ateas v1(3):: american transactions on engineering & applied sciences

Volume 1 No.3 (July 2012) ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS

American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences

IN THIS ISSUE

A Shorter Version of Student Accommodation Preferences Index (SAPI)

Natural Surveillance for Perceived Personal Security: The Role of Physical Environment

Factors Affecting the Continuity of Architectural Identity

Identifying the Sustainable Practices from the Vernacular Architecture of Tribes of Central India

Conservation of the Urban Heritage to Conserve the Sense of Place, a Case Study Misurata City, Libya

Sustainable Design and Function of Architectural Space and its Composition of Mud Brick in Buildings in Hadhramout Valley, Yemen

Contribution of Historical Persian Gardens for Sustainable Urban and Environment Lessons from Hot Arid Region of Iran

Social Responsibility in Architectural Education

Investing the Concept of Courtyard for Sustainable Adaptable Multifamily Housing

The Casbah of Algiers, in Algeria; From an Urban Slum to a Sustainable Living Heritage

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International Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Zhong Hu, PhD Associate Professor, South Dakota State University, USA

Executive Editor Boonsap Witchayangkoon, PhD Associate Professor, Thammasat University, THAILAND

Associate Editors: Associate Professor Dr. Ahmad Sanusi Hassan (Universiti Sains Malaysia ) Associate Prof. Dr.Vijay K. Goyal (University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez) Associate Professor Dr. Narin Watanakul (Thammasat University, Thailand ) Assistant Research Professor Dr.Apichai Tuanyok (Northern Arizona University, USA) Associate Professor Dr. Kurt B. Wurm (New Mexico State University, USA ) Associate Prof. Dr. Jirarat Teeravaraprug (Thammasat University, Thailand) Dr. H. Mustafa Palancıoğlu (Erciyes University, Turkey ) Editorial Research Board Members Professor Dr. Nellore S. Venkataraman (University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez USA) Professor Dr. Marino Lupi (Università di Pisa, Italy) Professor Dr.Martin Tajmar (Dresden University of Technology, German ) Professor Dr. Gianni Caligiana (University of Bologna, Italy ) Professor Dr. Paolo Bassi ( Universita' di Bologna, Italy ) Associate Prof. Dr. Jale Tezcan (Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA) Associate Prof. Dr. Burachat Chatveera (Thammasat University, Thailand) Associate Prof. Dr. Pietro Croce (University of Pisa, Italy) Associate Prof. Dr. Iraj H.P. Mamaghani (University of North Dakota, USA) Associate Prof. Dr. Wanchai Pijitrojana (Thammasat University, Thailand) Associate Prof. Dr. Nurak Grisadanurak (Thammasat University, Thailand ) Associate Prof.Dr. Montalee Sasananan (Thammasat University, Thailand ) Associate Prof. Dr. Gabriella Caroti (Università di Pisa, Italy) Associate Prof. Dr. Arti Ahluwalia (Università di Pisa, Italy) Assistant Prof. Dr. Malee Santikunaporn (Thammasat University, Thailand) Assistant Prof. Dr. Xi Lin (Boston University, USA ) Assistant Prof. Dr.Jie Cheng (University of Hawaii at Hilo, USA) Assistant Prof. Dr. Jeremiah Neubert (University of North Dakota, USA) Assistant Prof. Dr. Didem Ozevin (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA) Assistant Prof. Dr. Deepak Gupta (Southeast Missouri State University, USA) Assistant Prof. Dr. Xingmao (Samuel) Ma (Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA) Assistant Prof. Dr. Aree Taylor (Thammasat University, Thailand) Assistant.Prof. Dr.Wuthichai Wongthatsanekorn (Thammasat University, Thailand ) Assistant Prof. Dr. Rasim Guldiken (University of South Florida, USA) Assistant Prof. Dr. Jaruek Teerawong (Khon Kaen University, Thailand) Assistant Prof. Dr. Luis A Montejo Valencia (University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez) Assistant Prof. Dr. Ying Deng (University of South Dakota, USA) Assistant Prof. Dr. Apiwat Muttamara (Thammasat University, Thailand) Assistant Prof. Dr. Yang Deng (Montclair State University USA) Assistant Prof. Dr. Polacco Giovanni (Università di PISA, Italy) Dr. Monchai Pruekwilailert (Thammasat University, Thailand ) Dr. Piya Techateerawat (Thammasat University, Thailand ) Scientific and Technical Committee & Editorial Review Board on Engineering and Applied Sciences Dr. Yong Li (Research Associate, University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA) Dr. Ali H. Al-Jameel (University of Mosul, IRAQ) Dr. MENG GUO (Research Scientist, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) Dr. Mohammad Hadi Dehghani Tafti (Tehran University of Medical Sciences)

2012 American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences.

http://tuengr.com/ATEAS


ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 http://tuengr.com/ATEAS

Feature peer-reviewed articles for Vol.1 No.3 (July 2012)

• A Shorter Version of Student Accommodation Preferences Index (SAPI) 195

• Natural Surveillance for Perceived Personal Security: 213 The Role of Physical Environment

• Factors Affecting the Continuity of Architectural Identity 227

• Identifying the Sustainable Practices from the Vernacular Architecture 237 of Tribes of Central India

• Conservation of the Urban Heritage to Conserve the Sense of Place, 253 a Case Study Misurata City, Libya

• Sustainable Design and Function of Architectural Space and its 265 Composition of Mud Brick in Buildings in Hadhramout Valley, Yemen

Contact & Office:

Associate Professor Dr. Zhong Hu (Editor-in-Chief), CEH 222, Box 2219 Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Center for Accelerated Applications at the Nanoscale and Photo-Activated Nanostructured Systems, South Dakota Materials Evaluation and Testing Laboratory (METLab), South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007 Tel: 1-(605) 688-4817 Fax: 1-(605) 688-5878

[email protected], [email protected] Postal Paid in USA.

mailto:[email protected]













ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 http://tuengr.com/ATEAS

• Contribution of Historical Persian Gardens for Sustainable Urban and 281 Environment Lessons from Hot Arid Region of Iran

• Social Responsibility in Architectural Education 295

• Investing the Concept of Courtyard for Sustainable Adaptable 319 Multifamily Housing

• The Casbah of Algiers, in Algeria; From an Urban Slum to a Sustainable 335 Living Heritage

Contact & Office:

Associate Professor Dr. Zhong Hu (Editor-in-Chief), CEH 222, Box 2219 Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Center for Accelerated Applications at the Nanoscale and Photo-Activated Nanostructured Systems, South Dakota Materials Evaluation and Testing Laboratory (METLab), South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007 Tel: 1-(605) 688-4817 Fax: 1-(605) 688-5878

[email protected], [email protected] Postal Paid in USA.










*Corresponding author (F Khozaei). Tel/Fax: +60-4-6533888 E-mail address: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/195-211.pdf

195



A Shorter Version of Student Accommodation Preferences Index (SAPI)

Fatemeh Khozaeia*, T Ramayahb, Ahmad Sanusi Hassana

a School of Housing Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, MALAYSIA b School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, MALAYSIA A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history: Received 15 April 2012 Received in revised form 12 July 2012 Accepted 18 July 2012 Available online 19 July 2012 Keywords: Instrument development; Preferences; Residence Hall; Validation; Exploratory factor analysis; Confirmatory factor analysis.

This study aims to develop a short but valid and reliable instrument for the examination of student accommodation preferences. This study draws upon the instrument developed by Khozaei et al. (2011), the student accommodation preferences index (SAPI). The construct validity of the instrument was assessed through an exploratory factor analysis using a principal components analysis with varimax rotation, by which 6 factors were extracted with 64 items. Because the questionnaire is lengthy, the current study aimed to develop a valid and reliable shorter version of the instrument to examine student accommodation preferences, thereby extending the previous work by collecting data from a subsequent sample. The confirmatory factor analysis and subsequent iterative process yielded a valid and reliable student accommodation preferences instrument (SAPI) with only 29 items. This is much shorter than the original 60-item instrument. The iterative process was performed by considering good measurement theory and retaining at least 4 items per construct. This shorter revised instrument has been shown to be both valid and reliable.


