies. The population of this research includes historical houses, houses damages in war (Iran & Iraq) and renovated and new tissue and new-built houses of Dezfoul, from Qajar era so far. Random sampling method has been applied in this study and dispersal area includes the city. Data analysis method in this study is qualitative and quantitative. The results of this study indicate that today the inscriptions available in the entrance portal of houses in Dezfoul comparing to inscriptions in Qajar1 and Pahlavi2 era is very simple and has lower aesthetic value. One of causes for such superficial and contextual gap between inscriptions seems to be the war and renovations during and after destruction.

Sense of place is the most important features of space for designers in relation between human and environment, although key theories of the mid-twentieth century have shown that some social and psychological factors are more effective than physical characteristics but in this research, the focus is on the physical features of space. Many researchers have been analyzed Physical features and its influence on human life in recent years. The aim of this paper is to focus on perception of users from prayer room. In other word, the objective of this paper is to find most effective features of a space that are key factors regarding physical attributes. The main question here is what are these features? Moreover, how much is their influence on sense of place? Furthermore, the attitudes and opinions of users were surveyed with the help of questionnaire and the result was calculated with SPSS. Finally, the results summarized in a form of tables show that gender and age are not major or effective factors in sense of place in prayer room. Signs, decoration and activities of prayers are among main elements of identity in prayer rooms. Overall, the result shows that physical features of spaces do not have a great influence on sense of place.

This research seeks the role and effect strength of accessibility and vitality on urban spaces. Urban space is a phenomenon organized by information manifested in various forms, functions and meaning. It is the context of forming and improving social life, representing culture and urbanization of a culture. According to desirable cities, it is deliberated that the cause of this magnificence is their lively and vibrant urban spaces. Regarding this point, weak social interaction of people and lack of optional and social activities in cities of Iran is clearly observed. This issue will remove urbanity attributes of Iranian urban spaces. The research studies two important factors in urban spaces, based on literature review: accessibility and vitality; using library and field study of Hamadan city to find the rate of their effect on urban spaces of Iran. Correlation analysis and questionnaire were used to codify analytic model. The main hypothesis of the research is the weakness of urban spaces in Iranian cities due to poor access and lack of vitality in these spaces, that is acquired by investigating aspects related to access and vitality. The results showed a positive correlation between urban spaces and these two factors, which control 44 percent of urban spaces efficiency as a common courtyard.

Today, urbanization (living at apartments) phenomenon as the most common type of residence of cities has been changed so that mainly reflects the chaos in this area. Too much attention paid to economic indicators compromised the balance in the housing sector and created a new type of buildings. The occurred changes indicate ignoring cultural characteristics, less attention paid to cultural concepts, moving away from Iranian traditional architecture and as a result, low quality of life in residential complexes. Low quality of life from all dimensions, spiritually, mentally, and physically, in residential complexes, due to its special circumstances such as high population density, caused discontent of residents which itself led to other types of problems including unfamiliarity and lack of willingness to communicate with others and the environment and in other word, low social interaction between people, etc. that needs to be addressed. The purpose of this paper is to assess satisfaction of residents of two residential complexes of Tehran International Tower and Nobonyad Tower, and identify factors affecting on it and as well effect of cultural indicators on it. The present study is an applied research in which about 20 residents of the two complexes were randomly studied. The residents' satisfaction with regard to the intended measures were evaluated and compared by questionnaires. The results suggest that there is a direct link between increased cultural indicators and higher quality of life and therefore satisfaction of the residents.

Despite the similar performance of Bazaar1 in different cities of Iran, there are some the skeletal differences between markets in different climates. The Bazaar roof protects customers against natural events in any climate. The ceiling height and the sitting down of the Bazaar`s floor are determined based on the need for air circulation and movement in various climates. Hence, combination of all the factors would shape the market. Natural ventilation and cooling air are one of the major factors determining the market shape in hot and dry areas. This study aims to analyze the function of natural ventilation concerning direct and indirect effective elements and their impacts on market shape in hot and dry city-Shiraz. For this purpose, Vakil Bazaar is chosen. In this research, a combination of descriptive and case methods are applied analytically, a field which determines the wind and air function based on the dominant wind and other elements affecting the natural ventilation of Shiraz` Vakil Bazaar that in the end achieve factors to providing favorable comfort in this place.

Islamic architecture has been a great influence on different parts of the world, even so there are some similar factors, but the aspect of culture will make the polarization between them. Upon the vast spread that Muslims had in the 7th century (A.D.) Islamic culture and belief moved in different continents from the Fareast parts of Asia to the west of the Mediterranean. At the beginning Islam had no specific architecture but with passing of time each and every culture started their own art and architecture and from that beginning Iran was a special primary of this field and of the many dynasties of this country Safavid was one of the highest valued among them all. One of the most important aspects of traditional architecture is there proportion value that holds a great part of the aesthetical valence. The aim of this paper is to know that if there is a common connection within various types of Safavid architecture as a group or individual system. The secondary goal of this study is to see if there is an aesthetic relation between Iranian proportion and European golden ratio. In this study we have surveyed various buildings, in one of the most influence architecture eras of Iranian Islamic architecture and at an end result believe that depending on their functionality the proportion values differ among them.

Development and progress are ideals that always different countries have pursued. Everybody welcomes a developed country with people free from development obstacles. Indeed, realization of such a goal requires developmental planning in national and local scales taking into account the population growth rate, economical, social, cultural, and political problems, and generally, imbalances and dualities from which the whole country suffers. Hence, it seems inevitably and vitally necessary to pay attention to regional planning in Iran, and, more rapid growth and development of the country can be achieved with the aid of such planning and through growth and flourishing of different regions commensurate with their capacities and capabilities. The current paper is attempted to comparatively assess the performance and efficiency of Iranian provinces in terms of development level using Taxonomy and Morris models. It also aims at analyzing statuses of Iranian in terms of inequality extent in enjoying development benefits using standard score method. The research results are suggestive of the fact that Sistan and Baluchistan Province assumes the lowest rank (30th among the 30 provinces) in all three methods under study. Due to presence of some obstacles and lack of proper grounds, it is an inevitable necessity to rethink and make fundamental planning in this respect.