Space Ontology International Journal
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Spring 2015

There is widespread recognition today that we are living in a period of profound technological, social, economic and political change, and that this process of change is accelerating. Yet, there is less certainty about the nature and meaning of these changes—whether they should be regulated or liberalized, supported or resisted— and the kind of world they are leading to. Despite these uncertainties and the difficulties of evaluating the significance of events and processes as they occur, four fundamental trends can be identified that are dramatically transforming the contemporary world and are shaping a new world. These trends are the continued rapid urbanization of the world's population, particularly in the developing countries, the globalization of economic, social, cultural and political activities, the intensification and globalization of an ‘environmental crisis’, and the changing relationship of the state to the civil society. Although it is true to say that all cities in the emerging global system are experiencing the effects of these processes, it is perhaps in the cities of the developing countries that the greatest problems and challenges are emerging. Among many other disciplines and professional activities, efforts have also been made in the field of urban design during the last decade or so to find appropriate ways within the field for dealing with these challenges and to explore the potential contribution urban design can make to change the existing trend and facilitate the achievement of sustainability in urban areas. The degree of success, however, has not been the same in all countries and definitely in all areas. Moreover, the gap between the theory and practice remains critically vast everywhere. Therefore, this paper aims to first review the global achievements in sustainable urban design, both in theory (research) and practice, and then do a critical analysis of the challenges the idea has been facing in the contemporary urban design in Iran. To do so, the study focuses on the major substantive and procedural attributes of urban design at both macro and micro levels, and reveals the purposes they serve towards achieving sustainability in urban areas. At the end, a critical comparison is made between the international achievements in the area of sustainable urban design and the efforts made in Iran in this regard.

According to research, between 15 to 20 percent of the total energy consumption of every country is used for residential spaces. This amount is explanatory of the high cost and will follow the destruction of natural resources and environmental demolition. The aim of this research is to recognize earth thermal ability and its usage in public buildings and especially in private buildings in order to reduce energy consumption which can lead to huge savings in natural resources. It is intended to pay attention to the role of cellars as underground spaces in reducing energy consumption in residential spaces in this research. Cellars which are one of the climatic elements were very useful in residential spaces in the past and underground spaces in cities and public spaces are using in the contemporary era. Native Iranian architecture has exclusive features in residential spaces. One of the reducing energy consumption techniques is using ground depth and underground spaces in private and public buildings. Pit gardens, Shovadan, aqueducts, lavers, cellars with natural abilities in coldness, warmness and support are examples of underground space uses (providing cooling, heating and storing food and goods) in Iranian cities. The Main questions of this research are: what the role of undergrounds or cellars was in native Iranian architecture and how impressionable it was in reducing energy consumption. The theoretical framework of this study indicates that several factors had positive impacts on reducing energy consumption in cellars. To do this research, descriptive-analytical methods were uses and were analyzed according to case studies in Qazvin houses. The results of this study reveal that cellars had a main role in human thermal comfort and they caused reducing energy consumption in residential and even public spaces. Also, several factors such as the cellar's depth, height and dimensions had impacts on the reduction amount of energy consumption and the level of their impact was different.

By considering certain factors like those mentioned by Ian Thompson (2005) in his definition of landscape, i.e. ecology, community and delight, in designing landscapes, one can find the vocation more applicable and useful. City rivers can play a very important role with regard to such values. In fact, the presence of nature and wildlife could not only be the lifeline of a city, but also a factor for community activities. Environmental quality improvement case study (aesthetically) among today’s building constructions is the result of approaching landscape from such a perspective. In the present paper, a river in Shiraz called the ‘Khoshk River’–the river that keeps people safe during the rainy seasons by providing a passage for the excess water–is studied based on the factors of designing landscapes. In this regard, the ecological effect of the river as a natural corridor in a warm and dry climate is obvious; however, the two other effects of community and delight are ignored in relation to the landscape of this natural axis. Thus, apart from considering its ecological role, bringing the spirit of society and delight back into the seasonal lifeline is one of the purposes of this study. The river was a recreation area for the people in the past. However, it is now surrounded by different residential, commercial, and administrative buildings, and the society factor (with minimum attention to its ecological and landscape values) is active outside this natural axis. In attention towards the river’s landscape, using the river to resolve traffic problems (building overpasses and underpasses), and a subway nearby, have created an undesirable image of this natural phenomenon.

