Journal of Iranian Architecture & Urbanism(JIAU)

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: The functional layout of student residences holds significant importance as these spaces serve as a collective ‘second home’ for their residents. Many students living in such complexes have left their hometowns and are adapting to a new city, often encountering individuals from diverse backgrounds and varying social behaviors. This adjustment period, especially in the initial months, highlights the crucial need for ensuring residents’ privacy within their living environment. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between the functional layout of these residential spaces and their ability to safeguard residents’ privacy. By focusing on specific criteria tailored to meet the privacy needs of student residence occupants, this research seeks to address the challenges posed by the transition to communal living in a new environment. To understand the role of spatial organization in student residences, this study focuses on the spatial thresholds that define boundaries between interior and exterior spaces, emphasizing the creation of solitude and personal territories. The category of solitude and the creation of privacy and personal territories have been addressed in order to able to determine the desired solitude for the residents through the evaluation of the effective components of threshold that are resulted from the spatial organization of such residences. Drawing upon David Canter’s theory of place, the study examines the physical-environmental, functional-activity, and perceptual-semantic components of student residences. Specifically, it evaluates two residential complexes—the Imam Khomeini International University and the Islamic Azad University of Qazvin—to analyze their centralized and linear structural configurations. In addition, the study incorporates theories of environmental perception, such as Gibson’s ecological model of perception and the theory of environmental affordance, which emphasize the role of movement in acquiring environmental information. It also considers Barker’s ecological theory, which suggests that changes in behavior result from changes in the environment. These theories inform the extraction of research indicators and variables in the theoretical model, providing a framework for understanding the relationship between spatial organization and resident behavior.
Methods: The research questionnaire consists of two main sections. The first part assesses the quality of spatial organization in student residences regarding privacy, focusing on independent research variables. The second part gathers social data related to the dependent variable of privacy, covering two components: environmental affordance and attachment to the environment. Both questionnaires utilize a 5-point Likert scale to categorize residents’ responses regarding privacy in student residences. To evaluate the theoretical models and determine the relationship between independent and dependent variables, a multivariate method of structural equation modeling was employed. This approach, facilitated by AMOS22 software, combines factor analysis and path analysis. Through logical reasoning, survey data and structural equations are analyzed to draw conclusions.
Findings: The analysis reveals that physical-environmental characteristics apply the strongest influence on spatial organization, with a factor loading of 0.83. Following closely, functional-activity characteristics rank second with a factor loading of 0.7, while perceptual-semantic characteristics rank third with a factor loading of 0.56. In terms of evaluating privacy criteria based on the dependent variable questionnaire, environmental affordance demonstrates a higher impact with a factor loading of 0.71 compared to environmental attachment, which has a factor loading of 0.66. Furthermore, the significant correlation between privacy and spatial organization is evidenced by a factor loading of 0.62, indicating that spatial organization plays a pivotal role in shaping privacy, with internal components interacting synergistically.
Conclusion: The results highlight the significance of inner courtyards as an in-between space, particularly in student residences, as they enhance productivity and spatial dynamics. Unlike linear designs, incorporating courtyards into residence spatial organization increases spatial thresholds, facilitating spatial selection and permeability. Additionally, the hierarchical arrangement of spaces within courtyards fosters privacy and territorial definition among residents. Overall, survey results underscore the importance of creating conducive atmospheres in student residences through a balanced integration of physical-spatial and perceptual-behavioral factors. These factors not only influence the desirability of residences but also contribute to resident satisfaction and the establishment of stable behavioral patterns.

Abstract Extended Abstract
 Background and Objectives: With the emergence of new urban planning ideas in the present century, thoughts about the construction and design of cities have returned to their complex nature, and urban paradigms have always invited people to think and reflect. Urban design is always considered an interdisciplinary science in four dimensions. The dimension of time as a fourth dimension, also emphasized by philosophers in the process of understanding the symmetry of different spatial dimensions, has often been ignored. Urban design based on the space-time paradigm has become one of the new paradigms of urban planning due to its complex concept and the ongoing nature of time. So that design has led to the preservation of time for citizens, and the liberation of space from time constraints has become one of the urban design principles. Also, the city is constantly changing, and the rate of change is different, and this difference is due to the time of change at different times in the city. Therefore, considering the comprehensive changes in the current urban spaces and places, it is important to get acquainted and pay attention to time features. Accordingly, attention to the space-time paradigm can be considered a missing link in urban design, and achieving a framework that clarifies the relationship between place and time and space seems necessary. With a phenomenological approach and a fundamental purpose, this paper introduces the features of place in spaces and urban places. As an example, religious spaces (for the purpose of research) will be considered the main concern. After stating the features of place, the relationship between the two features of time and space (directly) are introduced as the basic elements for understanding the general place and representing the mind (indirectly) for the meaning of spaces and events. Finally, these questions are answered: "What are the space-time indicators and components of the place?; In which order do they play a role in concordance with the place?"
Methods: Regarding the research purposes, it is necessary to collect and evaluate both quantitative and qualitative data and go through a reciprocal process in the research, so a mixed research method has been used in this study. First, to explain the place features, in the qualitative part of the research, in-depth and purposeful interviews were conducted in Imamzadeh Yahya in District 12 of Tehran. Therefore, the qualitative variables of the environment were discovered at different times. Then, the obtained indices were categorized by the exploratory factor analysis method and with SPSS software to quantify the data.
Findings: The research findings indicate that the space-time indicators in Imamzadeh Yahya, as a special urban place, are validated and prioritized in the form of three main components that are affected by the conformity and impact and interaction of the proposed indicators. These components include "sensory-personal," "behavioral-functional," and "physical-environmental" components. According to this classification, the three indicators of space, time, and mind interact with each other to interpret urban places in the cognitive perception cycle of the place. New concepts emerge when these indicators converge; each of which can carry a set of emotions in people at different times.
Conclusion: The results show that sensory sparks are representations or mediators of place that can add value to the place. Meanwhile, the representation of time creates a feeling in the person. The richness of this feeling is influenced by the amount of change in spatial and mental factors. The harmony of all the factors of place creation is very effective in building a thriving urban place. The effect of such harmony and sequence between the components of an urban place acts as a harmonious melody in the heart of the city. If these elements are correctly put together, a pleasant sound will be heard, and its sequence and back and forth cannot be distinguished and recognized. In this context, it seems that considering time as one of the main indicators of place will bring new capabilities in dealing with urban issues.

Abstract