2012 American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences

196 Fatemeh Khozaei, T Ramayah, and Ahmad Sanusi Hassan

1. Introduction The availability of student housing has been acknowledged as one of the major issues that

students must consider when choosing a university. If universities are unable to provide housing

for students, students face additional pressure, and the lack of affordable off-campus housing may

become a significant problem. The result is that, in choosing between two similar universities,

students may prioritize the university with available on-campus housing.

When students move far from home to attend university, they often need to minimize

spending, and residence halls have been a proven means of achieving this goal. Consequently,

many students prefer to reside in university residence halls. The issue of the affordability of

residence halls aside, the profound impacts and benefits of residence halls on students must be

considered. Because of the significance of these impacts, scholars have examined the influence of

residence halls on students from various perspectives (Blimling, 1999; Cross et al., 2009). Some

even studies have suggested that residence halls may influence students’ growth, behavior and

academic performance (Araujo & Murray, 2010; Lanasa et al, 2007). Indeed, the crucial influence

of residence halls might explain the numerous studies on college and university students’ lives,

both on-campus and off-campus, over the last decades (Foubert et al., 1998; Rinn, 2004; Amole,

2005; Bekurs, 2007; Paine, 2007; Thomsen, 2007, 2008; Black, 2008; Cross et al. , 2009;

Najib et al., 2011).

While the affordability of student housing is crucial for some students, for other students,

comfort and home-like attributes are their main concerns. A recent study suggested that current

students have significantly higher expectations for housing than their parents did when they were

students, and students are willing to pay for certain amenities (Roche et al., 2010). Therefore, a

distinctive feature of contemporary universities is the diversity of students and their needs and

requirements. Thus, universities must provide students with housing that not only is affordable but

also fulfills their requirements. Then the question arises, “What are the attributes of such a

residence hall?” There is no single answer to this question; however, our basic knowledge of

student housing preferences is also very limited. Although a number of studies have examined

student housing (Holahan and Wilcox, 1978; Han, 2004; Charbonneau et al. ,2006; Stern et al,


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2007; Brandon et al, 2008; Hassanain, 2008; Cross et al. ,2009; Araujo & Murray, 2010) there is a

lack of research on students’ housing preferences, and methods and research instruments in this

area remain underdeveloped. The current study is an attempt to partially fill this gap by developing

and validating an instrument called the SAPI (Student Accommodation Preference Instrument),

which can be used by university organizers and researchers. The SAPI was primarily developed by

Khozaei et al. (2011), and its reliability and validity have been assessed. This instrument was

conceptualized on the basis of similarities between residence halls and homes and was developed

using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Although the instrument had good reliability and validity

and covered a large number of factors that influence student housing preferences, its questionnaire

was extremely long. The purpose of this paper is to develop a valid and reliable shorter version of

the instrument.

2. Review of studies on housing preferences A vast body of previous research was studied critically during the development of the student

accommodation preferences index (SAPI). In very early stages of this study, it was found that

there are very few direct references to reports on student housing preferences. Therefore, it is not

enough to review the studies that have analyzed the aforementioned issues. Accordingly, other

scholarly works addressing housing preferences and related subjects (e.g., satisfaction and

expectations), as well as studies of student housing in general, were also examined as a source of

inspiration. In the limited pages of this paper, the most direct studies on housing preferences are

discussed, and a large numbers of other studies are omitted.

Borrowing from studies on housing preferences and choice, several influencing factors are

examined in the study of residence preferences. These factors are examined at both the macro and

micro level. Some other studies have canonized the influence of the demographic background of

respondents on their preferences. At the macro level, factors include time, space, money and social

relationships (Ge and Hokao, 2006), size of place of residence (Jong, 1977; Heaton et al., 1979;

Hwang and Albrecht, 1987; Hempel and Tucker, 1979; Tremblay et al., 1980), functional

congruity (Sirgy et al., 2005) and neighborhood attributes (Wang and Li , 2006; Lindberg et al.


,1989). Other factors in residence housing preferences include outdoor environmental quality (Jim

and Chen, 2007), location (Devlin, 1994, Thamaraiselvi & Rajalakshmi, 2008; Karsten, 2007;

Lindberg et al., 1989), neighborhood attributes (Hempel &Tucker, 1979), local landscape (Nasar,

1983), safety, and proximity to the city, public transportation, proximity to workplace, sense of

safety, medical and health facilities, and educational facilities (Wu, 2010).

At the micro level, the exterior facade of the residence (Nasar and Kang, 1999; Akalin et al.,

2009; Stamps & Miller, 1993; Stamps, 1999), dwelling type (Opoku & Abdul-Muhmin 2010;

O’Connell et al., 2006; Elliott et al. , 1990), convenience, security, price, orientation and layout

(Wang and Li, 2006), as well as the dwelling’s architectural style (Devlin, 1994 a,b; Hempel &

Tucker, 1979), are also examined in the study of housing preferences. Studies have also examined

the role of safety, resale value, maintenance, amenities (Thamaraiselvi & Rajalakshmi, 2008), lot

size, housing price, location, distance attributes (e.g., distance to shops, schools, facilities), range

of housing styles available, and the size of the home (Reed & Mills, 2007).

Regarding the demographic background of respondents, studies have shown that housing

preferences are linked to residents’ gender (Devlin, 1994b), family income, age, education, type of

employment (Wang and Li, 2006), kinship, religion and attitude toward women (Jabareen, 2005).

In the vast body of literature on housing, few studies have focused on student housing

preferences. For example, Roche et al. (2010) examined the housing preferences of 325

undergraduate students. They found that the students desired housing options that fulfilled their

high expectations for privacy and amenities. These authors found that the majority of students

preferred to live in apartment-style housing, and only 3.2% of students preferred to live in

traditional residence halls. Roche et al. listed the top ten amenities for students: “private bedroom,

onsite parking, double beds, onsite laundry facilities, internet access, proximity to campus, fitness

center, private bathroom, cable TV and satellite dining” (50).

Students’ desire to personalize college residence hall rooms was examined in a study by

Hansen and Altman (1976). They found that the majority of students decorated their living spaces

soon after arriving on campus. Based on how the students had decorated the walls of their rooms,


199

the researchers teased out evidence pertaining to students’ values, personal interests and personal

relationships. This study suggests the importance of providing students with the flexibility to

personalize their living space. Oppewal et al (2005) found that factors such as a mixed- or

single-gender floor, mixed- or single-course floor, shared toilet and shower, view from the room,

distance from campus, age of the building, and weekly rent were influential factors in students’

housing preferences (Oppewal et al., 2005).

These studies provide relevant resources and concepts for the current study. However, the

main concept in the development of the SAPI was that, in general, students prefer to live in

home-like residence halls rather than institutional residence halls. Thus, the SAPI “is

conceptualized on the basis of similarities between residence halls and homes” (Khozaei et al.

2011, 301). This concept has previously been discussed in the literature (e.g. Robinson, 2004;

Thomsen, 2007; Khozaei et al., 2010). Accordingly, in developing the SAPI, contributing factors

drawn from the literature review on housing preferences were combined and categorized into those

factors that make residence halls similar to houses. This subject will be discussed further in the

methodology section.

3. Methodology The main aim of this study is to achieve a shorter and more user-friendly version of the student

accommodation preference index (SAPI) developed by Khozaei et al. (2011). Before discussing

the procedure for shortening and validating the instrument questionnaire, we explain the steps in

the development of the original index.

