International Journal of

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There are many evident that people are more interested in walking in attractive urban spaces and inappropriate physical and psychological condition can reduce their presence in a remarkable amount. The current research investigates the influence of physical design and psychological elements and their criteria on selective physical activity and specifically walking in urban public spaces. However there are some limitations in determining specifications of physical and psychological design which have effects on walking, meanwhile the urban planning elements, transportation and crime prevention via environmental design are developed strategies which have potentials for influencing the rate of pedestrian-oriented state of urban spaces. The research frameworks which are extracted from the complex of these elements include 5 applied criteria of safety, aesthetics, destination and (environmental) security which are specified by use of documentation and library method. In this paper, the public general spaces of Farahzad village were selected by field study and by help of questioning technique which its statistical community included 12 urban planning experts, the mentioned criteria were analyzed by Analytic Network Process. The results indicates that the quality of physical design and the psychological elements have major effect on pedestrian-oriented state of urban spaces and the importance degree of each criterion in determining the rate of pedestrian-oriented state of urban spaces of Farahzad village included the aesthetics, security and applied indicators in a value level, destination and safety. Meanwhile, the most pedestrian-oriented spaces of Farahzad village were specified by considering the mentioned criteria and by use of Analytic Network Process. Cognition of this issue will help the above-mentioned options to overcome their challenges which are creating attractive and dynamic urban space via improving the condition.

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Lighting plays a key role in night escapes of urban spaces, in a way that it can be effective in giving identity to them. By considering this importance and inexistence of a process for composing urban Lighting strategy made this study to be conducted by the objective of providing process for compilation of context-oriented lighting strategy in urban spaces. Reaching a suitable solution for Lighting in urban spaces, a process is needed which can encompass all different aspects in the context of lighting. In this way, a process is proposed via that this shortage can be compensated. This process, at first considers basic urban studies including historical, cultural, religious, social, ceremonial and land-use and then the design scenario is propounded and in order to investigate the urban spaces context via space syntax method, the integration parameter is used. Later on, guiding is propounded which can be analyzed by Intelligibility parameter from space syntax method. And also designing alternatives can be analyzed by space syntax method. By studying the organizer structure and its prioritizing, we could achieve the lighting originated from the context. The last part of process is based on observance of the topics related to light pollutions which has a very critical role in lighting. In this study the analytic-descriptive research method with modeling and simulation are applied to achieve a context-oriented lighting process in urban spaces. The results of this study are showing that the provided process can be applied practically for lighting by considering the urban context. So this study has practical aspects and it can create a suitable strategy for lighting urban design and planning.

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It is claimed that perception is the result of objective measurement and subjective reaction, when people immerse in an environment. This statement is the main theme of this paper. This study tries to set a framework in analyzing built environment that is to comply with human perceptive processes. The approach of this article presents a methodology to assess the perceptual environment . The paper initially reviews the literatures that deal with perception theory and perceptual procedures. As a case study, a part of historic Noghan Bazzar in Mashhad has been examined to understand how people's perception and behavior can be directly influenced by landscape features. To explore this relationship a research technique has been employed that employs perceptual assessment survey by experts. Some measures introduced in this paper are useful to understand how environmental qualities, as well as patterns and combinations of particular qualities, affect people’s perceptions of landscape. The outcomes would be the identification of a connection between the designed, physical aspects and the subjective sense of environment. The result of this study could be employed as a research technique to analyze the built environment in order to recommend design solutions, especially for valuable old heritage fabrics of cities that encompass common memorable spaces and convey common social values.

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There is abundant literature regarding virtual reality as a technology of interest in the present age. However, there are few comprehensive studies on strategies that can improve the level of urban design research using this technique. To investigate the issue, this paper first reviews the concept of virtual reality. Next, the opinions of experts in the field of virtual reality technology are summed up and key elements needed to create a virtual reality experience and key operators that establish the actual interaction of users with virtual environments are discussed. The use of Virtual Reality Modeling (VRM) in the urban design process and is also elaborated on. Uses of this technique in urban projects and advantages and limitations of its use in the field are discussed. Finally, the paper attempts to provide practical solutions and strategies to improve the quality of semi experiments developed virtual environment. This can improve the results and findings of research conducted with the technique. Strategies discussed in this article have been mostly derived from practical experience and research in recent years by the author. They can help provide a more robust analysis and reduce the errors made in the virtual environment.

