Urban architecture, design, development and planning
M.M. Raeesi
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The concept of familiarity (taarof) is one underlying concept of an Islamic city, which has received less attention. Adherence to this concept that is adopted from Quranic teachings has a considerable influence on the neighboring or neighborhood concept. However, the evolutions ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The concept of familiarity (taarof) is one underlying concept of an Islamic city, which has received less attention. Adherence to this concept that is adopted from Quranic teachings has a considerable influence on the neighboring or neighborhood concept. However, the evolutions in the contemporary Iranian community have left this concept in serious challenges over recent decades, causing underlying developments in the concept of neighborhood. This study investigates the advent of challenges threatening the familiarity concept in terms of evolutions in the contemporary history of Iran, particularly in terms of the contemporary political economy of Iran to find how these changes and developments in the political economy have threatened and weakened the concept of familiarity in contemporary Iranian city.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is based on the library-documentary method in terms of data collection, and is based on the logical reason in terms of data analysis and judgment. Logical reasoning encompasses a wide spectrum from computer programs and formulas to cultural discourses and theses, and this study comprises the cultural discourse extreme of this spectrum.FINDINGS: According to the results of this study, some political economy developments in the contemporary history of Iran, including land reforms, municipalities income generation system, injecting the oil revenue into metropolises, and lack of adherence to principles of land-use planning have led to the advent of the concept of displacement (or relocation) and permanent population changes and migration from rural to urban areas or inside the urban areas (especially in metropolises). Subsequently, such severe population changes have resulted in a weakened concept of familiarity threatening the neighborhood concept.CONCLUSION: The most important requirement for deepening neighboring relationships and stabilizing the concept of familiarity in the contemporary Iranian city is revising macro-policies of political economy to stabilize the citizens’ settlement in the place they are living by adopting appropriate policies, so this stabilization would lead to longer neighboring relations and deepen the familiarity and familiarity between neighbors. In this case, the issue of displacement can be somewhat solved, and the social harms caused by the weak concept of familiarity can be eliminated in contemporary Iranian cities.
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
M. Amirabadi Farahani; M.M. Raeesi
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Since the mosque is one of the most important manifestations of Islamic civilization, it is important to examine its spatial structures. The present study aims to identify the main constituent structures of the spaces in mosques and to investigate how they have changed over ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Since the mosque is one of the most important manifestations of Islamic civilization, it is important to examine its spatial structures. The present study aims to identify the main constituent structures of the spaces in mosques and to investigate how they have changed over time, from the early rise of Islam to the contemporary era.METHODS: It is interpretive-historical research carried out through a case study. The required data are collected using library study and observations. In the present study, Aleppo is selected as the case study due to its significance in Islamic civilization and the originality of the works in it, which have led to the inscription of Aleppo city on the UNESCO World Heritage List.FINDINGS: The research findings are classified into 5 classes including four historical periods of Umayyad, Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman, and the contemporary era, based on the similarities of patterns. The results indicate the changes in the structures of mosques from functional (especially devotional) combinations of open, roofed, and closed spaces to merely closed space and the changes in the center of the structure from the courtyard (open space) to the domed Shabistan (closed space).CONCLUSION: The pattern of the worship space has changed from columnar Shabistan to domed Shabistan. Shabistan and minarets are the most stable spaces in the spatial structure of mosques from the Ottoman period to the present. In the contemporary period, roofed and open spaces have transition and service functions, respectively, and open spaces are most unstable in the spatial structure of mosques.
