Journal of Researches in Islamic Architecture

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Title “sustainable society”, was first time propounded in the format of the conceptual framework of sustainable development as the final objective of social aspect of sustainable development. By now, many researches have studied this point that what specifications and characteristics a sustainable society should have and how urban planning can help creation of a sustainable society. However what have been ignored is local relation of these specifications in the shadow of the dominant ideology and the cultural bed of our society. It is clear that using each global pattern in local coordinates requires some changes proportioned to the cultural field of that place. According to this, using global pattern of “sustainable society” in the bed of Islamic culture requires redefining specifications of a sustainable society from the view of Islamic ideology. Therefore, the main problem of current writing is the way and how the indicators of sustainable society in Islamic ideology affect the urban planning tradition of Muslims. According to this, the main questions of this paper can be explained as: “what are the indicators of a sustainable society in the view of Islam”? and “what effects have had these indicators on urban planning tradition in the cities of Muslims”? The objective of this paper is to achieve a conceptual pattern from sustainable society in the bed of Islamic culture in a way that it can be used in promotion of urban plans and programs by the Islamic-Iranian approach. For this, while investigating the texts and documents in two fields of Islamic ideology and tradition of Muslims’ cities, the codes relating to social sustainability were extracted and categorized by help of “content analysis” method. Then the proportion of Islam’s social principles and its effects on urban planning tradition of Muslims was explained in a matrix. At the end, the conceptual framework of paper which responds to the primary questions and in which the process of design and planning of an urban planning place provided by emphasis on social principles in Islam’s ideology are compiled.

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If one looks with the eye of discernment upon the extremely varied manifestations of Islamic art over vast expanses of space and time, the question arises as to the source of the unifying principles of this art. What is the origin of this art and the nature of this unifying principle whose dazzling effect can hardly be denied? The question of the origin of Islamic art and the nature of the forces and principles which brought this art into being must therefore be related to the world view of Islam itself, to the Islamic revelation, one of whose radiations is directly the sacred art of Islam and indirectly the whole of Islamic art.
there is an inner nexus between Islamic architecture and Islamic cosmology and angelology. The Islamic cosmos is based on the emphasis upon God as the Unique Origin of all beings, on the hierarchy of existence which relies upon the One and is ordered by His Command, on the levels of existence which relate matter to the subtle world, the subtle world to the angelic, the angelic to the archangelic, the archangelic to the Spirit or al-ruh and the Spirit to God's primordial creative act. This cosmos is based on order and harmony which is more than the result of the direct manifestation of the One in the many.
By examining the past works of architecture and urbanization, we can see the traces of the manifestation of the imaginary universe in the artwork. One of the examples for these works are Safavid dynasty monuments, such as Imam's mosque in Isfahan, which is an example of the application and expression of the other world in architecture.
Iranian-Islamic culture and knowledge are a rich treasure of the principles and Criterions in all social, economic, cultural and other fields of life. By Looking at Islamic history and civilization, we can always find the reflection of religious and cultural ideas in all aspects of life, including architecture and urbanization. However, one of the issues that is less contemplated in contemporary urbanism, which has led to an identity crisis in the present era, is to provide an opportunity to combine the art of designing urban spaces with Islamic spirituality and art. this kind of art can illustrate the example of the other world by revealing the signs of world of imagination on earth and always point out the beliefs of the people. Hence, the present study aims to derive the applied principles from among these theories. at first we have discussed and categorized theories related to the subject of perception, the imaginary world and the imagination. these theories have been brought up from the point of view of the Islamic Philosophers and Theorists. then it has been examined how these principles are applied in the Iranian-Islamic urban design. The present paper has a qualitative approach and the research is based on "interpretiveism" paradigm. The research method is "analytical-comparative" and it tries to transform fundamental ideas into applied theories. In this regard, in order to clarify the subject, the Qibla Square of Mashhad has also been selected as a case study and finally, a design framework has been developed. The research results show that the universe of imagination and its manifestations have always been considered in the views of great Philosophers; and its appearance in urban spaces can be expressed as different kind of elements, which most notably are light and geometry. For this purpose, one of the most important principles in the world of imagination is "duality", which is based on the four principles of "light and darkness", "inside and outside", "motion and motionless" and "symmetry and asymmetry". These principles are presented in a comparative manner with urban qualities in the form of "hierarchy, unity while plurality, emphasis, contrast, parity, balance, proportions, integrity, and inclusiveness, etc", as well as the solutions below each.

