Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: “Earth architecture” is one of the construction techniques in architecture with a rich history dating back to several thousand years, whose traces are visible in the architecture of different nations of the world, including Iran. Earth architecture is one of the sub-branches of vernacular architecture, which has a rich set of originalities and native-historical capacities in different parts of the world. Due to the extensive availability of soil; it has played a significant role in time and history by reflecting many originalities of vernacular and traditional architecture. Regions like the historical city of Yazd, characterized by desert climates, have historically been ideal environments for the development of earth architecture. Despite its longstanding heritage, contemporary attention to the various capacities and innovations of earth architecture has been lacking, with challenges and sensitivities in the field now garnering increased attention. Based on this, despite the background and existing rich capacities; The trend of widespread use and acceptability of Earth architecture in the contemporary period has been accompanied by a noticeable decline because of the growth of technology in competing industrial materials and cultural changes in construction. Public acceptability is a comprehensive and relevant matter and its application can provide the level of public acceptability. As such, the aim of this research is to identify bottlenecks and strategies to enhance the public acceptability of earth architecture in Yazd. By utilizing the public acceptability index and emphasizing the historical context of the city, the study seeks to promote the revitalization and improvement of earth architecture in the region.
Methods: The historical city of Yazd, with its desert climate, has historically provided an ideal environment for the development of earth architecture. Despite its rich heritage, contemporary attention to the diverse capacities and innovations of earth architecture has been lacking, leading to increased scrutiny of the challenges and sensitivities within the field.
Findings: The research findings reveal that Earth architecture, like other architectural techniques and styles, possesses its own set of advantages, disadvantages, challenges, obstacles, and drivers. Through content analysis of research literature and consultations with local experts, these factors have been identified and categorized. In addition, categorization and prioritization of the challenges, obstacles and drivers of earth architecture in the research literature and experts of Yazd shows the similarities and differences that indicate the “locality” of the public acceptability of earth architecture. From a comparative point of view, regarding the challenges in the scale of world literature, “technical challenges” have been the most important issue. In the same scale and in the obstacles section, “policy-based obstacles” had more points, and in the driver’s section, “technical and architectural drivers” were emphasized more. On the other hand, public acceptance of earth architecture”; “less university programs and courses” and two categories including “innovation and technology” and “standard development and control criteria” are respectively “priority challenges”, “priority obstacles” and “priority drivers” of Yazd city.
Conclusion: The category of public acceptability of earth architecture has a set of interconnected elements that bring together different issues such as advantages and limitations, and the triple bottlenecks of challenges, obstacles, and drivers. Accordingly, recognizing and prioritizing the covering variables for each of these multiple elements in order to improve and promote the public acceptability of this construction method and to promote the public acceptability of earth-based materials is very important in this field. This prioritization serves as a valuable tool for identifying collective actions within specific physical contexts, facilitating the implementation of architectural policies. Moreover, this new policy framework places greater emphasis on public acceptance, thereby fostering increased attention and support for earth architecture in Yazd city. Such a focused approach can effectively promote public acceptance in a practical and targeted manner.