Maraghe observatory was built by such engineers as Moayiededdin Orozi etc. under supervision of Khaje Nasireddin Tousi in 7th century AH. The most significant feature associated with Maraghe observatory is the fact that architecture is employed to achieve astronomical purposes in this site. The reason for preferring observatory by astronomers was the fact that these units are superior to wooden and metal instruments with respect to accuracy, no size limitations, etc. Architectural design and function of astronomical units of Maraghe observatory site after discovery of its foundation in the course of explorations before Islamic Revolution remained unclear until recent years. After conducting required studies and investigations, the author managed to find significant cues and after some precise comparisons, he succeeded to recover the main design and function of some astronomical units of this international center. Based on these findings these astronomical structures can reliably be rebuilt. This research showed that every circular or polygonal building cannot be considered as an observatory. For example form and function of cemetery structures are completely different with astronomical ones. Following this research also valuable results were obtained in relation to stone architectural structures present on Maraghe observatory hill. In addition, claims about invention of astronomical units of Maraghe observatory by non-Iranian scientists are rejected and rights of Iranian scientists are rationally defended in this regard.

Political evolutions and struggles of 19th century prepared the ground for realization of nationalities and emergence of nationalist movements. The realization of national identity in countries such as Iran, turkey and Egypt was partly due to the emphasis of governments on glorious history or ancient modernity of these nations.Emergence of nationalism in any country is affected by political, social and religious factors during the history of that country. In Iranian contemporary history also this process is dependent upon opinions and thoughts of a number of nationalism modernists and intellectuals. Their intellectual products of this group played a significant role in emergence of nationalistic grounds in various social intellectual and even artistic areas. This paper tries to study the thoughts and opinions of Iranian intellectuals played roles in formulating principles in the field of nationalism which had influenced the emergence of national architectural movements in various intellectual social and even artistic fields. Then classification of nationalistic architectural tendencies that affected by nationalist intellectual approaches is addressed and it is followed by explaining the characteristic of nationalistic tendencies and some sample of the works of that period are presented.

The field of crisis management knowledge and expertise is associated with a wide range of fields. Knowledge-based crisis management is a combination of science, art and practice. Iran is an earthquake-prone country. Through years several earthquakes have happened in the country resulting in many human and financial losses. According to scientific standards, the first 24 hours following an earthquake is the most valuable time for saving victims. Yet in the case of Bam only 5% of the victims were rescued within the first 48 hours. The success of disaster management is evaluated in terms of programming, raising public participation, organizing and hiring manpower, and supervising the management process. In this study disaster management is divided into three stages in which different actions are required. The stages and actions are explained in detail. Moreover, features, effects, and losses of the earthquake are described.

Man raises level of his needs by falsifying the nature and construction of the built spaces. By examining various aspects and complex dimensions of the human, variable and different needs can be clearly seen. Therefore, an architectural construction, especially housing, should be able to set the access conditions to meet the highest level of the needs and achieve to the highest level of responsiveness to the needs of users. Thus, conditions such as flexibility, adaptability, variability and all the principles that lead to generate opportunities and capacities proportional to user's needs in a building has been double necessary. With looking at the traditional architecture, we find that, despite the limitations in manufacturing technology, the architects used their own strategies for responding to existing problems. Strategies such as the use of multi-functional space, embedding spaces in the three scales of tiny, medium and large scales as well as ability to separate or merge spaces, are some of these items. By knowing, however, Iran's traditional home space is flexible, in this study, we sought to answer the question whether this flexibility in space has a role in the amount of energy consumption of the building? If there is, it has an increasing or decreasing role? In order to answer this question, several examples of traditional houses in the hot and dry climates is simulated that, due to brevity it is not expressed in this study. Among them, for example, is expressed Boroujerdi House and energy consumption of the existing state compared with when a space had not seasonal versatility. Finally, it is concluded that flexibility, reduce energy consumption in traditional buildings.