Investigating the effectiveness of the balcony and its optimization in human settlement planning studies (Case study: Districts 7 and 8 of Tehran)

Apartments with a small area, inadequate ventilation, and lack of semi-open spaces such as balconies are among the challenges of living in human settlements today, which must be solved by scientific planning and construction. Investigating the effectiveness of the balcony and its optimization methods in residential apartments. In this research, questionnaires were prepared for all age groups from 10 to 80 years old, and more than 100 balconies were examined in districts 7 and 8 of Tehran, Pardis and Parand. SPSS software was also used for data analysis. The studied area, with an area of ​​15335212.41 square meters, constitutes 1.2% of the total area of ​​Tehran and ranks 15th among the areas of Tehran. The population of the region is 194,312 people. District 8 of Tehran is located in the eastern part of Tehran with an area of ​​1339 hectares and a population of 377,806. In the investigated areas, the balcony is not effective due to reasons such as lack of privacy, wrong placement in terms of architectural space design, inappropriate location in terms of climate, small area and lack of security, lack of green space, etc. The results of the research showed that the lack of proper private space and the preservation of privacy in semi-open spaces are considered the most important factors in the poor functioning of the balcony in residential units, which should be planned in order to solve them.