The design principles of traditional urban cores in Iran : a case study of Qatâr-chyân quarter, Sanandaj

Urban and architectural artefacts of the traditional environment can be seen as important imprints of human activity which have evolved over many centuries according to strong socio-cultural and environmental rationalities. This means that the morphology and spatial patterns of traditional cities have gradually developed to satisfy the cultural needs of their populations and, at the same time, to respond to their surrounding environment. This defines the man-made environment as the content of meaning, especially when it is considered in its mutual relationships with the surrounding environment and in the context of history, because man tends to dwell when he can experience the environment as meaningful. The traditional urban cores are considered here as the materialised form of human thoughts, skills and resources which created functional, meaningful and identifiable spaces in relation to society, time and place. This research focus on the traditional Islamic-Iranian-Kurdish city of Sanandaj situated within the majestic mountain range of Zagros in the west of Iran, the birth place of Kurdish culture. At the macro-level of investigation, the thesis analyses the setting, historical formation and morphology of the city as a whole as part of an investigation of the socio-spatial qualities of its spaces and places, and a deeper understanding of how its built environment has responded to the physical environment and changing socio-political circumstances. Within the city of Sanandaj, the quarter of Qatar-chyän (representative of the city's quarters) is selected for further micro-level analysis of place structure in respect to the social dimensions of the place. At this level, the realms of public/semi-public/private domains are analysed to make clear the interplay between these spheres which shaped the city and organized the society, as leading points to an understanding of the shaping design principles of the city in respect of Kurdish culture. As much of the literature concerning the Islamic/Iranian cities tends to focus on the male domain and taking into account that women in Kurdish society have a distinctive role, in this research, the woman's domain is highlighted and the main points are organised in line with the role of women in the social life of the selected quarter. Within studies of Islamic/Iranian cities, little attention has been paid to the concept of Kurdish cities. For this reason, this research opens up this concept by adopting an interpretive-historical research to make clear the features of the built form which are particular characteristics of the place concerning the Kurdish habits and traditions. Various approaches to traditional built form are reviewed to pave the way for a methodological inquiry within which multiple methods are employed i. e. archive historical document analysis, interviews, observation and photographic surveys. The data generaatnedd through the fieldwork comprises old photos, aerial photos taken at different times, sequence maps, private and public archives (transcripts, family chronology and travellers descriptions), historical books, interviews and large numbers of analytical diagrams. The findings are the shaping design principles which characterise the urban character of the selected Kurdish city as distinguished from other Islamic-Iranian cities, as a basis for further research in the realm of Kurdish understanding of built form. Within this specific context, the study has tried to uncover the process of city formation to explain how urban form in a particular context responded to the environmental and socio-political determinants of time. At the same time, it has tried to understand the nature of Kurdish settlements by paying attention to the points of similarity and difference within the Islamic and Iranian contexts. Apart from these points, some of the findings concerning the design principles of the city were recognised as indigenous rules embedded in the structure of the traditional core which can help designers to reconcile the traditional and modern urban architecture by applying these principles in the City's conservation plan or new developments plans in the suburbs of the City. These comprise; the process of city formation; its overall structure and the course of the principal route as the backbone of the City; the concept of centre rooted in the notion of line and point; the concept of mound cities concerning the character of Kurdish culture which has strong responsiveness to the Genius Loci and features of the terrain; the sceno-graphic approach to the street pattern; the concept of the Maidänche; the self-reliant character perceived in the administrative structure of the selected quarter.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceMinistry of Science, Research and TechnologyGBUnited Kingdo

Analysis of urban form typology using urban heat island indicators: Case study of Ferdous neighborhood of Tabriz

Urbanization, with the acceleration of construction operations in cities, is the main reason for in-creasing the absorption of thermal energy in urban areas, which leads to climate change, especially urban form has responded differently depending on environmental dimension of urban context concerning the urban heat island intensity. In the last Studies, Researchers have not Codified the effect of urban form on heat islands in the form of a comprehensive model. It is necessary to examine each urban context according to its own conditions. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the effect of building form variability on reducing the intensity of heat islands in Ferdous context of Tabriz in the form of comprehensive modelling as a new task. The research gap is the effect of the form of buildings on the intensity of UHI, and the question will be asked whether it is possible to control the intensity of UHI by changing the form by influencing the climatic indicators. Our conceptual framework was based on urban form typologies in microscale affect the amount of energy intake and consumption, especially the intensity of heat islands, and whether the use of desirable types can be responsive to reducing the intensity of these islands? In this regard, using a quantitative analysis method in Rhinoceros software, especially using Grasshopper plugins, urban form is investigated. This analysis includes both the coldest and hottest days of the year. The results show that the optimal model is the cross typology

Tourism development in rural areas: assessing the qualities of place in the village of Nawgoul, Iran