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Due to the change of lifestyle and improvement of public health the number of aged people has considerably increased. Considering the relationship of the environment and people, the built environment features could exacerbate or facilitate the elderly people’s vulnerability and social needs. Recently, a large number of studies have put emphasis on the relationship between the neighborhoods’ open spaces attributes and seniors’ social needs. This study seeks to investigate the impact of the built environment indicators on the time the elderly spent in urban spaces of Banafsheh neighborhood in Mashhad. In order to do this, through a cross-sectional survey research, 33 indicators were collected from recent studies and categorized in seven main urban design qualities based on perceived and self-report data collected by questionnaire. A regression analysis revealed the impact of each quality on the sociability of the elderly. Results demonstrate that in this context, “safety” is the most effective factor on the elderly presence in open spaces. “Attractiveness” and “all age presence” are at the next points.

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The condition that varieties of cities including Iranian cities are confronted makes the creation of successful public space a necessity. It is clear that for creating suitable public space first we should understand the influencing factors on space and simultaneously solve and improve the problems through understanding the environment. For achieving the factors that influence the success as a main goal of this research, important theories of the successful public space such as White, Montgomery, Jacobs, Gehl, Carr, Oldenburg and the experience of the famous international institutes are reviewed. finally a model for space evaluation based on place game model of PPS institute was presented. The main method of research because of its experimental-theoric orientation for identifying the most influencing factors on success of space is testing theory Method. In order to verify theory the Correlation Test is used. At first based on place model, place game checklist of PPS institute and theoretical framework presented in this paper, the factors influencing the success of public space are categorized as comfort-activity-access- socialability dimensions. By means of deep observation, questionnaire, Llewlyn Davies's scale and field survey techniques data was collected to complete the data requirements of the place evaluation model. In order to spatially analyze the success level at Imam st, interpolation model of GIS software was used. The result showed that Abresan Street is the most successful section, Saat, Mansoor and Golestan sections were followed respectively. The results of investigation about the theory in our case study (Imam Khomeini street) show that between following factors: comfort-activity-access- socialability, factors of comfort and image are the most important condition for place success.

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How to design a city more legible is one of the main problems in urban design. To define the parameters that are crucial in designing legible cities is the main debate of this article. The research methodology was studying mental maps of the city dwellers and comparing the group image of the city with the pattern of continuity of salient elements and integration of the urban axes using Space Syntax theory. It was found out that to make a city more legible there should be continuity between salient elements of the city; between main integrators and visible fields of the landmarks, to form a coherent structure, or these elements should overlap to emphasize each other to make the city more legible. The relationship of these two elements in the city structure depends on the degree of irregularity of the layout and the presence of the rules of Gestalt of “good configuration". Each urban morphology according to its degree of irregularity and presence or absence of Gestalt rules can be categorized as organized, semi-organized and unorganized. The role of landmarks or visual clues according to the type of morphology differs from one type to another. To make a legible city, there should be a coincidence between the maps of main integrators to the landmark setting to emphasize the main structure of the city in regular settings (organized and semi organized structures). In irregular layouts, there should be continuity between pattern of visible fields of landmarks and main integrators of the city to form a coherent whole. The hierarchy of the urban axes in global and local level- most integrated and least integrated axes- will be followed by the hierarchy of the visual clues in global and local levels, which defines the nature of systems of reference in the structure of the city. The aim of the study presented by this article is to show how the interaction of landmarks and pathway configuration influence the legibility of the city and make the image group of the city.

