Architechture Landscape and Planning

A well-integrated shading device has a greater positive impact on school
building than any other sustainable building strategies. The present research aims to propose and evaluate several architectural shading devices that can be integrated into educational building designs in daylight-illuminated classrooms lit from a single side in semi-arid climates.
These elements have a potential in allowing the penetration of natural daylight with improve indoor thermal environment and eventually reduce the energy consumption through cooling and artificial lighting. The final goal of the research is to obtain the optimal parameters (geometry and materials) of shading devices for the simulated orientation of classrooms in the case study.
A computerized simulation tool (IES<VE>) is used to carry out the
investigation; taking a typical public school building in Erbil City as the
empirical background of the semi-arid climate. A series of simulations are performed to determine the average illuminance value and the uniformity of the illuminance distribution in the classroom under various lighting conditions and orientations without shadings fitted to the window. Then the numerical results
are found to be compared with the illumination properties of different shading
devices that have been considered.
The results indicate a different optimal shading device in terms of enhancing daylight properties in the classroom. By giving appropriate physical dimensions, various shading devices can achieve the average illuminance requirement of (300-500 lux) and improve the lighting uniformity ratio (0.40– 0.42) for east orientation within appropriate material. Correspondingly, by using optimal shading device, the required illuminance ratio of 0.5 can be obtained simply in the classroom, accordingly, reduce the lighting power cost compared with the base-case.

Water is the main life source for all the creatures on our planet. Erbil city has a rapid urban growth after 2003 due to fast increase in population. This increment in population caused by both natural and immigration, which has led to raise the need for water domestic use. This need added a further pressure on water consumption in Erbil city especially on the underground water level as the main water source in the city. All these influences will lead to an overall ecological concern. In parallel to the need for water, it has been emerging the unwise consumption of water by the citizen. Hence effect on wasting the precious substance on underground water which accumulated from thousands of years. The paper tries to investigate the causes of wasting clean water. A questionnaire of selected sample of Erbil’s citizen was adopted for this purpose. This research hypothesized that the unwise use of water can be overcome by increasing the people awareness of hazards of water waste and accordingly its influence on ecological issues. Moreover, finding new sustainable approaches in using water, putting regulations for water use and educate people through authorities, society organizations and media, all these will effect substantially on eliminate water consumption and enhancing our environment overall.

During the last few decades, there has been a trend toward enhancing energy performance and improving indoor comfort conditions of heritage buildings. Architectural heritage and aesthetic values do not allow typical retrofit interventions. Governmental and planning directives mainly focus on saving energy in existing buildings and do not extend to historic buildings. Architectural heritage bodies must act to determine energy retrofit measure types that can be applied to historic buildings to conserve their values. There is a need to enhance the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of historic buildings. This study aims to reduce a heritage building's energy use through technical interventions and selection of specific retrofit measures. Each of these interventions is then evaluated using sustainable tools. Designing energy retrofits for existing buildings has environmental, economic, social, and health benefits. This study describes a methodology for adopting Integrated Environmental Solutions-Virtual Environment (IES-VE) tools as energy and environmentally conscious decision-making aids. A methodology was developed to monitor buildings for potential improvements and support the retrofit strategy development. We present a case study of a banquet hall renovation project titled "The Banqueting Hall in Jesmond Dene, Newcastle Upon Tyne" that implements IES-VE approaches to energy retrofits to a historic public building. To generate energy savings, several improvements were added to the building. For each alteration, building energy consumption and mean radiant temperature were examined, and the results indicate that with all improvements applied to the building there is a potential to reduce total energy system demand by 45%. Restoration of historic buildings is of paramount interest for preserving a locality's character and history. Environment-friendly retrofitting helps reduce the footprint of old energy-inefficient structures. Simulations of various energy-efficient retrofitting methods are of paramount interest for planners to decide optimal strategies for improving building performance. Although several articles have been published in this area, each new building comes with unique challenges and is therefore unique and highly significant.

In urban interventions, meaning of "organization" has different interpretations and even paradoxes. Using of this word in urban plans titles has different reading in both theoretical and Practical parts. Large using of "organization" in urban plans titles and also using as a technical word specifies necessity of precise reading for this word. In This article two parts has analyzed, at first; words, expressions and technical definitions and then experiences.
In Persian language, there is no a precise definition for organization". By considering of other languages (English, French and Italian) only in French there is an equal word. In spite of having a precise word in French language, their urban intervention experiences have different interpretations and even paradoxes in meaning. In field of domestic regulations, "organization" has just mentioned as a title. In these regulations, "organization" is improving life conditions in urban and rural areas. Urban organizational plans couldn’t get a precise approach in both domestic and foreign experiences. In other words, in urban plans, "organization" is not a technical word, but it’s only a neutral title which is making clear any theoretical–practical mechanism. In order to use this word in field of urban interventions, it should be mixed with other technical expressions and words.