The key concept in the development of the instrument was the assumption that the current

students prefer to live in home-like residence halls rather than in residence halls with more

institutional characteristics. Residence halls and private homes were conceptualized as being

similar in terms of 8 main factors: visual, facilities, amenities, location, personalization and

flexibility of room, social contact, security and privacy (Khozaei et al. 2011, 305). With these 8

dimensions in mind, the related literature was studied critically to identify a pool of items (Pett et

al., 2003).


Figure 1: The development process of the SAPI (Student Accommodation Preferences Instrument

(adapted from Khozaei et al. 2011.)

As can be seen in Figure 1, the development of the SAPI involved several steps. The

development began with a critical review of previous studies on housing, and the similarities of

residence halls and student housing preferences were critically examined. The factors derived from

the literature were listed in the pool of items. The items were then categorized into 8 constructs,

visual, facilities, amenities, location, personalization and flexibility of the room, social contact,

security and privacy (khozaei et al. 2011, 299), which were assumed to represent the similarities

between residence halls and private homes. Once the primary draft was complete, it was sent to

several experts at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and other universities, six undergraduate and


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graduate residence hall students and two statisticians from USM. Based on the experts’

suggestions, 5 questions were deleted, and the first version of the instrument, with 69 items, was

produced.

In the next step, to examine whether the questions can be understood by students and whether

there are questions that lower the reliability of the instrument, a pilot test was conducted. This pilot

test was conducted with approximately 10 percent (70 students) of the sample population (Pett et al

2003) who were living in any of the residence halls of USM.

The questionnaire was designed on a four-point Likert scale that was constructed as follows:

(1) not at all; (2) very little; (3) mostly; and (4) very much. Data were analyzed using PASW

Statistics 17, and the internal consistency of the index was determined through the application of

Cronbach's alpha, yielding a reliability coefficient from 0.70 to 0.91. Based on the internal

consistency of the items, none of the items was deleted in this stage. After conducting the pilot test,

the major study was conducted with 752 residence hall students (for more information about the

demographics of respondents, please see Khozaei et al. 2011).

4. Exploratory factor analysis To assess the construct validity of the instrument, an exploratory factor analysis was

conducted using the principal component analysis with varimax rotation. The analysis extracted 6

factors that had eigenvalues greater than 1. The total variance explained was 46.55% of the total

variance. Therefore, at this stage, the instrument was reduced from 8 dimensions to 6 dimensions:

facilities and amenities, visual, convenience of student’s room, location, social contact and security

(khozaei et al. 2011, 300). In addition, the reliability of each factor was assessed and yielded a

high reliability coefficient, from 0.73 to 0.92. Through this process, the validity and reliability of

the instrument were tested. The developed instrument was 64 items long with 6 preference

factors: facilities and amenities (22 items), visual (14 items), convenience of room (10 items),

location (7 items), social contact (6 items) and security (5 items). Because the questionnaire was

very lengthy, we attempted to develop a valid and reliable shorter version of the instrument.


Table 1: Students’ demographic backgrounds.

Variable Valid percentage

Gender Male 30.4 Female 69.6

Age

18-20 41.7 21-23 46.1 24-26 5.9 27-29 2.5

Above 30 3.9

Nationality

Malaysian 88.7 Indonesian 1.5

Iranian 2.5 Iraqi 1.0 Other 6.4

Race

Malay 50.5 Indian 4.4

Chinese 36.3 Other 8.8

Study level

Undergraduate 84.3 Master’s - research 4.9

Master’s - course work 5.9 PhD 4.9

5. Confirmatory factor analysis To conduct the confirmatory factor analysis, another set of data was collected from students

living in university residence halls. In total, 204 respondents replied and returned the

questionnaires. The demographic makeup of the respondents is presented in Table 1. Two main

criteria, validity and reliability, were used to test the measures. Reliability is a test of how

consistently an instrument measures a specific concept, and validity is a test of how well an

instrument measures the particular concept it is intended to measure (Sekaran & Bougie, 2010).

SmartPLS software (http://smartpls.com) (Ringle et al., 2005) was used to assess the validity and

reliability of the instrument. Two important construct validities, convergent validity and

discriminant validity, were assessed based on the recommendation of Chin (1998). Convergent

and discriminant validities can be inferred if the PLS indicators fulfill the following criteria (Lee &

Chen, 2010):


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(1) the indicators load much higher on their measured construct than on other constructs; that is,

the own-loadings are higher than the cross-loadings, and

(2) the square root of each construct’s average variance extracted (AVE) is larger than its

correlations with other constructs.

Table 2: Results of Validity – Cross Loadings.

Convenience Facilities Location Security Social Visual CR1 0.751 0.519 0.290 0.207 0.244 0.377 CR2 0.704 0.486 0.296 0.192 0.188 0.413 CR3 0.728 0.446 0.361 0.341 0.203 0.276 CR6 0.829 0.410 0.477 0.366 0.201 0.210 CR8 0.685 0.346 0.189 0.374 0.357 0.184 FA1 0.449 0.656 0.302 0.267 0.198 0.261 FA2 0.431 0.847 0.267 0.294 0.318 0.258 FA2 0.460 0.770 0.395 0.280 0.207 0.344 FA7 0.465 0.662 0.254 0.243 0.163 0.371 FA8 0.385 0.625 0.318 0.267 0.237 0.298 L2 0.398 0.224 0.598 0.158 0.264 0.256 L3 0.326 0.270 0.846 0.290 0.290 0.093 L4 0.415 0.416 0.871 0.221 0.353 0.209 L6 0.303 0.295 0.697 0.261 0.212 0.261

SC1 0.335 0.346 0.288 0.777 0.281 0.177 SC2 0.290 0.270 0.201 0.709 0.240 0.141 SC3 0.374 0.316 0.263 0.927 0.249 0.195 SC4 0.374 0.316 0.263 0.927 0.249 0.195 SO1 0.176 0.252 0.228 0.229 0.912 0.164 SO2 0.389 0.309 0.408 0.265 0.666 0.124 SO3 0.399 0.312 0.437 0.278 0.697 0.172 V1 0.200 0.264 0.095 0.190 0.321 0.612

V10 0.191 0.137 0.131 0.192 0.085 0.740 V11 0.207 0.231 0.151 0.026 0.110 0.676 V12 0.292 0.389 0.201 0.168 0.165 0.760 V13 0.155 0.279 0.173 0.054 0.048 0.640 V14 0.397 0.343 0.285 0.223 0.221 0.790 V5 0.337 0.343 0.117 0.162 0.101 0.725

Convergent validity assesses whether a measure is correlated with other measures, whereas

discriminant validity assesses whether the measurement for one variable is correlated or not

correlated with the measurement for other variables (Lee & Chen, 2010). Table 2 shows the item

loadings for their measured constructs. The item loadings on the particular variables (in bold) are


much higher than their corresponding loadings on the other variables, which indicates adequate

convergent and discriminant validity.

Table 3: Results of measurement model.