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The key issue in the design of today’s living spaces is the cognitive and socio psychological gap towards individual and social needs of today's human. Place attachment as a quality of urban space has a kind of product-oriented output and requires careful attention to the stages and process of attachment. In the analysis of this process, familiarity with cognitive structures and novel research methods in the field of cognitive psychology, provide designers with valuable information. The main aim of this study is to investigate the role of cognitive psychology approach in the process-oriented study of place attachment. The research tries to address the issue that "how does the process-oriented model is realized in place attachment with an approach of cognitive psychology?". Research is a combination of qualitative (interview) and quantitative (questionnaire) methods. In order to determine the appropriate number of participants, first a pretest was performed as a pilot study on 40 residents of the neighborhood and after the estimation of variance for the initial sample (S2 ) at the confidence level of 95%, the number of the sample was increased to 297. The findings of this study suggest that the most influential criterion on the attachment of residents, is the affect (0.97) dimension; Behavior (0.86) is the second and cognition (0.74) is the third one identified in terms of process dimensions. This research introduces influential criteria in the promotion of affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions of the place attachment process and also investigates the effectiveness degree of each dimension. 

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Undoubtedly, public spaces can be considered as an essential factor, which could contribute to urban arrangement, create and maintain a strong local center and enhance the quality of superior environment and the sense of citizenship. Moreover, integrity has always been the most basic structural qualities and one of the key principles of cities. Integrated urban spaces exhibit the integrated structure of spatial organization in a city where, not only conjunction and space functions are considered, but also identity finds its place in the complex urban system. Therefore, the processes of planning, designing and construction of urban spaces could be helpful for solving structural problems in urban models such as lack of integrity in cities and their spatial analysis. The main purpose of this study is to present a conceptual model of an integrated network for urban spaces in the process of decision-making. Undoubtedly, such networks that strengthen the structure and integrity of a city bring about socio-economic growth and prosperity for inhabitants. Therefore, this study seeks to propose a conceptual model for developing integrated urban spaces network. The main research methods are content analysis and inductive reasoning. The main approach adopted in the analysis and design is that of "living community" in New Urbanism movement. The results reveal that urban spaces are located in a logic network as transects, and to achieve spatial integrity, the continuity of transverse parts of the city must be maintained, as provided in the form of a continuity matrix.

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Over the last few decades, some newly developed areas in the city of Isfahan have had serious problems in providing such urban design qualities as legibility, and this has led to various problems for the citizens like difficulty in way-finding, orientation or addressing. In order to solve this problem and enrich the legibility of newly developed areas, planners and designers should utilize appropriate principles extracted from the inhabitants' cognition and expectations. This paper attempts to understand how people form their cognitive maps in urban areas and find their way within urban places. Hence, it tries to identify and evaluate different kinds of urban elements (the most important elements which provides legibility) by using casual-comparative methods on the basis of such factors as the reason of being distinctive, the type, context, function, adjacency, heritage value and type of the adjacent route that residents of Isfahan have used in shaping their cognitive maps. The findings of this research showed that the most important characteristics which affect the distinctiveness of urban landmarks in the citizens cognitive maps include: having distinctive form in their surrounding environment; being located along the urban main streets or near the junctions; being established in a central area or having heritage value; having such urban functions or land uses as tourism, commercial, leisure, religious or transportation.