This paper argues that whether Chinese development approach is more sustainable or The Hindi model. It seems that the Chinese community is more developed than the Hindi community. This thought besides several economic indicators and a high rate of urban development in china might have been realised as a truth. To reveal this, this paper applies deep interpretation of relevant evidence. By discussing the qualitative and quantitative causes, it is demonstrated that China, in spite of a high rate of economic and military growth, is considered more unsustainable compared with India. It appears that the current trend in a near future will decline and even may disrupt the today's seemingly strong community of China. In contrast, the world will be faced with the new power named India. From other countries' viewpoint, revealing the root causes of this issue plays a fundamental role in strategic planning and international relationsAlthough the Hindi development approach has a slow trend, it is comprehensive and balanced. The Hindi development approach considers improving the quality of life within the Hindi community economically and socio-culturally. This approach also entails the environmental and political aspect of sustainable development. The Hindi development approach, indeed, seeks to reduce the very poor segments of the community and turn it into the low-and middle-income level in a large-scale population. This is opposite to the Chi-nese model. The Chinese development approaches a rapid development and advertising in which the life realities of millions of Chinese have been hidden behind the window of development. Once such an unbalanced development approach and the Chinese demographic social, political features come together, can cause the failure of this economicsuper power.

Interpretation of civility in diverse societies is different. According to the type of interpreting, diverse structure of society is shaped. Asymmetrical presence of triple parts of societies (Governmental, Private and Middle Realm) in construction and management of the city makes different urban landscapes. Since presence and participation of these parts in public spaces is clearer than the other urban spaces, the landscape of these spaces is symbol of civility thoughts. Whereas the city is interpreted as a text, in order to read this text, the language of signs and patterns should be learned. Local and spatial patterns in public spaces such as squares, streets and entrances, and also social patterns in social, economical and political places are sources of ideological, social and political thoughts. By Reading these patterns as language, ideological and existential reasons of a period of the city will be announced. In other words, through reading a landscape a different structure ...

قرائت واژه ساماندهی در زمینة مداخلات شهری دارای تفاسیر متفاوت و گاه متناقض است. از این رو کاربرد این واژه در عناوین طرح¬های شهری با برداشت¬های متفاوتی، در حوزه نظری و اجرایی همراه شده است. کاربرد وسیع واژه ساماندهی در عناوین طرح¬های شهری از یک سو و قلمداد شدن این واژه به عنوان واژه¬ای تخصصی از سوی دیگر، ضرورت تبیین قرائت صحیح از این واژه را مشخص می¬کند. در همین راستا مقاله حاضر حوزه واژگان، اصطلاحات و تعاریف تخصصی و حوزه تجارب موجود در این زمینه را مورد ارزیابی قرار داده است.
واژگان، اصطلاحات تخصصی و تعاریف آنها، نقشی مبنایی در انتقال مفاهیم، پیشبرد و گسترش علوم دارد. در زبان فارسی، واژه "ساماندهی"، دارای تعریف مشخصی در زمینه مداخلات شهری نیست. با ارزیابی زبان¬های مطرح غیر بومی (انگلیسی، فرانسه، ایتالیایی) در زمینه مذکور، معادل واژه "ساماندهی" تنها در زبان فرانسه موجود است. با وجود واژه معادل در زبان فرانسه، تجربیات مداخلات شهری این کشور نیز، عملاً با برداشت¬های متفاوت و گاه متناقض همراه شده است.
ساماندهی در عرصه قوانین و مقررات داخلی به¬صورت یک عنوان مطرح شده است و منظور از آن، بهبود وضع موجود در جهت ارتقای شرایط مناسب زندگی در محدوده¬های شهری و روستایی است. طرح¬های ساماندهی شهری در عرصه تجارب داخلی و خارجی اصول مشخصی را ملاک عمل قرار نداده و گستره مداخلات با عنوان ساماندهی از رویکرد¬های یکسانی برخوردار نبوده است. به دیگر سخن واژه "ساماندهی" در طرح¬های شهری نه تنها یک اصطلاح کاربردی، بلکه فقط عنوانی خنثی بوده که هیچ¬گونه چارچوب علمی‌ـ اجرایی را در زمینه مداخلات شهری نیز تبیین نمی¬نماید. کاربرد این واژه به تنهایی رویکردی تخصصی را تبیین ننموده و در صورت استفاده، بایستی با واژگان و اصطلاحات تخصصی در زمینه مداخلات شهری همراه شود.

| Growing roads and mobility have led to the formation of new landscape types: known bridgescape or bridge landscape. The social, cultural, and visual impacts of bridges on their surroundings as drivers and symbols of the development have gained increasing significance in roadscape studies. This article aims to assess the role and design of bridges in the socio-spatial and visual connections of the central urban areas of Newcastle and Gateshead, located in North East England, by the criterion of the bridgescape. The findings of this article show that bridges are not only transitional passages; rather, they can be socio-spatial destinations for people to meet, do collective activities and improve their environmental perceptions. In urban milieu, landmarks have dissimilar impacts on visual connections and bridgescape. Characteristic and contrasting landmarks improve bridgescapes; however, corrupting landmarks have a destructive role in bridgescape.