Loadings AVE CR Cronbach’s αCR1 Mini refrigerator in room 0.751 0.549 0.859 0.803 CR2 Air conditioner in room 0.704

CR3 The ability to move furniture and redecorate the room 0.728

CR6 Potential to divide room into studying, eating and sleeping spaces 0.830

CR8 Under bed space can be used as storage 0.685 FA12 24-hour study room 0.656 0.514 0.839 0.801

FA20 Indoor pool 0.847 FA22 Fitness room 0.770

FA7 ATM 0.662 FA8 Storage rooms 0.625

L2 Close to bus stop 0.598 0.580 0.844 0.778 L3 Close to academic facilities 0.846

L4 Close to sports facilities 0.871 L6 Close to university clinic 0.697

SC1 Requires card access to enter the residence hall 0.777 0.706 0.905 0.861 SC2 Requires card access to enter room 0.709

SC3 Room doors are equipped with viewing devices 0.927 SC4 Has 24-hour security staff 0.927

SO1 Double shared room 0.912 0.587 0.807 0.739 SO2 Has large area for students to gather 0.666

SO3 Has a sitting room 0.697 V1 Beautiful exterior and facade 0.612 0.502 0.875 0.840

V10 New or newly renovated 0.740 V11 Proper natural and artificial lighting in room 0.676

V12 Good-looking and nice interior in room 0.761 V13 New or good-condition furniture in room 0.640

V14 Modern and stylish furniture in room 0.790 V5 Beautiful and stylish furniture in TV room and

other social spaces 0.725 Note: AVE = Average Variance Extracted, CR = Composite reliability

Table 3 shows the AVE, CR and Cronbach’s alpha values for all constructs. As suggested by

Hair et al. (2010), we used the factor loadings, composite reliability and average variance extracted

to assess convergence validity. The loadings for all items exceeded the recommended value of 0.5


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(Hair et al. 2010), with the lowest loading at 0.598 and the highest loading at 0.927. Composite

reliability values , which represent the degree to which the construct indicators indicate the latent

construct, ranged from 0.839 to 0.905, exceeding the recommended value of 0.7 (Hair et al., 2010).

The average variance extracted (AVE) measures the variance captured by the indicators relative to

measurement error. It should be greater than 0.50 to justify using a construct. The average variance

extracted was in the range of 0.502 to 0.706.

Through the above process of confirmatory factor analysis, we reduced the instrument from 60

items to only 28 items, ensuring that there were at least 4 items to measure each construct so that

they were over-identified. The 28 items included 6 factors: facilities and amenities (5 items), visual

(7 items), convenience of room (5 items), location (4 items), social contact (3 items) and security (4

items). Next, we proceeded to test the discriminant validity. The discriminant validity of the

measures (the degree to which items differentiate among constructs or measure distinct concepts)

was assessed by examining the correlations between the measures of potentially overlapping

constructs. Items should load more strongly on their own constructs in the model, and the average

variance shared between each construct and its measures should be greater than the variance shared

between the construct and other constructs (Compeau, Higgins & Huff, 1999).

As shown in Table 4, the correlations for each construct were less than the square root of the

average variance extracted by the indicators measuring that construct, indicating adequate

discriminant validity. In total, the measurement model demonstrated adequate convergent validity

and discriminant validity.

Table 4: Discriminant validity of constructs. Constructs 1 2 3 4 5 6

Convenience (CR) 0.741 Facilities and

amenities (FA) 0.575 0.717 Location (L) 0.451 0.408 0.762 Security (SC) 0.410 0.369 0.303 0.840 Social contact

(SO) 0.318 0.335 0.371 0.299 0.766 Visual (V) 0.368 0.383 0.227 0.213 0.193 0.709

Note: The square root of the AVE is shown on the diagonals


6. Discussion Previous studies support a link between housing preferences and the demographic background

of residents (Devlin, 1994, Wang & Li 2006). Thus, in studying student housing preferences,

demographic background can be a contributing factor. Students in the temporary residences of

residence halls are often seen as homogenous groups with similar needs and requirements.

However, the reality is that students’ needs and requirements are not exactly the same, and students

from different backgrounds might have different needs and requirements. However, it is also true

that a typical residence hall rarely satisfies all types of students. Thus, the attributes of an adequate

residence hall for students must be found in the students’ own responses.

Despite the great importance of understanding of students’ preferences for residence halls, this

area of study has been overlooked. This study attempts to partially fill this gap by developing a

user-friendly instrument to examine students’ housing preferences. This study is grounded in a

previous study by Khozaei et al. (2011) that developed and validated the student accommodation

preferences index (SAPI) with 6 dimensions and 64 items. This instrument was developed as a tool

for the study of university students’ preferences for on-campus residence halls. The conceptual

framework of this instrument was based on the similarity between residence halls and private

homes. The original version of the SAPI covered a large number of residence hall attributes and

provided the researchers with detailed information. Specifically, the facilities and amenities

section of the instrument included a wide range of items. The present study aimed to trim the

number of items within the same number of dimensions to produce a shorter version of the

instrument that remained valid and reliable. Data were collected from 204 respondents using the

original version of the SAPI. Confirmatory factor analysis and other analyses were conducted on

the data. The result was a validated and reliable version of the SAPI with only 28 items in 6 factors

(Figure 2) : facilities and amenities (5 items), visual (7 items), convenience of the room (5 items),

location (4 items), social contact (3 items) and security (4 items). Facilities and amenities included

24hour study rooms, indoor pools (especially for women), fitness rooms, ATMs and storage

rooms. The dimension of visual preferences included a beautiful exterior and facade, a new or

newly renovated building, proper natural and artificial lighting in students’ rooms, attractive

interior in students’ rooms, new or good-condition furniture in students’ rooms, modern and stylish


207

furniture in students’ rooms, and beautiful and stylish furniture in the TV room and other social

spaces. The dimension of room convenience consisted of 5 items: mini refrigerator in the room, air

conditioner in room, the ability to move furniture and redecorate the room, the potential to divide

the room into studying, eating and sleeping spaces, and underbed space that could be used as

storage. The location dimension included the following items: proximity to the bus stop, academic

facilities, university sports facilities, and the university clinic. The social contact dimension

consisted of 3 items: a double shared room, a large area for students to gather, and a sitting room

for every few rooms. Finally, the security dimension included the following: requires card access

to enter the residence hall, requires card access to enter the room, room doors equipped with

viewing devices, and 24-hour security.

7. Conclusion The student accommodation preferences index (SAPI) can provide a basis for further studies

on student housing preferences. This instrument will allow researchers to examine and compare

students’ preferences in different contexts. This study suggests that further studies be conducted on

the role of demographic background on students’ preferences. Further studies might also examine

the most-preferred items of each dimension and compare them among students.

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Fatemeh Khozaei is a PhD candidate and research fellow at School of Housing Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

T. Ramayah has an MBA from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Currently he is a Professor at the School of Management at USM. He teaches courses in Research Methodology & Business Statistics and has also conducted training courses for the local government (Research Methods for candidates departing overseas for higher degree, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam). Apart from teaching, he is an avid researcher, especially in the areas of technology management and adoption in business and education.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmad Sanusi Hassan is a lecturer in the Architecture Programme at School of Housing, Building and Planning, University of Science Malaysia (USM), Penang Malaysia. He has a Bachelor and Master of Architecture (B. Arch & M. Arch) degrees in 1993 and 1995 respectively from University of Houston, Texas, USA. At the age 29, he was awarded Ph.D degree in 1998 from University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.

Peer Review: This article has been internationally peer-reviewed and accepted for publication according to the guidelines given at the journal’s website. Note: This article was accepted and presented at the 2nd International Conference-Workshop on Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design (ICWSAUD) organized by School of Housing, Building & Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia from March 3rd -5th, 2012.

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*Corresponding author (Subbaiyan G). Tel: +91-9842481311. E-mail address: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/213-225.pdf

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Natural Surveillance for Perceived Personal Security: The Role of Physical Environment Gnanasambandam Subbaiyana* and Srinivas Tadepallia

a Department of Architecture National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, INDIA A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history: Received 11 April 2012 Received in revised form 25 June 2012 Accepted 16 July 2012 Available online 20 July 2012 Keywords: Perceived Security; Natural Surveillance; Land Use; Building Openings; Lighting.