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Because of the differences between indoor and outdoor thermal condition, preparing some outdoor thermal indices is a way to understand and categorize the outdoor thermal sensation. The aim of these indices is not to provide thermal comfort - as it is the aim of indoor indices. Instead, they are provided to analyze outdoor thermal sensation to help architects, landscape architects and urban designers in design procedure to provide the most possible tolerable thermal condition in outdoor places such as urban public spaces. This article is the result of some field studies have been done in 2010 - 2012 in five different climates: hot semi humid (Ahvaz, Iran), tropical (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), hot-arid (Kashan, Iran), moderate-arid (Tehran, Iran) and cold (Sheffield, UK) in their worst thermal period. The main question in this research is: which outdoor thermal index is appropriate for a specific climate? And how much it is accurate to evaluate outdoor thermal sensation especially in different levels of cold stress and heat stress condition? In each field study the weather data including temperature, humidity and wind speed, are collected by two portable Kestrel weather stations to show weather condition in local and microclimate levels. People's behavior in outdoor spaces is observed to understand their reaction to the different thermal conditions. A nominal observation scale is used for people’s age, health, clothes, activity and exposure time. Outdoor thermal indices that are used in this research are: Humidex, WBGT (wet bulb globe temperature), TSI (tropical summer index), Summer Outdoor Comfort Zone, WCET (wind chill equivalent temperature), THI (temperature humidity index) and UTCI (universal thermal climate index). The results show that outdoor thermal indices may have not the same explanation for the same thermal condition. Some of them are more appropriate for some specific condition while others are not. At last it would be summarized that they have acceptable sensitivity to temperature but most of them need to become more sensitive to humidity and air velocity.

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The "Urban Village Approach" is one of the most appropriate ways to eliminate recent urban problems, including social,
environmental, cultural, and economic shortcomings. Although the urban village approach is generally proper to resolve these
types of flaws, its combination with the democratic concept of urban design can definitely provide more effective solutions. So
at first, this paper aims to present a theoretical combination of these two approaches in the form of recommended principles
and criteria, and then attempts to introduce a hypothetical wasteland for illustrating the practical aspects of it through design
suggestions. A major part of the achievements of this paper is based on theoretical and empirical findings obtained from
comparisons and descriptions, but in order to achieve more tangible results, the practical aspects of findings are proven by
displaying 3D designs and schemes. Consequently, these proposed principles and criteria can be utilized in designing a
democratized urban village form that finally leads to some vital qualities, such as flexibility, inclusiveness, localism, diversity,
vitality, naturality, identity, etc. These qualities, in an appropriate and consistent relation with the existing contexts, will also
bring some desired concepts within, like justice, equality, freedom, and democracy to the urban and rural areas and
neighborhoods.

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Redesigning Bazaar Physical Structure According to its Dealing Culture Structure
Case Study: Arab Bazaar in Ahvaz City

The Bazaar physical structure is formed from the arrangement syntax of division units, Interfaces, joints and boundaries to each other and the Arabic Bazaar also follows this example. This structure is the result of arrangement syntax of division units with linear pattern around an axis. Culture is a life style of people that fulfill their needs with its "pattern variable" based on the values of their culture. The Arabs as roles of buyers and sellers use a dealing pattern in this bazaar that is different from others. Interactions between each role lead to the formation of networks with different contents. The networks tie to each other and form dealing culture structures. The Current physical structures are not in accord with the dealing culture structure thus leading to irregularity. The changed structure of shops with the counter of vendors that put beside of shop can be indicate inappropriateness of physical structure and dealing culture structure with them in bazaar. The inappropriateness of two structure has led to irregularities in bazaar.
The aim of this research is to solve this problem by using the general structure connection model based on the system theory for physical structures. Therefore, the present research to achieve the associating of physical and cultural structure as the aim seek to answers these questions:
1. How can is designed the physical structure according to culture structure?
2. How can is designed form of components and their relations between them in physical structure according with networks and relations between them in culture structure?
3. How can is designed elements of components and relations between them in physical structure with content and pattern variable in culture structure?
 Hence the dealing culture structure in the Ahwaz Arab Bazaar was identified using the ethnographic method based on the network theory, and the results were used in the redesign of the physical structure. Culture regularity in the dealing networks is the result of this study that facilitates the dealing of goods and information in the bazaar. In this study, the framework was presented for use in the design process by network theory and Parsons' cultural theory that used mainly in sociological studies. The model of culture structure was extracted by output of ethnographic research method and interpretive method and it was used as one of the criteria for choosing of physical structure design. Creating the possibility of comparing physical body in correspondence with culture is other result of the culture structure model obtained. It is recommended to use the results obtained in redesigning other old bazaar.