This study uses 'sense of place' as an investigative method to evaluate the process and outcomes of participatory urban redevelopment in a low-income residential area of inner-city Tehran. Property owners participated in the redevelopment of their area by assembling their smaller pieces of land into larger developable parcels. Photo-elicitation methods and in-depth interviews were employed with resident participants. At different stages of this process, and in relation to different outcomes, participants narrated varying and even contradictory senses of place. They were proud to feel re-identified with their redeveloped place, because of their individual and collective involvement in a process that improved the socio-spatial conditions of their living spaces. Participants perceived loss and detachment from their place when they were unable to keep and/or re-establish the cognitive-affective-conative meanings they attached to their place. This was a result of overlooking their 'experiential perspective' in the construction of place and rapid transformations.

Experimentation with citizen participation in urban redevelopments is increasing worldwide. This paper aims to scrutinise this trend through an in-depth case study of the decisions and actions taken by the institutional stakeholders involved in participatory urban redevelopment in Tehran, Iran. The discussion is based around two contrasting urban redevelopment areas which set out to adopt a participatory approach involving various stakeholders including institutions (the Municipality of Tehran and the Heritage Organisation) and local owner-occupiers, developing new knowledge, understanding, and clarity about the concept and application of participation in urban redevelopments in developing countries. In both areas, the institutions invited owners to participate in the physical and economic improvements of their places through land assemblage or sharing redevelopment costs. In this study a range of qualitative methods are used including photo-elicitation techniques (PEI) and semi-structured interviews with locals, officials and professionals.

The results show the vulnerability of the process. This was revealed when one institution did not maintain their role and when some owner-occupiers acted as free-riders. This highlights the challenge of building an enduring collaboration between institutional stakeholders from the planning to in-use stages, in particular the difficulties that arise as different institutions become involved in the process. This issue is more problematic when resources are limited and/or intermittent. As the results show, the institutional collaboration was smoother when fewer stakeholders were involved in decision making. In the commercial case, there were more complaints about overdue completion in the projects due to poor institutional collaboration. We recommend the need for an agreed mechanism prior to such initiatives where the role of the various stakeholders and their responsibilities are clearly cited, and where all different impact scenarios from the planning to in-use stage are set out.

The use of participatory visual methods has gained significant momentum in visual, urban, planning, and geography research. This article provides methodological understanding of how the photovoice method can contribute to urban redevelopment studies, particularly for producing and narrating interpretive data on the processes and outcomes of urban redevelopment. Photovoice as participant-generated photographs was used to explain and explore the individual experience of involvement in redevelopment projects within selected urban areas in Tehran. Resident research participants captured photographs representing the area and the places within them, and were then individually interviewed in-depth about the significance of the photographs and their own experiences. Other stakeholders, including developers and local authorities, were also interviewed. A total of 36 interviews and 65 photovoice contributions were thematically analysed.

Within the urban redevelopment context, photovoice is a multi-faceted resource that can verify the processes and outcomes of urban change. Using this method enabled the scrutiny of the tangible and intangible meanings that the research participants attached to their entities—objects, places, communities, and practices—revealing a certain set of power relations and patterns of controls in urban redevelopment processes. The findings demonstrate the utility and application of photovoice in understandings of place making and heritage value, as well as those of visual narratives of spatial transformation, and residents’ perceptions and attachment. The study also discusses the particular epistemic and methodological limitations of photovoice within the urban redevelopment context, including the research process, its potential, and associated challenges.

The recent pandemic-induced change has profoundly transformed our lifestyle and normal chores of everyday life. We discuss the dramatic changes in home-dwellers life during/after the COVID-19 outbreak in UK urban settlements and the implications for public health and urban planning practice. The discussions indicate the emergence and influence of new urban home life practiced during the restrictions. This fact requires the implementation of integrated planning and regeneration policies permitting housing (re)development that offer minimum spatial qualities and resilience for all home-life activities and residential communities. This should include fostering economic incentives for housing renewal providing direct access to open spaces.