Journal of Iranian Architecture & Urbanism(JIAU)

Abstract The inherent connection between human life and the built environment necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the ongoing functionality of buildings beyond their initial design. This research aims to develop a conceptual model that captures the intricate requirements and complexities of the human-environment relationship. Employing a qualitative approach grounded in critical realism, the study utilizes the grounded theory. Through an examination of ten historic houses from the Pahlavi period in Tehran, the research draws upon interviews with 52 respondents, supplemented by data from reliable sources and field observations. MAXQDA20 software facilitated the coding process and data analysis. The outcomes reveal three main categories, namely "audience needs/expectations," "lived experience", and "built environment," along with their interconnections. The conceptual model proposes that achieving functionality entails a delicate balance between user needs/expectations and their representation within the built environment. Psychological, physiological, and special expectations are harmonized through proportional arrangements, ensuring the functionality of the space. The built environment serves as a platform, leveraging its physical and non-physical attributes to provide, restrict, strengthen, or weaken the conditions necessary for balance. This research contributes to the understanding of functionality in adaptive reuse, providing valuable insights for architectural practice and decision-making processes.

Abstract The theories and discourses of urban planning have faced various developments in the last few decades Because the essence of the theory is transformational and affected by different vectors and forces in time and place, it undergoes many ups and downs. One of the topics that has taken on a more prominent role in urban planning systems in recent decades is issues related to citizen participation. Despite the importance of a participatory system for citizens, the theories proposed in this field lack the necessary capability and efficiency. The discourse of citizen participation refers to both the acceleration and threat of citizen participation. The main goal of this research is to discover the obstacles of citizen participation in the process of plan, process and preview (3p) from the point of view of urban planning professionals. The present study is fundamental in terms of its objective and falls within the category of qualitative and interpretive research. In this study, the grounded theory method (classical approach) and content analysis were utilized. The method of collecting information is through open questionnaires (completed with 176 professionals in the field of urban planning). Maxqda software was used for qualitative data analysis and coding. A total of 474 open codes have been extracted, and these open codes have been converted into 57 concepts, 21 sub-categories and finally 8 main categories. Lack of provision of platform and facilities, dominance of power, lack of transparency and trust, structural weakness and non-participation of the process, use of inappropriate methods, weak knowledge support and insufficient experiences, lack of popular acceptance, conflict of interests of different strata as key components in non-participation Citizens are known from the point of view of urban planning professionals. Comparison and comparison of the components mentioned in previous studies that investigated the non-participation of citizens in general and the components specifically mentioned by professionals in the field of urban planning regarding the non-participation of citizens In the triple processes of plan, process and preview, it shows that many of the mentioned components and factors are common.

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: Facades can significantly affect the visual quality of buildings. The initial impression that a building has on a viewer occurs via its facade. A building facade can be the most important element of its design. Considering that the facade of a building is the first visual component of that building and the first component that connects the building to the surrounding environment, it plays a significant role in the viewer’s evaluation. Perception of the meaning of facades has been mainly explored in urban planning, but architectural experts have paid little attention to this subject from the architectural point of view. Residential buildings were selected among the different types of buildings since paying attention to different components, and their meaning is more important than the function in designing residential environments. Nowadays, residential land uses constitute a large portion of urban land uses. Almost all members of a society are in direct contact with them and look at different facades on a daily basis. Therefore, this study attempted to identify the components of the meaning of residential apartments in Ardabil from the perspective of the citizens. The main question of this study is as follows: What are the semantic components of the facades in residential apartments from the perspective of the citizens?