Natural surveillance by adjoining building occupants and public space users is one of the major strategies of crime prevention in public places. Lighting, vision through building openings and land uses around facilitate the surveillance by building occupants and public space users. This study inquires about the influence of mix of land uses and lighting of the area and the number of visible openings of adjoining buildings on the perceived personal security of people waiting at the bus stops during night hours. The detailed land use inventory, number of visible building openings and subjective assessment of lighting were recorded for the selected bus stops. The people waiting at the bus stops were interviewed to assess their perception of security. The results revealed that the perceived security is highest in bus stops from where more number of adjoining buildings openings are visible and located in areas with diverse mix of uses and good lighting. The land use mix of the area has a greater influence than lighting and visible openings on perceived security. This study demonstrates that the aspects of built environment contribute to perceived security and these aspects are to be considered in the location of bus stops.



214 Gnanasambandam Subbaiyan, and Srinivas Tadepalli

1. Introduction Natural surveillance is one of the common principles recommended by various place based

crime prevention theories such as defensible space, situational crime prevention and crime

prevention through environmental design (CPTED) to alleviate incidence and fear of crime.

Personal safety and security issues are prime concerns for people while waiting at the bus stops.

Natural surveillance provided by adjoining building occupants and people on the streets enhances

the perception of personal security of people waiting at the bus stops. Features of the physical

environment play a major role in providing natural surveillance. Surveillance by adjoining building

occupants depends on the number openings through which the people have direct view of the bus

stop and also on the use of the interior spaces. The level of surveillance by people on the streets

depends on the continuous presence of people which in turn depends on the level of mix of land

uses of the area. At night time the surveillance is facilitated by provision of lighting so that the

building occupants and people on the streets have clear visibility of bus stops. The previous

studies have focused mainly on individual contribution of mix of land uses, lighting and

unobstructed openings of surrounding buildings to surveillance and thus to perception of personal

security, whereas the collective influence of these features were not dealt with. Hence this study is

focused on (a) assessing the level of natural surveillance at bus stops offered by the mix of land

uses, lighting and visible openings of surrounding buildings of the respective bus stop

environments; (b) association between the level of natural surveillance and the rated perceived

personal security at bus stops; and more importantly, (c) the influence of these features of bus stop

environments on the perceived personal security of people waiting at the bus stops during night

time.

2. Review of Literature

2.1 Natural Surveillance Natural surveillance offered by features of the physical environment plays a significant role in

alleviating the incidence of crime and enhancing the perceptions of personal security in public

places. Jane Jacobs (1961), in ‘The Death and Life of Great American cities’ suggested that the

eyes of those natural proprietors of the street must be scanning it all the time for a city street to be


215

successful. Oscar Newman’s (1973) defensible space focused on natural surveillance in addition to

territoriality, images and milieu. The basic principles of crime prevention through environmental

design (CPTED) include natural surveillance together with image/ maintenance, natural access

control and territorial reinforcement (Crowe, 2000). Natural surveillance consists of increased

visibility of urban places directed at keeping intruders under observation and undesirable

behaviour under control (Sorensen et al., 2008). Natural surveillance of urban places is provided

by occupants of the buildings around and the public on streets (Desyllas et al., 2003). People feel

more secure in areas with high surveillance due to the confidence that there are more chances for

people to intervene or report crime if any. The offenders also look for desolated places since better

surveillance make them feel more vulnerable as they may be identified or caught while committing

a crime.

2.2 Natural Surveillance at Bus Stop Environments Bus stops, being one of the important urban places, are expected to provide a safe and secure

waiting environment for the people in addition to other needs such as visibility, easy access to the

bus, and comfort and convenience of people. The concerns for personal security affect the

travellers’ decisions of what stops to use and their confidence in using those stops (Tucker, 2003).

In bus stop settings also, natural surveillance provided by occupants of the building around and the

public on the streets enhances the perceptions of personal security of people waiting at the bus

stops along with other environmental design strategies. Research on bus stops revealed that

low-crime bus stops offered better surveillance opportunities from surrounding establishments

(Loukaitou-Sideris, 1999); and general lack of people and activity contribute to anxiety and fear

that no one will be there to help if a crime occurs in transportation settings (Loukaitou- Sideris and

Camille Fink, 2008).

2.3 Natural Surveillance and Physical Environment Natural surveillance refers to the arrangement of physical design features involved with the

activities and the people in order to maximise the opportunities for surveillance (Cozens, 2002).

Desyllas, et al., (2003) mentioned that the occupants of surrounding buildings provide surveillance

by seeing public space from windows and building entrances. It may be assumed that the


surveillance from surrounding buildings depends on the number of unobstructed openings visible

from the bus stops, in addition to the presence of people in the surrounding buildings. The

buildings that are occupied by uses or activities that are functioning till late night hours ensure

continuous presence of people in the buildings and thus provide a continuous surveillance. Vogel

and Pettinari (2002) argued that the street level commercial activity and upper level residential

activity provide round the clock activity and eyes on the street, where as public buildings such as

post office, fire station etc., fall short of providing activity and eyes on the street after working

hours.

To provide natural surveillance of urban places, there need to be continuous presence of

people on streets. Jacobs (1961) advocated diverse land use streets so that there is a continuous

flow of people enhancing natural surveillance on city streets. Angel (1968) asserted that with

higher levels of activity, crime falls because there are enough people to assure informal

surveillance of the site (Robinson, 1999). Diverse mix of land uses ensures some or other

activities being carried out for most part of the day, which in turn increase the continuous presence

of people on streets all the time. Areas with poor mix of land use or single use areas become

deserted during certain hours of the day creating a suitable environment for the criminal activities.

Thus the mix of land uses in surrounding buildings of bus stops contributes to both surveillance

provided by the occupants of surrounding buildings and people on streets.

Atkins et al., (1991) noted that lighting will encourage noticing suspicious activities and

increasing opportunities for surveillance. During night hours good lighting improves the visibility

and also reduces the fear of general darkness which, in turn, encourages increased street usage by

the people. Both enhanced visibility and increased street usage may enhance possibilities for

natural surveillance (Welsh and Farrington, 2009). It is understood that the features of the physical

environment - mix of land uses, unobstructed openings and lighting independently influence the

level of natural surveillance offered by that environment and thus impact the perceptions of

personal security of people waiting at the bus stops. However the collective influence of these

features of the physical environment on the level of natural surveillance and perceptions of

personal security of people need to be investigated.


217

Figure1: Map of Tiruchirappalli showing the bus stops locations.

3. Method

3.1 Selection of Bus Stops The bus stops in Tiruchirappalli, the fourth largest city in Tamil Nadu state India with an

approximate population of 1 million in the year 2010, were selected for the present study. Based on

the study of night time photographs of all bus stops within Tiruchirappalli city corporation limits,


14 bus stops were selected. Bus stops with varying levels of mix of land uses, area lighting levels

and visible openings of the surrounding buildings were considered for the selection. The selected

bus stops are labelled from A to N in Figure 1.

3.2 Features of Physical Environment In this study three physical environmental measures i.e. mix of use, street lighting and visible

openings of the surrounding buildings were considered for determining the level of surveillance in

the bus stops. Features of physical environment of bus stops were rated by five trained

under-graduate students of Architecture by visiting the bus stops between 6pm and 9pm.

3.2.1 Mix of Land Uses A detailed inventory of uses, within an area measuring approximately 45m radius around the

bus stops were undertaken, by counting the number of establishments in a particular land use

classification and in the case of commercial activities the type of business and the size (small,

medium, and large) of the establishments were also recorded. Three Architect- Planners

independently rated the bus stops taking into consideration the mix of different land uses, scale and

types of commercial activities in the surrounding area, and the number of people present in the

vicinity of bus stops environments. Thus the bus stops were categorized in to three groups, namely

bus stops with good, medium and poor mix of land uses as stated below:

Bus stops with good land use mix: B, F, G and H

Bus stops with medium land use mix: A, C, D, E, I, J, K and N

Bus stops with poor land use mix: L and M.

