The modernization of an Iranian city : the case study of Kermanshah

The notion of the Islamic city evoked in comparison with European cities and their modernization process and often criticized for its Eurocentric nature, acknowledges the characteristics’ existence that are shared by traditional cities across the extensive geography, where Islam is the predominant religion. It is not unusual, therefore, to attribute these peculiarities to the shared religious framework, although said framework officially didn’t experience serious modification until twenty centuries, despite the modernization of these cities. Consequently, this study suggests an indirect approach through the study of the modernization process of cities in the Islamic world. The emphasis, thus, no longer rests on specific religious qualities and falls instead on the urban practices and the cultural frameworks in which they are inscribed, resulting from the crystallization of practices and from environmental, social and cultural equilibria in the long-term. Before 1920, Iranian cities were characterized by a set of features which were common in other traditional Islamic cities in the world. As those traditional Islamic cities have been much more studied than the twentieth century changes that have transformed them, we need more holistic and integrated understanding about the changes derived from the modernization process. To explore the broad and wide-spread of their metamorphosis, it is more enlightening if we study second order cities, rather than studying the transformations of major capitals such as Cairo, Istanbul or Tehran, where interventions are more exceptional and more rhetorical. Therefore, this research examines the Kermanshah city, to understand the link between urban and social transformations due to the modernization process. Tracing city, historically, from its traditional form, as prototypical of the so-called Islamic city, to the Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979) and after the Islamic revolution in 1979. We will focus, particularly, on studying the stages of urban transformation and changes of urban morphology as well as conflicts and differences between traditional urban features with the modern ones. In other words, we are interested in understanding how traditional morphology and structure of the city, like residential and commercial zone, are affected by symbols of development ambition in the each era, like the opening of new and wide boulevards, intensification of land use, disciplining space, embellishing the city and etc. Moreover, we want to trace how these changes influence social structure over the time.La noción de ciudad islámica evocada en comparación con las ciudades europeas y su proceso de modernización y, a menudo, criticada por su naturaleza eurocéntrica, reconoce la existencia de características que comparten las ciudades tradicionales a lo largo de la extensa geografía, donde el Islam es la religión predominante. No es inusual, por lo tanto, atribuir estas peculiaridades al marco religioso compartido, aunque dicho marco oficialmente no experimentó modificaciones serias hasta veinte siglos, a pesar de la modernización de estas ciudades. En consecuencia, este estudio sugiere un enfoque indirecto a través del estudio del proceso de modernización de las ciudades en el mundo islámico. El énfasis, por lo tanto, ya no se basa en cualidades religiosas específicas y cae en cambio en las prácticas urbanas y los marcos culturales en los que están inscritos, como resultado de la cristalización de las prácticas y de los equilibrios ambientales, sociales y culturales en el largo plazo. Antes de 1920, las ciudades iraníes se caracterizaban por un conjunto de características que eran comunes en otras ciudades islámicas tradicionales del mundo. Como esas ciudades islámicas tradicionales han sido mucho más estudiadas que los cambios del siglo XX que las han transformado, necesitamos una comprensión más integral e integrada de los cambios derivados del proceso de modernización. Para explorar la amplia y amplia difusión de su metamorfosis, es más esclarecedor si estudiamos ciudades de segundo orden, en lugar de estudiar las transformaciones de grandes capitales como El Cairo, Estambul o Teherán, donde las intervenciones son más excepcionales y más retóricas. Por lo tanto, esta investigación examina la ciudad de Kermanshah, para entender el vínculo entre las transformaciones urbanas y sociales debido al proceso de modernización. Trazando la ciudad, históricamente, desde su forma tradicional, como prototipo de la llamada ciudad islámica, hasta la dinastía Pahlavi (1925-1979) y después de la revolución islámica en 1979. Nos enfocaremos, particularmente, en estudiar las etapas de la transformación urbana y los cambios de la morfología urbana, así como los conflictos y diferencias entre las características urbanas tradicionales y las modernas. En otras palabras, nos interesa comprender cómo la morfología y la estructura tradicionales de la ciudad, como la zona residencial y comercial, se ven afectadas por símbolos de ambición de desarrollo en cada época, como la apertura de nuevos y amplios bulevares, la intensificación del uso de la tierra, disciplinar el espacio, embellecer la ciudad, etc. Además, queremos rastrear cómo estos cambios influyen en la estructura social a lo largo del tiempo

Towards revitalizing urban life through urban regeneration in historical context : case study inner core of Kermanshah city in Iran

Since the recent decades, Historic Urban Quarters have emerged as a focus of many regeneration efforts. Clearly these important areas of city have their specific identity and character but mostly they lost their viability. Like other countries, many big cities in Iran have a historical and traditional background and their old tissues are valuable. The problems of these sites, based on different angles of urban life, could be summarized as disorder of the built environment, natural environment and socio-economic environment. In this regard, the main goal of this survey is to propose design policies for Inner core of Kermanshah City as the case study through a new strategic framework. Therefore, in this paper, firstly, we will study concepts and definitions of urban regeneration and proposed principles of urban task force group in order to have more liveable design. Then by applying SWOT technique we will analyze the existing situation of the case.Peer Reviewe

From the so-called Islamic City to the Contemporary Urban Morphology: the Historic Core of Kermanshah City in Iran as a Case Study