Methods: This research had a mixed-method approach. The qualitative section was conducted using the grounded theory, while the quantitative section was performed using structural equation modeling (SEM). In the qualitative part, the required data were collected via in-depth semi-structured interviews with citizens of Ardabil City. Since the researcher’s deep understanding of the subject and the possibility of conducting in-depth interviews are major factors in any qualitative study, the main criterion for selecting the sample was the possibility of the author’s continuous presence in the area and interviewing the citizens. A total number of 25 residential apartments in Ardabil City were selected as the sample in this study. The southern and southwestern sections of Ardabil have a relatively new urban fabric. Most apartments in these sections have 3 to 6 stories. In terms of socio-cultural and economic status, these areas have a high, medium, medium-to-low, and medium-to-high status. Therefore, they were suitable for in-depth study and would provide generalizable results. For this reason, the geographical expanse consisting of the south and southwest of Ardabil City was selected as the study area. MAXQDA software and constant comparisons during the three stages of open, axial, and selective coding were used to analyze the collected data. After the interviews were transcribed, the collected data were scrutinized via the coding method and classified via open, axial, and selective coding. Each interview was perused several times, and the basic concepts were extracted via content analysis. In the second coding stage, one of the categories was selected as the core concept, which was then studied as the pivotal phenomenon in the explained process. The relationships of the other categories with the core concept were then determined and expressed in the form of a paradigm model. Selective coding was the last stage of the coding procedure in which the core category was selected, and its links to other categories were identified. The author designed a questionnaire in the quantitative section, and its validity and reliability were examined. SEM and SmartPLS software were used in this section of the research. The questionnaire consisted of 31 items designed in a structured manner based on the Likert 5-point scale and developed according to the conceptual model of the research. Four items directly inquired about the meaning of facades. Using targeted cluster sampling, the authors distributed the questionnaires among individuals who were familiar with the samples. Analysis of the collected data via SEM in SmartPLS confirmed the significance of the relationships and the identified components.
Findings: The components and details of building facades have meaningful integrity. Identifying the meanings of facades helps determine their constituent factors. In this study, the context and intervening factors, in some cases, have affected the meaning of the selected facades. The analysis showed that nine components affect the meaning of building facades: socio-cultural factors, lifestyle, economic factors, environmental factors, urban laws, visual quality, mental history, media, and construction quality.
Conclusion: The results showed that different factors affect how participants describe their residential apartment appearance. The participants used terms such as regular, expensive, identity, etc., when describing the appearance of residential apartments. The meanings of facades are affected by various factors. These meanings are formed in the context of structural factors (facade components, physical characteristics, stylistic features, and apartment properties), context factors, and intervening factors. Based on the achieved results, certain solutions have been proposed to improve the semantic status of the facades of residential apartments. By determining the components affecting the facade meaning, one can identify the physical properties and other influential underlying factors that would lead to desired visual quality, thereby helping the patterns and designs of the facade. Understanding these components helps architects comprehend people’s mental perceptions of the façade, while not preoccupying with their personal perceptions.

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: Finding a phenomenon’s origin and initial formation process has always been one of the basic questions raised in all science branches, and urban morphology is a branch based on this motivation. Research on the origin of an unplanned urban area is not as easy as planned ones. Before the establishment of modern urbanism in Iran, most residential tissues had been formed during unplanned processes. Due to the lack of a comprehensive real estate registration system, there is no precise information about the division of urban lands and the construction of passages and buildings in residential alleys. In simpler terms, the origin of its formation is unknown. In the present study, a part of the intermediate urban form of Gorgan city is selected to identify the origin of a spontaneous residential tissue. It is attempted to discover all the events affecting its urban morphology from 1921 to 1974. Since this intermediate urban form is located between the historic tissue and the contemporary urban tissue, in terms of time, it is located between two different generations from the date of formation of the city (1921 to 1971). Consequently, it is cognate with the historic tissue patterns based on traditional society and its gradual development. Likewise, historically, it is more closely related to the research time, and it is easier to follow the developments and transformations in the samples than in the historical tissue. Thus, it facilitates receiving collective awareness of the formation process. Like any other urban tissue, the physical elements forming urban morphology in the intermediate urban form include roads, lots, and buildings. Nonetheless, the combination of these elements creates a comparatively discrete identity from the planned tissues. In the intermediate urban form, which is typically spontaneous, there are intertwined relationships between roads, lots, and buildings; as such, to separate these elements from each other is not as easy as a contemporary planned tissue. Accordingly, the present study aims to study the factors affecting the formation and deformation of each urban morphology element and their combination with each other to explain the entity and complexity of urban morphology in spontaneous tissues.
Methods: The research method of this paper is based on a qualitative approach. It is a combination of grounded theory reading (Systematic) and a comparative diachronical morphology. Hence, the data were extracted both from structured interviews and with the help of morphological development analysis techniques to compensate for the lack of written data by deriving oral data from the knowledge of the early residents of the tissue.
Findings: The city of Astarabad, now known as Gorgan, could be a good case for sampling in this study because Gorgan has never been the center of a caliphate or monarchy despite its long history of habitation. Thus, unlike a typical capital city, it did not face fast and unexpected transformations due to the establishment of military and administrative centers or large-scale migrations and maintained its natural growth rate over the years. Since the beginning of the present century, the city has been a regional-scale nucleus and has played an economic role in surrounding micro-settlements. The findings reveal that urban morphology factors act as a matrix pattern, and their effectiveness does not correspond to a linear process. The components of this matrix consist of three areas: actors, action/interaction, and conditions, each of which includes a set of influential categories and has its types and dimensions. Individuals, families, and the local community are considered the most effective actors. Regarding action/interaction, property rights to land division, the agreement between the rights holders and the legal system are recognized as the most effective factors. The most important underlying conditions are climate, land economy, and household, respectively.