In developing countries, rural areas generally suffer high level of poverty, and are also characterized by lower levels of non-farm economic activity, infrastructural development, and access to essential services. As Robert & Hall (2001) say, to cope with these problems it is necessary to diversified range of rural products. Tourism is recognized as prime contributor to this process as an effective catalyst of rural socio-economic development and regeneration. Considering this point, this study assesses the qualities of place in Nawgoul as case study, a village in west of Kurdistan province, Iran. This has been dealt through document analysis, questionnaire for both residences and visitors and observation of the built form of the village and its natural setting (taking photograph and analytical drawings). Following this stage, SWOT Analysis has been used to explore strategies for decision-making, and in so doing, diversifying tourism products and therefore expanding tourism benefits to the residents. The SWOT analysis is followed by possible policy implications and executive decisions (actions) for each of the SWOT factors, which can influence the level of tourism development. The outcome of the case study is that Nawgoul and its region has the potential for nature and culture-based tourism development, but this has not been explored as of yet

Gender Inequalities and the Effects of Feminine Artworks on Public Spaces: A Dialogue

Feminist street art aims to transform patriarchal spaces into places of gendered resistance by asserting a feminist presence in the city. Considering this, as well as women’s social life, their struggle against lingering forces of patriarchy, and relating features of inequality (domestic violence), there was a feminist installation artwork by the young Kurdish artist Tara Abdulla that shook the city of Sulaimani in Iraqi Kurdistan on 26 October 2020. She had prepared a 4,800‐meter‐long washing line covered with the clothes of 99,678 Kurdish women who were survivors of sexual and gender‐based violence. They installed it along the busiest street of the city (Salim Street). She used this piece of feminine to express her reaction to the Kurdish society regarding, the abuse that goes on silently, behind closed doors. She also aimed towards normalizing women’s bodies. After the installation, she received many controversial reactions. As her artwork was a pioneering project in line with feminist issues in Kurdistan which preoccupied the city for quite a while, the aim of this article is to investigate the diverse effects of her work on the current dialogue regarding gender inequality in the Kurdish society. To do this, we used the research method of content analysis on big data (Facebook comments) to investigate the public reactions of a larger number of locals. The Feminine effectively exposed some of the deep‐rooted cultural, religious, and social barriers in addressing gender inequalities and silent sexual violence issues in the modern Kurdish patriarchal society

Developing the Ecological Footprint Assessment for a University Campus, the Component-Based Method

Global warming has become an increasing challenge due to the impact of human activities on the environment. In this regard, university campuses with various activities and departments have a great impact on the environment. Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) is a natural resource depletion assessment tool, with a high level of accuracy, that measures the impact of human activities on the environment. Considering the Ecological Footprint (EF) capabilities, this study developed a method to assess the environmental impacts of a university campus using component-based parameters. The goals of the study are to explore the effective components of EF and to propose some policy guidelines to diminish the human impacts on the environment on university campuses. Five components, including natural gas and electricity consumption, water and food usage, and waste production, were measured in a survey from 2013 to 2016 at the building scale. The mean EF of the campus was 16,484 global hectares (gha). Fossil fuel energy had the highest level of environmental impact with 70.73%, followed by waste production and food and water usage with 26.87%, 1.28%, and 1.12%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the EF Index (EFI) of the case study campus was −0.82, which reveals an unsustainable performance. The EF results were illustrated on an Ecological Footprint Map (EFM), which shows the east and west parts of the camps were more unsustainable.Building Service

Plasmonic and chiroplasmonic nanobiosensors based on gold nanoparticles

Development of optical nanobiosensors has emerged as one of the most important bioresearch areas of interest over the past decades especially in the modern innovations in the design and utilization of sensing platforms. The application of nanobiosensors has been accelerated with the introduction of plasmonic NPs, which overcome the most of the limitations in the case of conventional optical nanobiosensors. Since the plasmonic AuNPs-based nanobiosensors provide high potential achievements to develop promising platforms in fully integrated multiplex assays, some well-developed investigations are clearly required to improve the current technologies and integration of multiple signal inputs. Therefore, in this literature, we summarized the performance and achievements of optical nanobiosensors according to plasmonic rules of AuNPs, including SPR, LSPR, SERS and chiroptical phenomena. Also, we investigated the effects of the physicochemical properties of AuNPs such as size, shape, composition, and assembly on the plasmonic signal propagation in AuNPs-based nanobiosensors. Moreover, we presented an overview on the current state of plasmonic AuNPs-based nanobiosensors in the biomedical activities. Besides, this paper looks at the current and future challenges and opportunities of ongoing efforts to achieve the potential applications of AuNPs-based optical plasmonic nanobiosensors in integration with other nanomaterials. Taken together, the main focus of this paper is to provide some applicable information to develop current methodologies in fabrication of potential AuNPs-based nanobiosensors for detection of a wide range of analytes.Scopu