[EN] Pre-1920 cities in Iran are characterized by a number of features considered to be typical of the so-called “Islamic city”. A set of features are shared by traditional cities where dominated by Islam religion. The notion of “Islamic city”, often criticised for its Eurocentric nature, has guided most studies of these traditional cities. The modernisation process in so-called Islamic cities is crucial due to its serious impacts on the traditional morphology and transformation of their urban structure. We, thus, need more holistic and integrated understanding about changes of these cities derives from the modernisation process. In order to explore the broad and wide-spread changes due to modernisation process in the traditional cities in Muslim world, it is more enlightening if we study second order cities, rather than studying the transformations of major capitals such as Cairo, Istanbul or Teheran, where interventions are goal to approach a more exceptional and rhetorical characters. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to study the historic core of Kermanshah city, to understand the link between urban transformations and social due to modernisation process by tracing it historically. We will focus, particularly, on studying the stages of urban transformation and changes of urban morphology as well as conflict and differences between traditional urban features with the modern ones. For example, we are interested in understanding how traditional morphology and structure of residential and commercial zone are affected by the opening of new and wide boulevards in course of modernisation process, and how these changes influence everyday people life.Pakseresht, S.; Guardia Bassols, M. (2018). From the so-called Islamic City to the Contemporary Urban Morphology: the Historic Core of Kermanshah City in Iran as a Case Study. En 24th ISUF International Conference. Book of Papers. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 689-695. https://doi.org/10.4995/ISUF2017.2017.5210OCS68969

How Blockchain Facilitates the Transition toward Circular Economy in the Food Chain?

Food loss and waste are two of the many problems that modern society is facing. To date, among many solutions, the circular economy is the one prevailing. A successful transition toward a circular economy (CE) requires the food sector to overcome the challenges of today's complex food supply chains such as information asymmetry, poor cooperation among stakeholders, and concerns about food safety. Blockchain, a form of distributed ledger technology, has been progressively gaining traction in supply chains in areas like data management, certifying product provenance and tracking products. Despite its importance, knowledge around the potential of the blockchain technology in facilitating the transition towards a circular economy in the agri-food sector is fragmented. This review provides evidence-based insights into the blockchain implementations in the food supply chains and the implications for CE. Our findings indicated four major areas that blockchain could accelerate CE in the agri-food sector: improving data utility; supply chain management efficacy; enhanced eco-efficiency; and superior traceability

The intersection of blockchain technology and circular economy in the agri-food sector

A transition towards a circular economy within the agri-food sector requires the improvement of efficiency in resource utilization, the prevention of food loss or waste, whilst adopting regenerative agricultural practices. In addition to the technical challenges, the agri-food industry needs to address the food safety concerns resulting from biomass recycling processes. Increasingly, blockchain technology is gaining traction, moving towards more sustainable and precision agriculture. The blockchain is a decentralized, immutable, and shared database that records the provenance of digital assets, making it a suitable platform for traceability and food supply chain management. Despite its growing importance, the existing literature regarding these themes and the empirical evidence of blockchain-based solutions for a circular economy is rather fragmented. This paper offers a scoping review regarding the role of blockchain technology in the transition towards a circular food system. A total of 44 papers published in peer-reviewed journals were reviewed to identify new scientific insights into the application of blockchains within the agricultural sector. The results indicate that blockchain technology has a great potential in reducing food loss through optimized eco-efficiency (e.g., digitalization and integration with the Internet of Things) and by alleviating asymmetric information (by increasing transparency and reducing dependence on intermediaries). However, in the case of recycling efficiency, despite its potential, there remains a paucity of evidence regarding the use of blockchain technology in improving the residual valorization processes. Furthermore, there is a stream of literature focusing on the ability of blockchain-enabled traceability (e.g., for organic production or supply chain management). Yet, the role of blockchain traceability in the monitoring of risks from recycled biomass and the reporting of the sustainability performance in the supply chain has received scant attention within research literature. These results provide insights for supply chain management operations with the view of shifting towards a circular economy whilst also suggesting an agenda for future research areas

Characterization and Attempted Isolation of Bacteria from the Marine Myxobacterial Clade

Antibiotic resistant infections are caused by antibiotic resistant microorganisms. According to World Health Organization (WHO) antibiotic resistance is one of the major threats to global health, food and development. The increasing rate of mortalities caused by antibiotic resistant infections has highlighted the need to find a way to tackle these resistant microbes. One of the ways to solve this problem is to introduce novel antibiotics, the likes of which bacteria have not encountered before. Most of the antibiotics are natural products derived from bacteria. Among these natural product producers, myxobacteria have proven themselves as one of the main sources of antibiotics. These bacteria carry large numbers of gene clusters that can express different secondary metabolites for various purposes. Most of these gene clusters can encode secondary metabolites that not only help the bacteria to survive but also can be biologically active. Marine myxobacteria, in particular, produce biologically active natural products that are different from the ones terrestrial myxobacteria make. Therefore in this study we looked into an environment with unique conditions from terrestrial or marine, Gulf of Saint-Lawrence, to find novel strains from the marine myxobacterial clade. Sediment samples were extracted from six stations in Gulf of SaintLawrence. Based on the studies conducted on the DNA content of the sediments we learned that the primers that were previously designed to specifically target MMC were also detecting other strains of bacteria closely related to MMC. Furthermore, we isolated the RNA content of the sediment samples to get an insight into their metabolic activity. For this purpose we employed qPCR techniques to measure their abundance and ribosome content. Furthermore, in an attempt to cultivate marine myxobacterial clade (MMC) we isolated the bacteria present in the sediment samples to use them as prey for marine myxobacterial clade. Based on qPCR studies we were able to conclude that the MMC were growing actively under estuary conditions. However, the attempt to cultivate the MMC on the bait plates led to emergence of vancomycin resistant Bacillus strains along with other saprophytes on the plates. These findings suggest that members of the MMC are active under the Estuary condition and can be cultivated if subjected to the same condition as present in the Estuary of St-Lawrence