Analysis of the Relationship between the Physical Structure of Residential contexts and Neighborhood Interactions Case Study: Relationship between Housing Pattern and Face-to-Face Interactions in Somayeh, Bajak and Farhangian Neighborhoods in Qom

The concept of neighborhood has long been one of the most fundamental concepts in architecture and urban planning, especially in Iranian Islamic architecture and urban planning. The problem that has formed the main focus of this research is the qualitative decline of neighborhood relations in the neighborhoods of contemporary Iranian cities. Accordingly, this paper attempts to address the key question of whether there is a reasonable relationship between the physical structure of residential neighborhoods and the neighborhood relations.This research is of correlation type so that the physical structure of residential neighborhood (in terms of villa or apartment) is considered as independent variable and social interactions and in particular, face-to-face relationships between neighbors is considered as dependent variables. Data collection was done by library and field methods (questionnaire). The questionnaires were distributed among 300 residential units out of a total of 581 residential units in four residential districts of Qom which two of them have villa structure and the other two have apartment structure. In the selection process of locations and samples, it has been attempted to control other independent variables such as financial status of individuals, the time of their residence in neighborhood and etc. (except for the physical structure variable) affecting the dependent variable, namely face to face interactions. According to the findings of this study, there is a significant relationship between the physical structure of the residential neighborhood in the four residential contexts of Qom city and social interactions, and in particular, face to face relationships of neighbors; so that face to face interactions between neighbors are much higher in villas than in apartment neighborhood.Keywords: Neighborhood Relationships, Villas contexts, Apartment Complexes, Face to Face Interactions