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Aesthetic chills have been hinted in the writings of some scholars for about two centuries, as a response which occurs through the five senses and it is accompanied by physical sensations, although not more than four decades have passed since the first scientific studies. This reaction is associated with the experience of goose bump and shiver in the spine and shoulders, or a tingle in the scalp and often occurs in the face of a beautiful stimulus and art, specially music, but scientific discoveries, religious practices and in general, anything related to the basic human need for cognition can also cause it. The experiment of understanding architectural space, which is a multisensory perception and experienced equally by eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and flesh, can be perceived by this form of aesthetic reaction. With a focus on religious architecture as a building where aesthetic stimuli are abundant and beside that, it is a place for religious practices, and the shrine of Imam Reza as one of the most important religious buildings in Iran, present research pursues the impact of architectural space on the aesthetic chills response. The architectural space of the shrine has a psychological effect on the viewer by using materials such as marble and gold, which reflect the light the most, as well as various aesthetic forms. Marble is also associated with the acoustic properties of the environment due to the reverberating sound, which greatly affects the sense of hearing in aesthetic perception. The study has been done by descriptive-analytical method and based on field survey through a questionnaire which is part of a larger research that in addition to the impact of architectural space qualities, has analyzed the relationship between personality traits and religiosity with aesthetic chills experience. The aim of the study is to identify spaces and actions that, as an independent variable, affect human emotions as a dependent variable and cause the chills response. Considering the architectural structure as a space its perception is beyond sight and related to various senses and measuring the aesthetic chills response, the test results of 307 participants in this study show that some spatial structures such as the tomb have the most impact on occurring chills via the sense of touch. Also, sounds such as the sound of the call to prayer and the naqareh are effective in the next stage through the sense of hearing. Findings show that in addition to architectural space and elements, spiritual feeling also has an impact on creating shiver, which can be a significant point in the construction of religious buildings with spaces and forms that strengthen the person’s sense of belonging to the building.

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The concept of human dignity means honoring the essence and existence of man as God's highest creation. This concept can also be spatially interpreted in urban planners' programs and interventions. For example, it would seem to be possible to distinguish between neighborhoods who provide higher levels of human dignity for their residents than those who do not meet this criterion. Old and traditional neighborhoods of Iranian cities, may have weaknesses in meeting the new expectations of residents because of infrastructure degradation and changes in urban needs. However, they are more attractive than new neighborhoods yet because of their respect to some qualities. This study aims to answer the question that what are the criteria of human dignity and have the newly built neighborhoods (case of Hakimieh in the west of Tehran, Iran) succeeded in preserving human dignity at least as much as the old ones (the case of Iran Street neighborhood in the central historic context of Tehran)?
Accordingly, this paper is developmental comparative research. The definition of the criteria of human dignity is based on the opinions of Muslim scholars, as well as the works of non-Muslim scholars. Data collection has also been done through the archival and field survey methods. In this framework, some questions have been formulated to form a semi-structured questionnaire to measure each criteria of human dignity (derived from the provided theoretical framework). In each of the two neighborhoods, 100 questionnaires (a total of 200 questionnaires) were completed. The sample size was estimated using Cochran formula and random sampling. It should be noted that the two neighborhoods had similar conditions in terms of land prices and income levels, but they were differed in time of constructions.
The results of the survey show that the criteria of human dignity as a characteristic of the desirable Islamic city in the traditional and old neighborhood of Iran Street have been realized more than the new and modern neighborhood of Hakimieh. Findings show that the Hakimieh neighborhood is not far from the traditional Iran Street neighborhood, in terms of physical facilities and services (measures of intrinsic dignity such as "facilities for education" and "level of well-being and infrastructures"). However, according to spiritual values of dignity (such as "unity" and "participation in charities"), Hakimieh is significantly weaker than Iran Street neighborhood. As a result, it may be possible to claim that purely physical approaches to urban planning (such as providing services per capita) have failed to generate sufficient human dignity in the newly formed neighborhoods. Future studies can first replicate this assay in different neighborhoods of Tehran and other cities of Iran. Secondly, they can evaluate the programs and human dignity in them: programs such as comprehensive plans, renovation plans, and other interventions in the residential contexts.

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