Conclusion: As a result, the urban form is shaped by conscious individual/family choices, social interactions, and the legal system; That is, the will and ownership choice in the formation and development of the urban fabric has played a more prominent role than laws and regulations. So that from the micro-level (individual) to the macro-level (legal system), the degree of effectiveness is gradually reduced and, in turn, prevents the formation of a top-down linear pattern. Moreover, the existing terrain, in an artificial or a natural form, plays a key role in urban morphology. Generalizing the results of this paper requires adopting a phenomenological approach to the analysis of each category obtained at the level of dimensions and characteristics, which requires another study. However, the generalizability of the results to other cities in Iran requires more comparative research, so there is a need to study more and more diverse examples from different cities along with this research.

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: William M. Pena described his Matrix theory, or the network information table, in 1987 in his book entitled “problem seeking”. This theory presented a mechanism for architectural programming. On the other hand, the parametric paradigm has massively addressed various aspects of architecture and criticism in the past four decades. Parametric paradigm developed from formal parametric to parametric BIM in the initial dozens and ultimately to parametric automation. Parametric automation encompasses an extensive and undeniable level in the process of architectural design and criticism. This research tries to expand the William M. Pena matrix based on the parametric paradigm and develop a parametric mechanism for complex data analysis on a very large scale to help designers and critics. In other words, this research is trying to expand Pena’s theory in the context of the parametric paradigm by defining variables and facilities today so that it can serve as a model to guide the design process and criticism to architects and designers.
Methods: With the help of triple coding, Strauss’ and Corbin’s grounded theory has provided the research platform. In the following, graph theory has been used as a parametric analysis mechanism under the Gephi-version 0.9.2. The research steps are 1- Selection of the Pena Matrix and its expansion. 2- Completing content related to each cell of Matrix base and one-way communication of cells. 3- Referring the information to the team of experts for review 4- Achieving theoretical saturation measure. 5. Transfering information to Gephi software. 6-Preparation of required outputs using multiple software filters. 7- Analysis of outputs in line with the answer to the research question.
Findings: The output facilities in the Gaffe program are the degree of nodes, the weight of the vectors, the index nodes, and the shortest path between the two specified nodes, which the filters can access in the Gaffe program. On the other hand, two basic data were obtained based on the collected questionnaires. First, the one-way communication of each matrix item and then the weight of each of these communications. In order to obtain the results, the information was transferred to the Gephi program. At first, the edge weight filter, which is one of the filters of the Gephi program, was implemented on the extractive data. (These filters are based on the mathematical theory of graphs for specific outputs and standard graph theory in the program). It is possible to display only the communications of matrix cells located in this range by specifying the desired range Using app filters. As a result, more accurate and quality categorization will be possible even in countless matrix cells altogether. This mechanism also applies to the direction of another filter called grade. The degree in the theory of graphs refers to the number of connections entered and exited to each node. In this stage, the graph can be investigated based on the number of vectors entered on the base matrix cells. Finally, by citing the order of our shortest distance between the two nodes, nodes and their communications can be achieved at this stage. The output will be obtained based on node analysis and communication between them. This is precisely one of the most widely used practices of graph theory. Repeating this command in the program makes it possible to get the shortest route between the first cell in the first row and the fifth cell in all rows.
Conclusion: Based on codings, cells with a greater degree and weight in the defined range and the shortest distance between the two cells and related graphs are drawn. With repetition of this stage, the ability to analyze, including a comparison of frequency and analysis of alternatives, will be possible. The graph drawn in the Gephi software will determine which content exactly defined in the Matrix cells will play a role in connecting the cells of the first columns to the cells of the fifth columns and will determine the shortest communication path between them. In other words, the mechanism designed firstly, like an initial index, will play a role in the collective concept of information, and parametric analysis of unidirectional communication between Matrix cells will be able to analyze communication on a macro scale. These analyzes are available to designers graphically and parametrically. By changing each parameter or basic communication, the ability to analyze and compare changes to the word humanity will be provided. As a result, by reference to the research question, this parametric mechanism based on William M. Pena’s matrix theory with multiple accurately adjustable outputs in the Gephi program will be able to first create a parametric structure and simply observe and compare the changes in the output graphs by changing the basis information. As a guide, it will also determine the path of the required data and communication and open the path to design and criticism. 

