International Journal of

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As a medium between people and the city, urbanscape makes a mental connection between individuals and their surroundings. It is usually difficult to conceive this mental relationship and its corresponding processes with usual methods. This study seeks to address the mental aspects of urbanscape and highlight its role and importance by using an innovative method.

In this study, map-based methods have been examined as one of the most effective tools for studying citizens’ urbanscape. Indeed, using maps provides a tangible model of the city and its spatial imagination by mapping people’s perceptions. In order to achieve the hidden layers of people’s perceptions, a combination of map-based methods have been examined in the study of Ferdowsi Square in Tehran.

First, 50 questionnaires in which interviewees were asked to draw remarkable element of the area were conducted (Cognitive map). Second, people were asked to mark the places that are meaningful for them in a provided map of the area and describe the reason (narrative map). Finally, the results of the former step as evaluative meaning were measured in investigated area (evaluative map). As the result, collective images completed by narrative maps and 4 categories of meanings attributed to the space have been recognized, collective, individual, physical-functional and sensory-emotional concepts. Moreover, the locations of detailed meanings and the intensity of each meaning or concept have been determined and located on the map. Through analyzing and comparing these maps; it is concluded that by developing map-based methods and combining them with other techniques and methods, deeper layers of individuals’ perception about spaces are revealed. So, spatial distribution of concepts and assessments of individuals that have been provided by these methods in this study seems to be very helpful in analysing mental urbanscape.

In this context, moving from traditional and structured methods to more evaluative and flexible ones that focus on deeper layers of individuals’ perception is extremely useful.

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Learning environments have the ability to enhance the quality of education and produce optimal behaviors. The management of educational environments raises the quality of education both physically and psychologically .This research attempts to modify higher educational environments by enhancing creativity, accountability, motivation, self-actualization, and interaction. This study is quantitative and qualitative research done through a descriptive-survey method. Included in the study used for research were published books and articles that resulted in the development of a theoretical framework and the collection of two groups: environmental and human factors. Then, field resources were used. Students of University of Guilan were randomly selected as the statistical population and the sample was modified based on Morgan's Table. Afterwards, environmental and human variables were prioritized by the Delphi method as a result of interviewing several architecture and psychology experts. A closed-ended questionnaire was made, its validity and reliability were examined (Cronbach's alpha), distributed among the target community, entered into SPSS, analyzed by Chi-square and Friedman tests, and lastly the data was extracted. Based on the findings of survey, the impact of environmental and human factors on each other were identified and ten priorities were concluded to be the most effective on the relationship. Finally, with a semi-structured and an open-response interview with several architecture professors, design suggestions were proposed.

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Nowadays, many urban parks are underutilized due to changes and developments of cities, parks location, inappropriate inner conditions of parks, and other factors. Besat Park in Tehran is located in an urban district where people have fewer recreational choices other than going to parks. So, the issue of underutilization in this park might lead to so many other problems. This research is aimed to identify and prioritize the effective factors which can improve the visitors’ number of Besat Park. Field observations and interviews with Besat Park users were used in this research. During the observation process, three main factors were scrutinized including activity, access, and legibility. Behavioral mapping was applied to observations in 18 parts of the park which occurred at 6 different times in various seasons. Behavior mapping recordings were based on people's age, gender, and activity. Also, a questionnaire was set up covering the three main factors investigated in behavioral mappings. The results show that activity as the main important factor had negatively affected the level of presence in Besat Park. Even on large scale, the incompatible land uses inhibited neighborhood resident’s interaction with the park edges. Inside the park, despite the lack of legibility and impermeability of some routes and districts, only the ones which had other issues in terms of activity, access, and other sub-factors were vulnerable to the mentioned problems. Generally, the factors affecting Besat Park use could be prioritized based on their level of influence respectively as activity, legibility, and access.

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The advent of modernity in Iran weakened many structures and practices, including social hangouts in cities; therefore, the public was cynical about this space. While hangouts, as a third-place and public space in a city, promote social capital, vibrant centers, and citizenship education, Tehran Daneshjoo Park, as a public space with an urban scale and physical and social features, can also be considered a hangout for various social groups. The present study seeks to identify hangouts and factors affecting their formation, continuity, or fading in this space. Accordingly, documentaries were investigated via a descriptive-survey method. Then, interviews with space users at different times and with observation instruments such as photography and behavioral mapping were employed. The results showed a hangout for artists and art lovers, vendors, and food vendors, students and young women, people with sexual identity disorders, addicts and drug dealers, and the elderly. Also, functional components such as geographical location, urban theater building, and its architectural type, platforms and stair space structure, water pool, urban furniture, enclosure in space, social components such as the presence of social observers, drug distribution, and street peddler are effective in creating and the continuation of these hangouts. Most of these hangouts are formed as part of open space with a trans-regional scale.