3.2.2 Lighting A subjective assessment of lighting at bus stops and their immediate environment was carried

out by recording the uniformity of lighting (absence of dark spots) on a five point scale ranging

from very good (5) to very poor (1). Based on the analysis of uniformity of lighting, the bus stops

were classified into two groups as stated below:

Bus stops with good lighting: A, B, E, F, G, H, I and N

Bus stops with poor lighting: C, D, J, K, L and M


219

3.2.3 Openings of Surrounding Buildings Building wise number of open, glazed (fully transparent) and lit openings of surrounding

buildings within 15m radius that were clearly visible from the bus stops (not obstructed by physical

features) were independently counted by the students. Types of openings include open or

transparent shop fronts, doors and windows of other establishments. The bus stops were

dichotomised into two groups about the mean value of number of visible openings of buildings.

The bus stops were grouped as stated below:

Bus stops with more openings: B, E, F, G, H, I and N

Bus stops with less openings: A, C, D, J, K, L and M.

3.3 Features of Physical Environment Based on levels of mix of land use, lighting and number of visible openings of surrounding

buildings, the bus stops were categorised in to five groups (refer Table 1). Following assumptions

were made on level of surveillance at bus stops: very good in bus stops B, F, G and H; good in bus

stops E, I and N; medium in bus stop A; poor in bus stops C, D, J and K; and very poor in bus stops

L and M. Based on the level of surveillance it was expected that the people would rate B, F, G and

H as very safe; E, I and N as safe; A as neutral; C, D, J and K as unsafe and L and M as very

unsafe bus stops.

Table 1: Classification of bus stops based on elements of physical environment.

Land Use Good Lighting Poor Lighting

More Openings

Less Openings

More Openings

Less Openings

Good Mix B, F, G and H - - - Medium Mix E, I and N A - C, D, J and K

Poor Mix - - - L and M

3.4 Participants and measure of Perceived Personal Security The perceived personal security was measured by asking the people waiting at the selected bus

stops to report their concerns about personal security against crime and nuisance behaviour during

night hours. The respondents were asked to rate their concerns about personal security on 5-point


scale ranging from very high (1) to not at all (5). The respondents were also asked about their

opinion about the contribution of land use mix around bus stops, area lighting and the visible

openings of the surrounding buildings for the personal security of people waiting at the bus stops

on a 3- point scale ranging from contribute to safety (3) to problem for safety (1). The survey was

carried out after dark between 6 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. The total sample consisted of 453 people and

the number of people surveyed in each bus stop varied from 26 to 42. The sample consisted of 205

male and 248 female; and 34 people above 50 years of age, 213 people in the range of 31-50 years

of age, and 206 people below 30 years of age.

4. Findings and Discussion

4.1 Grouping of Bus Stops based on Perceived Security The mean perceived personal security levels at the bus stops are given in Table 2. Simple

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences [F (13,439) =6.098, p<.001] in

the reported perceived security levels of people among the bus stops. Based on the post-hoc

analysis of bus stops level perceived security of people, the bus stops were categorised into five

groups as described below: B and F as very safe; G and H as safe; C, E, I and N as neutral; A, D, J

and L as unsafe; and K and M as very unsafe bus stops.

Table 2: Perceived personal security levels at bus stops.

Bus stop A B C D E F G Perceived Personal

Security 3.59bc 4.34a 3.75abc 3.55 bc 3.84 abc 4.34 a 4.13ab

Bus stop H I J K L M N Perceived Personal

Security 3.94 ab 3.73 abc 3.63 bc 3.47c 3.56 bc 3.24 c 3.86 abc

Note: Means with same subscript did not differ significantly from each other, whereas means with different subscript differ significantly from each other.

4.2 Comparison of Surveillance and Perceived Security of People at Bus Stops The individual bus stops with their rated safety level and the mean perceived security levels of

bus stops groups based on the level of surveillance are given in Table 3. Simple Analysis of

Variance (ANOVA) carried out revealed that there was a significant difference [F (4,448) =16.475,

p<.001] in the perceived security level of people between the bus stops groups. Post-hoc analysis


221

revealed that the mean perceived security level of people in bus stops group with very good

surveillance was significantly higher than that of other groups, whereas the mean perceived

security level of people in bus stops group with very poor surveillance was significantly lower than

that of bus stops groups with very good and good surveillance.

On comparison of level of perceived security of people at individual bus stops with the

respective level of surveillance the following were noticed:

a) Out of the four bus stops with very good surveillance (good mix of uses, good lighting and

more openings), bus stops B and F were rated as very safe; and G and H were rated as safe

bus stops.

b) Bus stops E, I and N with good surveillance (medium mix of uses, good lighting and more

openings) were rated as neutral bus stops.

c) Bus stop A with medium surveillance (medium mix of uses, good lighting and less openings)

was rated as unsafe bus stop.

d) Out of the four bus stops with poor surveillance (medium mix of uses, poor lighting and less

openings), bus stop C was rated as neutral, bus stops D and J were rated as unsafe and K was

rated as very unsafe bus stops.

e) Bus stops L and M with very poor surveillance (poor mix of uses, poor lighting and less

openings) were rated as unsafe and very unsafe bus stops respectively.

Table 3: Mean perceived personal security of bus stops groups based on surveillance.

Surveillance Bus Stops Rated Safety Level Mean Perceived Security

Very Good B and F Very Safe 4.18a G and H Safe Good E, I and N Neutral 3.81b

Medium A Unsafe 3.59bc

Poor C Neutral

3.59 bc D and J Unsafe K Very Unsafe

Very Poor L Unsafe 3.40c M Very Unsafe Note: Means with same subscript did not differ significantly from each other, whereas means with different subscript differ significantly from each other.


These findings largely confirm the assumptions except in the case bus stop A with medium

surveillance was rated as unsafe whereas the bus stop C with poor surveillance was rated as neutral

bus stop. It was also noticed that the mean perceived security of people did not vary significantly

among bus stops groups with very medium, poor and very poor surveillance. On comparison of

individual features and perceived personal security level at bus stops, the following were observed:

a) Bus stops located in areas with good mix of uses were rated as very safe and safe bus stops, the

bus stops located in areas with medium mix of uses were rated as neutral, unsafe and very

unsafe bus stops and bus tops located in poor mix of uses were rated as unsafe and very unsafe

bus stops.

b) Bus stops with good area lighting were rated as very safe, safe, neutral and unsafe bus stops;

and bus stops with poor area lighting were rated as neutral, unsafe and very unsafe bus stops.

c) Bus stops with more number of visible openings of surrounding buildings were rated as very

safe, safe and neutral bus stops; and bus stops with less number of visible openings of

surrounding buildings were rated as neutral, unsafe and very unsafe bus stops.

From these observations it may be assumed all the three features of bus stop environments had

more or less similar affect on the perceived security of people at bus stops.

4.3 Peoples’ Opinion about the Contribution of Features of Physical

Environment for the Personal Security

The respondents’ opinion about the contribution of features of physical environment for the

personal security was analysed at the bus stops group level of each of the features independently. In

case of land use the chi-square test revealed a significant association [χ2 (4) = 41.683, p< .001]

between the level of mix of land uses and the peoples’ perception about the contribution of

surrounding land uses to the personal security. The percentage of people expressed that the

surrounding uses contribute to the personal security was 69.5% in bus stops group with good mix

of uses; 40.5% in the group with average mix of uses; and 32.5% in the group with poor mix of

uses. In case of lighting the chi-square test revealed a significant association [χ2 (2) = 93.115, p<

.001] between the quality of lighting and the peoples’ perception about the contribution of lighting

to the personal security. The percentage of people expressed that lighting contribute to personal

security was 27.2% in bus stops group with good lighting and only 1.5% in the bus stops group


223

with poor lighting. In both bus stops groups majority of people expressed neutral about the

contribution of lighting to personal security. In case of openings the chi-square test revealed a

significant association [χ2 (2) = 49.650, p< .001] between the number of visible openings and the

peoples’ perception about the contribution of openings to the personal security. In bus stops group

with more number of visible openings 31.8% of the people expressed that the openings contribute

to personal security; and in the group with less number of openings 47.5% of the people expressed

that the lack of openings were problem for personal security. Therefore it may be concluded that

there was clear association between the level of physical features and peoples’ opinion about the

contribution of these elements to their personal security while waiting at the bus stops.