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Sound as a non-visual component of landscape, has a significant impact on individuals perception of space. Because unlike the landscape that seeing and looking is totally an optional action, soundscape regardless of people comes to be heard and understood. Lack of attention to quality of emitted sounds in the environment may leads to problems such as noise pollution, lack of concentration, noise annoyance, disturbance and lack of privacy in people conversation in the urban spaces. A qualitative- quantitative assessment of soundscape is essential. In this regard, Naghsh-e-Jahan square in Isfahan, Iran as an urban space needs to be studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical indicators of soundscape in Naghsh-e-Jahan square and to discover people perception of sounds. For this, questionnaire (n=385) was used. Indicators of L_Aeq and L_denwere evaluated via St-8851 sound level meter. Field sound metering (429 points with 10 meters intervals near to the walls in depth of 2 and around the fountains and 20 meters intervals in the interior space) has done. In order to complete coverage of noise events and acoustic condition three temporal frameworks; day time (07-19), evening (19-22), night (22-07) were selected. All the field studies were in winter of 2016. Collected data entered into the GIS map and noise maps produced. Results of questionnaires showed that the most unpleasant sounds were motorcycle and cars and gharries and most pleasant sounds were water sound. Results showed that in some points such as around the central fountain, entrance of Qeysariyeh Bazar, loop between Sepah and Hafez St. and pass of carriages, and the mean overall L_den is higher than standard levels of noise in urban spaces 55 dB (A) and need to be controlled and reduces up to stand. 

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Meaning quality of urban public places is a big concern. Various indices shape meaning quality of urban public places. Some indices have more roles in perception quality and some of them less. Finding these indices could help planners and designers to improve meaning quality from the perspective of citizens. The main question of this paper is: what are the main indices in perception the quality of squares in the view of Yazd (Iran) citizens? To answer this question, this paper used survey analysis method. With 376 participant to answer questioners. Process of survey start with literature review to determine meaning quality indices and T-test and Friedman test, in SPSS, used to analysis data. Results indicate that among the 22 indicators, three indicator (public place, accessibility and efficiency) have the most effect on perception meaning quality. Amir Chaqmaq square has the best quality between Yazd squares. Referring to history and heritage was the main index in meaning quality of Amir Chaqmaq square.

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Leisure walking is known as one of the most common type of physical activity that perform in purpose of recreation or health, which in turn may affect resident’s health. Built environment, social and individual factors are known as the main factors that affect decision to walk, in this regards, the study aimed to investigate the influence of personal and social factors that prevent residents to walk for recreation or exercise in their neighborhoods. Hence the fear of crime and personal barriers were examined in the current research as social and personal factors respectively.

To collect the required data, 500 questionnaires by using systematic sampling were distributed from March to May 2016 in four residential neighborhoods of Bandar Abbas in Iran out which 411 questionnaire turned out to be qualified to be used in the study. The Smart-PLS was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that personal and fear of crime both have significant influence on the level of recreation and exercise walking in the neighborhood areas. The finding of this study can help urban and health researcher to know the significant influence of fear of crime and individual attitudes on the level of leisure walking activity, in addition, the findings of the study suggest that urban planners and designers as well as public health promoters need to highly consider the contribution of neighborhoods' social environment variables as well as individual variables to promote walking behavior changes among adult population.

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3D modeling and visualization in large-scale cities is a major difficulty for computer graphics. Studying photos of a big city reveals a variety of street patterns, buildings, shapes, and textures. This paper presents "procedural modeling" as a new approach to create three-dimensional modeling, especially for large-scale modeling. Procedural modeling deals with the production of semi-automatic (semi) content using a program or routine. This kind of modeling was historically utilized for 3D visualizing the natural properties, however, by releasing the CityEngine in 2008, the technology can easily be applied to urban environments as well. In this paper, this approach using a descriptive-analytical method will be examined, with particular emphasis on the extent to which procedural modeling is used in the design of cities, streets, buildings, etc., by CityEngine software. Therefore, while reviewing how architectural form grammars are used to generate 3D modeling procedures, two types of modeling including traditional and procedural modeling will be studied and compared and the benefits of procedural modeling will be revealed. After a description of the features of CityEngine, it will be introduced as a technique that follows procedural modeling. Finally, due to the advantages of procedural modeling, this type of modeling (algorithmic) is suggested as an alternative to manual modeling (traditional methods in urban design) to increase the accuracy, speed, and efficiency of the design and in addition, this will increase the flexibility of the design via this approach. In this regard, the workflow of the procedural modeling process will be provided using the CityEngine technique and a number of outputs of this technique that have been provided in the CGA will be presented.