Abstract Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: This research aims to answer this question: From the residents’ point of view, what is the beauty and desirability of the form and appearance of urban masses and buildings and their composition? What standards and values are considered for the designers and builders of today’s buildings, which are embodied in the current masses and building forms? Accordingly, this research explores relevant theoretical texts and objective and subjective issues of residents living in District 2 of Tehran. The origin of beauty and aesthetic perception is often defined between the two concepts of objectivism and subjectivism. However, newer philosophical analyzes that adopt an interactive perspective believe that the sense of beauty originates from the patterns that connect people and things. In fact, a reasonable (and usual) solution to the objective-subjective controversy in the evaluation of aesthetic quality acknowledges that aesthetic quality is the joint product of observable characteristics that interact with psychological processes in the human observer. With the flourishing of aesthetic perceptual research and the publication of their results, the differences between the previous evaluations of beauty and these studies became clear. They prompted researchers to look into these differences more.
Methods: In the literature review, descriptive and bibliographic methods have been used to progress the research. For the contextual studies, a type of qualitative research method called Grounded Theory Method, which is based on interpretation analysis, has been chosen. Finally, the comparative method (comparison and evaluation between the results of theoretical and contextual studies) has been used to analyze and present the results of the article. The grounded Theory Method applies interpretation in order to discover concepts and relationships between primary data and to organize them in the form of a theoretical explanatory plan. In the present research, the mentioned method has been used to reach the type of view and mental frameworks of the citizens of District 2 of Tehran in relation to urban building and mass aesthetics. 
Findings: Based on the findings of the research, in the context of irresponsible urban management, ambiguity in the demands of the residents between the new and the past, and the change of conditions and demands over time has created some issues. These issues are classified as conditional categories: “Speculative urban management”, “Wandering between urban fabric protection or change”, and “Instability of residents’ demands and conditions”. In addition, the residents of District 2 of Tehran, in relation to the visual aesthetics of their living environment, believe in “visual irregularities and deterioration” (related to shape combinations) and “lack of open space and increased density” (related to the combination of masses and spaces) which are classified as interactive categories. The interviews affirm that the interactions and processes experienced by the residents have led to consequential categories such as “forgetting the presence of the living environment” and “disconnecting with the living environment”. Accordingly, sub-categories such as distortion of memories and nostalgia can distort the future image and peace of mind, invigorate a sense of indifference towards the living environment, and lead to the thought of migration. They were the guides for the formation of the two main consequences mentioned in this research. Also, an important point emerging from the comparative evaluation between theoretical and contextual studies is the concepts that have been focused on in these two categories of studies are quite common. The concepts mentioned in both categories almost cover each other. But what happened in District 2 of Tehran is actually the opposite of what was desirable. In other words, while the principles and criteria derived from theoretical studies were considered to achieve a pleasant and beautiful physical-visual combination, the results obtained from contextual studies reveal an absence and lack of attention to aesthetic criteria in the formation of mass and building volumes in District 2 of Tehran. 
Conclusion: According to the conducted investigations and the obtained results, it is possible to determine a physical-visual aesthetic theory with two aspects: content and procedural. The content aspect of this theory is related to the principles and criteria that shape building volumes and masses, which are the same physical-visual components or forces and are compatible with interactive categories obtained from contextual studies. Its procedural aspect is discussed in relation to the conditions and context of the formation of building volumes and masses, which are non-physical components and forces and are consistent with the conditional categories obtained from contextual studies. The absence and lack of attention to physical aesthetic criteria in the formation of building masses and volumes in District 2 of Tehran can be caused by the fact that the designers or constructors not only look at the building differently from the aesthetics experts, but also they have taken an almost opposite path to the theoretical criteria. Based on this, residents and users of the environment have an ugly and undesirable visual perception. The difference in the views of these two groups can be a confirmation of the existence and influence of external forces affecting the formation of building masses. In this context, the land price and its related components are the main factors affecting the appearance of buildings. In addition, the type of choice, approach, and taste of designers, contractors, or builders can be another non-physical component affecting the formation of aesthetic judgments resulting from the analysis and comparison of physical-visual components. The mentioned components, in the lack or shortage of appropriate legal controls and lack of specialized education related to contextual architecture and urban planning, can play a very effective role in the urban visual composition and cause a large gap between the desired and existing situation regarding physical-visual aesthetics in the building masses.