To establish the relative importance of these physical features in predicting the perceived

security of people at bus stops multiple regression analysis was conducted taking the respondents’

opinion about contribution of land use, lighting and visible openings of buildings to personal

security as independent variables. Land use yielded the highest beta weight of all the independent

variables (0.370), followed by lighting, (0.211) and openings (0.147). The adjusted R2 was 0.288,

suggesting that twenty nine percent of the variance in perceived personal security was explained by

the independent variables in this model (refer Table 4). The R2 value 0.288 shows low linear

relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variable. However, the model is

statistically significant at the .001 level and such low R2 value was noticed in similar studies.

Table 4: Regression analyses.

Variables B Std Error Beta Constant 2.056 .131 Land Use 0.416 .047 .370* Lighting 0.248 .051 .211* Openings 0.164 .048 .147*

N=453; Adjusted R2 = 0.288; F = 62.047; p<.001 * p<.001

5. Conclusion This study established that the features of the physical environment- mix of land uses, lighting

and unobstructed openings of surrounding buildings provide natural surveillance and thus enhance


the perceptions of personal security of people waiting at the bus stops during night time. Though

the findings largely confirm the assumptions, the minor variation in the association between the

levels of natural surveillance and perceived personal security could be mainly because the

perception of personal security is not solely dependent on surveillance and also on the interactive

effect of various other environment cues. The perceptions of personal security also seem to have

significant relationship with each of the features of the environment. The peoples’ opinion about

the contribution of these individual features to the personal security of people waiting at the bus

stops was significantly related to the level of the individual features. Though all three features seem

to clearly predict the perceived security during night time, land use mix seems to be the most

influential, followed by lighting and visible openings of surrounding buildings. Each

environmental feature contributes to more than one environmental design strategies that influence

the perceptions of personal security. For example lighting contributes to natural surveillance and

also helps to reduce concealment spots. Larger study on this subject is required as the perceptions

of personal security are influenced simultaneously by various aspects of environmental design.

Hence this study can be expanded to investigate the impact of land use mix and various other

environmental features on peoples’ perceptions of personal security in bus stop settings with an

objective to formulate guidelines for location and design of bus stops.

6. References Atkins, S., Husain, S. and Storey, A. (1991). The influence of street lighting on crime and fear of

crime. Crime Prevention Unit Paper Number 28. Crown Copyright, London.

Cozens, P. M. (2002). Sustainable urban development and crime prevention through environmental design for British city, Towards an effective urban environmentalism for the 21st century. Cities, 19(2), 129-137.

Crowe, T. (2000). Crime prevention through environmental design: Applications of architectural design and space management concepts (2nd Edition). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Desyllas, J., Connoly, P. and Hebbert, F. (2003). Modelling natural surveillance. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 30, 643-655.

Jacobs, J. (1961). The death and life of great American cities. New York: Vintage Books.

Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia. (1999). Hot spots of bus stop crime: The importance of environmental attributes. Journal of the American Planning Association, 65, 395-411.


225

Loukaitou-Sideris, A. and Fink, C. (2008). Addressing women’s fear of victimization in transportation settings A Survey of U.S. transit agencies, Urban Affairs Review, 44, 554-587.

Newman, O. (1972). Defensible Space: People and design in the violent city. New York: Macmillan.

Robinson, Matthew B. (1999). The theoretical development of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). Advances in Criminological Theory, 8, 427-462.

Sorensen, S., Hayes, J.G. and Atlas,R. (2008). Understanding CPTED and situational crime prevention. In Atlas, R.I. (ed) 21st Century Security and CPTED. Borca Raton: Taylor & Francis group, 53-78.

Tucker, Lisa, E. (2003). Safer stops for vulnerable customers. Springfield, VA: National Technical Information Service.

Vogel, M. and Pettinari, J. (2002). Personal safety and transit: Paths, environments, stops and stations: Final Report. Minneapolis, MN: Centre for Transportation Studies.

Welsh,B. and D.P.Farrington. (2009). Making public places safer: surveillance and crime prevention, Newyork: Oxford university press.

Dr.G.Subbaiyan is an Associate Professor of Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. He obtained his B.Arch. from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli; Master of City planning from IIT, Kharagpur and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. His research interests include Crime Prevention Through Environmental design, Architectural Lighting and Architectural conservation.

Dr.Srinivas Tadepalli is Professor and Head of Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. He obtained his B.Arch. from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad; Master of City planning from IIT, Kharagpur and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) from University of Sydney, Australia. His research interests include Evaluation of Urban Open spaces, Safety in the Built Environment, Human Thermal Comfort, Energy Efficient and Sustainable Built Environment.




Call-for-Papers:





*Corresponding author (Salahaddin Yasin Baper) Tel/Fax: +964-7504534859. E-mail address: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No. 3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/227-236.pdf

227



Factors Affecting the Continuity of Architectural Identity Salahaddin Yasin Baper

a* and Ahmad Sanusi Hassan b

a Department of Architecture College of Engineering, Salahaddin

University-Hawler, Kurdistan, IRAQ b Department of Architecture School of Housing ,Building and Planning(HBP), USM, MALAYSIA A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T RA C T

Article history: Received 12 April 2012 Received in revised form 01 July 2012 Accepted 16 July 2012 Available online 20 July 2012 Keywords: Architectural Identity; House facade modernity; Visual appearance; Correlation.

The architectural literatures propose various factors in determining the continuity of architectural identity. In terms of visual appearance, these factors are grouped in five different areas namely: Mass and Articulation, Openings, Architectural Detail, Materials and Principles of façade arrangements. In spite of the diversity of the subject in the field of research, the mutual influence of factors on one another still uncovered. Approach: This study aims to examine the significant correlation between factors affecting the continuity of architectural identity in Erbil City. A proper questionnaire has been adapted to be used as measuring scale. Results: The Pearson product-moment coefficient correlation results show that all factors are correlated positively with continuity of architectural identity with the exception of (principles of façade arrangements) factor. Conclusion: Based on the hypotheses testing, this study reveals a positive association between house façade modernization factors and the continuity of architectural identity. The results conclusively prove that (mass and articulation, openings, architectural detail, materials) factors have a crucial impact on the continuity of architectural identity.


1. Introduction

Façades are the public face of architecture. It is the exterior face of a building that provides

comfortable enclosure (Knaack et al., 2007). It's the most significant part of building’s exterior

image that shape its cultural identity (Schulz 1971, Rapoport 1969). In other words, Facades are the

physical evidences for aesthetic evolution of the city as well as the effective aspects of architectural

transformation (Elshahed, 2007). Generally, house facade contains three main zones: a base that

connects the building with the ground; a middle zone with its openings; and the roof zone which

connects the building to the sky by silhouette (Moughtin et al., 1999).


228 Salahaddin Yasin Baper and Ahmad Sanusi Hassan

Based on the findings of Gromlich (1989), house facade incorporates various features that

produced from the arrangement of roof, openings, materials, and finishes. This study revealed that

main factors affecting the façade design are related to the composition, shape, texture, and color of

its components. Consequently, the analysis of house facade formal structure provides relevant

information to understand its identity as the socio-cultural performance of façades is the indicator

of its architectural value (Pellitteri, 1997).

