Architecture and Urban Development (IJAUD)

A growing body of research shows positive association between parks and physical activity, but very few studies have investigated the characteristics of users and how the activities vary according to different user groups. The purpose of this study was to investigate the socio-demographic profile of the users, their activities and motivation of visiting the park. Total 400 users of Ramna Park were surveyed in face to face interview in different time periods. The participants were asked to provide information about their socio-economic profile, frequency and purpose of visit, mobility and activity patterns in the park and level of satisfaction about different facilities. At a random selection of the sample, we found larger proportion of male visitors than female visitors with a majority in the age group 40-60 years. The park has a large catchment area which extends beyond the range of walking distance and the frequency of visiting the park was found closely associated with the proximity of the users. Besides, no significant association was found between the proximity and duration of staying in the park. An overwhelming majority of the visitors come to the park for health purpose mainly for walking, jogging and physical exercise. The findings suggest that the purpose of visiting the park significantly varies according to the gender and age group of the respondents. The visitors were also asked about their satisfaction level and problems they usually faced based on their individual perception. Most of them raised their concerns for poor toilet facility and waste management.

This Study has discussed the meaning of public space and has shown that public spaces are an essential part of people’s lives. It has also identified the key urban design and architectural ideologies that have influenced the shape of the built environment, and has discussed how each has perceived the value of public spaces. In the following provides an overview of the relationship between people’s behavior and experience of public spaces, from an environmental psychology perspective. Methodologies adopted for the study. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods of collecting data has been used. The purpose of this study is to explore how public spaces influence human behavior in order to gain an appreciation of the significant role that public spaces play in the daily lives of people. This Study has established that human behavior and experience of public spaces can be influenced by the physical and ambient features of the built environment. It has been identified that physical features may include buildings, streets, landscaping, land forms and architectural elements, and ambient features may include sound, smell, temperature and illumination. It has also been identified that other factors such as age, gender, culture and ethnicity are also capable of affecting the way people respond to the environment. In addition to identifying the perspectives of the users of public spaces through the focus group, the study also identified the role and perspectives of urban planners and consultant designers. These built environment professionals have a significant role in shaping public spaces.

Microclimate in open space affected by the urban layout and spatial forms plays an important role in the outdoor comfort, thus the outdoor activities based on the comfort sensation will directly affected by the spatial forms. An outstanding open space should satisfy different requirements of outdoor activities and create relatively comfortable place.Most studies have been conducted on these relationships only above 0 Celsius degree. However, only few have focused on extreme situations in both hot summer and cold winter. Therefore, from microclimate perspective, taking people’s comfort and spatial behaviors as criterions, this research discussed how the open space forms affect microclimate, thus affect comfort sensation and spatial behaviors. The outcomes may provide some useful insights for planners and architects to understand the relationship among microclimate, open space and people. Results showed that in hot season, shade and air-flow played crucial roles in outdoor comfort. More people tend to stay outside in the shade and the area with higher air velocity. After sunset is popular period for outdoor activities. The ambient temperature lower than 29.6 ℃ , air velocity higher than 1.1m/s and relative humidity higher than 67% is needed to achieve neutral comfort sensation. In cold season, at the same ambient temperature, lower air velocity raised the comfort level. Shade also had influences on comfort sensation but do not affect spatial behaviors significantly. The ambient temperature higher than -14.4 ℃ , air velocity lower than 1.6m/s is the thresholds for an acceptable outdoor environment.

In this paper, the system of language and architecture has been studied in three levels of elemental, structural and semantic in cases of traditional and modern mosques in Iran through the method of analyzing the content of texts and in a conceptual model. Then, in a comparative method, the common patterns of these systems have been explained at all three levels. The common features at the elemental level included double-edged signs, the notion of sign value, as well as syntagmatic relations. Concepts such as the two-way functioning of the systems, textuality and spatial cohesion were identified at the structural level. The concepts of marking, explicit and implicit meanings, and metaphors were investigated at the semantic level of the architecture of the mosques. In the following, the variables were categorized in tables based on the concepts and the data were analyzed through inferential analysis. Then, the findings were coded based on the indices of each variable. On this basis, it became clear that the common patterns, the mental forms of the language sign system can be translated into the physical forms of the architecture system through representation. The respondent also reads or interprets based on a picture or a represented form when confronting the representation. The research findings indicate that readings are based on the collective language and interpretations are based on the individual’s personal language. In the meantime, the cultural, historical, and ethnic contexts, as well as the role of mass media are of high prominence.

Our modern society is filled with stressful stimuli that impact our daily lives, and lead to problems that eventually threaten our mental and psychological wellbeing. Expanding urban life and urbanizing people's interactions have drastically increased and resulted in more stressful circumstances. Unfortunately, the role of nature and nature-based design in our urban societies as an alternative in reducing the impact of unhealthy and stressful situations produced by our modern and urbanized life style has been neglected. Considering the fact that human beings are social creatures and their surroundings affect them both mentally and psychologically; hence, the study of psychological impacts of nature and nature-based design is both essential and necessary in our fast evolving urban societies. This research investigates nature-based design and the short-term observational impacts and benefits of urban societies' interaction with nature on different aspects of human psychology including perceived restoratives’, mental health and vitality and creativity. The participants in the two sample groups observed two different urban areas. One was a building complex in Isfahan city center and the other was an urban park in Isfahan. In the end, the participants filled out a comprehensive psychological questionnaire assessing the effects environment on different dimensions of human psyche. Our results demonstrate that even short-term interaction with nature and nature-based designs had positive effects one's psychological wellbeing, and therefore, our finding show that urban designs and architecture intertwined with nature were crucial in protecting and improving human mental health and wellbeing.

The brick ornamentation in Islamic architecture represents the unique skill of the architectural artists and we have seen the perfection of this kind of art during the Seljuk period. There is little information about the process of developing brick art in the architecture of Islamic mosque in Iran, and it has not yet been dealt with as it is worthy of this precious art. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out further research in this regard due to its importance in Iranian architecture. In this research, through library studies and with a descriptive-analytical approach, the trend of development of bricks ornament in the architecture of the Islamic mosques of Iran from the beginning to the end of the Ilkhan era, as well as the causes of importance and development to the bricks of the Seljuk period were studied. The brickwork decoration in the Islamic architecture of Iran gradually begins from the third century A.H. Generally speaking, the early Islamic centuries can be considered as the formation and development of brickwork ornamentation, which reaches its peak in the Seljuk era, thus the richest brick-making projects develops in this era, because during this period, artists managed to create numerous works and structures with the element due to the calm and stability of the Seljuk territory. After this period, bricklaying works continued during the Kharazmshahi era in the Khorasan area, and in the course of the Ilkhani period, its development was reduced and other techniques such as acrography and tiling were popularized.