مسکن و محیط روستا (Jun 2018)
Territory in the Housing of Iranian Desert City: A Case Study of Territories in Three Housing Periods of Aqda
Abstract
House is a place where the first experience of space happens. Some experiences such as territory and territoriality are related to the definition of public-private boundaries of housing environments. These definitions are clearly observable in the housing in desert cities of Iran. In these cities, territory is one of the indicators of housing quality, in the sense that its organization can lead to human comfort and attend to aspects such as identity, motivation and security in housing environments. In this study the concept of territory has been examined as one of the factors that influence the quality of relationship between people and environment. There are several categorization of territory. In this article, three categories of territory, namely individual, family and group, have been selected for analysis. Reviewing literature shows two types of factors affect territory. These factors relate to the behavior of residents and physical aspects of buildings. According to these factors the concept of physical territories is affected by physical factors of building and the concept of behavioral territories is affected by the behavior of residents. This research tries to determine the concept of territories by juxtaposing both physical and behavioral territories. Therefore, the main question is: what are the range and concept of territories in three housing periods of desert cities? And how we can determine the range of territories in these three housing periods? Our secondary questions are: what have been changed in these territories? And what are the results of the juxtaposition of physical and behavioral territories for designers and planers of contemporary houses? The desert city of Aqda is selected as a case study for this research, given that the cultural and demographic structure of this city is very similar to some other desert cities in the region. Furthermore, three housing periods in Aqda are clearly observable and comparable with other similar desert cities in the region. These periods are related to before Pahlavi dynasty, the first and second Pahlavi and post Islamic Revolution and they contain the old, middle and new pattern of housing. This research is qualitative and a questionnaire is used for interviewing the residents. According to the research’s theoretical framework, the physical features of houses as well as the perception and behavior of residents have been analyzed. Then the physical and behavioral territories were specified. By juxtaposing behavioral and physical territories, a real range of territories has been specified. The result of research specified the range of territories and their changes in these three periods. The results about each territory shows that people of desert cities use body language and verbal tools, more than physical boundaries, for providing a private territory for individuals and families. These people still prefer seasonal and multi –functional uses of the house spaces. The private territory of the group is not much affected by physical boundaries. It is more organized according to the intimacy between users, weather conditions and security of spaces. In general, this study shows residents try to maintain current behavior in space, despite physical changes. So the behavior of residents is one of the most important determinants of the range of territories. However, it should be noted that behavioral and physical territories are somewhat different in every Iranian sub-cultures. Therefore, using the proposed model in different social and cultural contexts can lead to different functional responses.