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The main aim of the current paper is to shed light on space syntax theory and criticize its origins and fundamental thoughts.
In order to criticize the space syntax theory, this paper provides computational models of three residential layouts in the city of Tehran, Iran. The main question is how far space syntax theory is able to predict the movement and behavioral patterns of residents in a residential layout in Tehran. In other words, this research explores whether space syntax computational models can cover the behavioral patterns or there are gaps. The hypothesis is that although the configuration of settlements is the primary foundation to natural movements, it demands behavioral settings theory to interpret the behavioral-movement patterns. Comparing the Depth Map models with observations reveals that the configuration of residential layouts has a causal relation with the formation of spatial-physical structure. The integration analysis, based on the space syntax methodological–conceptual framework, is able to predict the general movement patterns of the residents. But when it comes to the behavioral patterns, the synomorphy between physics and behavior can perform a more accurate prediction. The behavioral settings theory by Roger Barker has developed the synomorphy in order to find the adaptations between physical environments and behaviors. The research findings nonetheless support the theoretical understanding that the urban environment’s spatial configuration provides a fundamental condition for the movement patterns but barely can offer a good interpretation for the micro-level behaviors by the residents.

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Nowadays, due to rapid urbanization, People can’t participate in outdoor activities. On the other hand, environmental issues such as climate change and heat stress have caused thermal dissatisfaction for users. In this regard, studying outdoor environments becomes crucial. In the present historical context, lack of responsive urban layout consequences not only morphological problems but also causes thermal dissatisfaction during the passages. The present study aims to find the responsive layout pattern for providing an approximate outdoor thermal comfort based on local criteria and limitations in summer and winter; which requires the minimum intervention in the current context.  In this regard, we intend to represent three basic street patterns (Linear, Grid, and Circular) as alternative designs and attempt to localize them with the current urban layout. For analyzing the prototypes, we used Envi-met Beta software to compare the average amount of climatic factors, orientation, and H/W ratio for the alternatives. In addition, the PMV factor (=Predicted Mean Vote Model) was used as a measurement index of outdoor thermal comfort. According to the outcomes, the Radial pattern with dominant NE-SW oriented passages prepares adequate solar energy in the winter. Also, it could balance the high radiation during the summer, whereby provides optimal thermal satisfaction in both hot and cold seasons.

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This paper seeks to study the impacts of different dimensions of ICTs on urban design. Due to the inevitable digitalization of our lives which has a direct impact on urban design, it sounds that providing a redefinition of the concept of urban design is necessary. Although there are various studies about the impacts of ICTs on dimensions of cities, in this study, we consider the concept of urban design specifically. After reviewing various key aspects in urban design which were highlighted by practitioners and writers, eight dimensions were chosen to be investigated. These metrics include morphological, perceptual, social, visual, functional, temporal, environmental, and economic dimensions. We try to address digitalization in the sense that how urban design can help to bridge the science and process of urban design by investigating the impact of ICTs on a few key selected dimensions. This study aims to present a clear and compatible image of urban design in the digital era. The resulting changes from globalization are expected to update the process of urban design. The study presents a qualitative perception of the imperative-analytical technique through a content review and qualitative coding (open, axial, and selective coding) in the first part. We tried to assess the views in chronological order in an urban context to present an updated definition of urban design: urban design is a process of enhancing the qualities of urban environments which would be facilitated by using ICTs tools.