2. Factors affecting the visual aspects of house façade Scholars in this field of visual analysis studies factors affecting the design of house facade in

different ways due to the variation of appearance and arrangement of façade elements in urban

environments. This section will review the relevant literature to identify fundamental house facade

factors in term of architectural identity visual aspects. Generally, house is a cultural phenomenon;

its form is influenced by the climatic forces, site features, materials and construction techniques

therefore, the formation of the house is affected by the socio-cultural and socio-economic structure

of a society which contains many cultural traces of the past (Rapoport, 1969). The effect of culture

on the formation of house design appears to be an important factor is shaping its façade (Sari et al.,

2011). From different point of view, the powerful factor influencing building facades is the sensory

value of ornaments as architectural details (Salingaros, 2003; Akalin et al., 2009). Scholars

concluded that ornament and decoration subdivide building façades on many different scales and

influenced directly the visual appearance of facades (Stamps III, 1999; Salingaros, 2003; Akalin et

al., 2009). For Moughtin et al., (1999) the contrast of elements and the number of elements within

the building facade are the fundamental factors in measuring the visual richness of building

facades. In this regards, (Rapoport 1990) pointed out that the measurable tool for visual complexity

depends upon the perceived number of elements within the facade, and the degree of change for its

components. The study concludes that Visual complexity relates to the rate of change of the

noticeable differences.

(a) (b) Figure 1: (a & b) Different House Façades in Dream City Project inside Erbil City.

Others clarify that the influence of building elements orderliness within house facades is an

effective factor in determining the complexity of architectural form (Nasar, 1983; Meiss, 1990;

Niezabitowski, 2009). They pointed out that the repetition, similarity; common enclosure,

symmetry, and orientation of the building elements play a part in formulating building facades.


229

From different point of view, the characteristic proportions of the windows, their positions in

the wall, and their relationships with the solid areas tend to give a sense of coherence in

architecture (Figure 1) therefore, common scales, materials, textures, and openings are considered

to be the effective parameters in shaping the architectural facades (Whang, 1998). In parallel,

Askari & Dola (2009) explains that architectural style, shape, decoration, and material were

respectively the most important visual elements in presenting building facades while the effect of

Color and texture were less important.

3. Methodology In this paper, Quantitative method is carried out to examine the significant correlation between

factors affecting the continuity of architectural identity in Erbil city. This method attempts to

measure the degree of continuity in house facade physical elements. Therefore, the measurements

will provide the essential connection between practical observation and statistical expression of

quantitative relationships. For the purpose of the study, a structured questionnaire survey is

conducted to generate statistics and separate variable to be counted and modeled statistically.

Hence, Self-administered questionnaire with multiple choices of questions is organized.

This study chose the probability sampling design using a simple random sampling process as it

seeks representativeness of the wider population, have less risk of bias and offers the

generalizations (Cohen et al., 2000; Sekaran, 2003). The population for this survey is distributed

into two groups: The first group includes upper level studio students (3rd, 4th, 5th year and post

graduate) students in Architectural Department /Salahaddin University while the second group

includes architects who registered in Kurdistan Engineers Union (KEU) and currently working

inside Erbil city. Accordingly, a total of 273 completed questionnaires collected.

4. Data analyses For the purpose of quantitative data analysis the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social

Sciences) software was used to provide statistical analysis of data and give details for in-depth data

access and preparation, analytical reporting, graphics and modeling. The quantitative data was

analyzed in two directions as follow:

Correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships among the variables (Every

independent variable will be correlated to a dependent variable). The role of correlation is to

capture the similarity or difference between the variables. It measures the degree of association

between the values of related variables given in the data set. Then, the mutual influence of

variables on one another will be traced.

Regression analysis: The general purpose of multiple regressions is to make a prediction about

the dependent variable based on its covariance with all the concerned independent variables.


Accordingly, an equation will represent the best prediction of the continuity of architectural

Identity from several independent variables.

5. Results The objective of this study is to examine the relationships of house façade modernity factors

(Mass & Articulation, Opening, Architectural Details, Architectural Material and House façade

Arrangement Principles) and continuity of architectural identity in Erbil city. The aim is to

determine the significant correlation between the factors that affect the continuity of architectural

identity and to test hypothesis. Thus, correlation analysis (Pearson Product Moment Correlation

Coefficient Test) was used to explore the relationships among the variables as well as to describe

the strength and direction of the liner relationship between variables. Every independent variable is

correlated to a dependent variable. In this regards, Kumar et al. (2005) explains that the degrees of

correlation can be positive or negative. Correlation coefficients can range from -1.00 to +1.00. The

value of -1.00 represents a perfect negative correlation while a value of +1.00 represents a perfect

positive correlation. A value of 0.00 represents a lack of correlation. The two–tailed test of statistical significant from 0.01-0.05 was the main procedure of the

correlation analysis. Table 1 and Table 2 present the outcomes of correlation analyses. In general,

the house façade modernity has a significant positive correlation with the continuity of

architectural identity. The correlation coefficient range 0.504 at p < 0.01.

Table 1: Pearson Correlation between All Variables.

M. & A Openings A. Details Materials Arrangement

p. Mass &

Articulation Pearson

Correlation

Sig.(2-tailed) Openings Pearson

Correlation .397(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 A. Details

Pearson

Correlation .334(**) .350(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 Materials

Pearson

Correlation .295(**) .305(**) .309(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 Arrangement

Principles Pearson

Correlation .130(*) .177(**) .093 .185(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .031 .003 .125 .002 Identity

Pearson

Correlation .307(**) .252(**) .276(**) .236(**) .095

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .119 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). a Listwise N=273 In order to determine the significant correlation between the independent variables (House

Façade Modernity Factors) and the dependent variable (The Continuity of Architectural Identity)

following hypothesis were formulated.


231

H 1: There is a positive relation between Mass & Articulation and the continuity of

architectural identity.

H 2: There is a positive relation between House façade Openings and the continuity of

architectural identity.

H 3: There is a positive relation between House façade Architectural Details and the

continuity of architectural identity.

H 4: There is a positive relation between House façade Architectural Materials and the


H 5: There is a positive relation between House Façade Arrangement Principles and the


Table 2: Pearson Correlation between Dependant and Independent Variables. Modernity Identity

Modernity Pearson Correlation 1 .504(**) Sig. (2-tailed) .000

Identity Pearson Correlation .504(**) 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). a Listwise N=273

5.1 The Relationship between House Façade Mass & Articulation and the

Continuity of Architectural Identity:

The result of correlation analysis for the relationship between Mass & Articulation and the

continuity of architectural identity (Table 1) show that the correlation coefficient is r = 0.307 at p <

0.01. This result is an indication of a significant positive relationship between Mass & Articulation

and the continuity of Architectural Identity. It can be deduced that Mass & Articulation play a

part in determining the continuity of architectural identity.

5.2 The Relationship between House Façade Openings and the Continuity of

Architectural Identity

The Pearson product–moment linear correlation was used to determine the existence of the

above relationships, the correlation coefficient was r = 0.252 at p < 0.01. As a consequence, there

is significant positive relationship between House Façade Openings and the continuity of

Architectural Identity. Therefore, the design of openings in house facades has a direct impact on

the continuity of architectural identity.

5.3 The Relationship between House Façade Architectural Details and the

Continuity of Architectural Identity

As indicated in Table 3, the correlation coefficient was (r = 0.276 at p < 0.01). This means the

availability of significant positive relationship between House Façade Openings and the continuity

of Architectural Identity. Therefore, the house façade architectural details have an impact on the



5.4 The Relationship between House Façade Materials and the Continuity of

Architectural Identity

In order to determine the correlation between House Façade Materials and Continuity of

Architectural Identity, the Pearson product–moment linear correlation was conducted. Table 3

presents the outcome of correlation coefficient for the above variables (r = 0.236 at p < 0.01). This

result implies that house façade materials have direct influence on the continuity of architectural

identity.

5.5 The Relationship between House Façade Arrangement Principles and the

Continuity of Architectural Identity

As demonstrated in Table 3, the correlation analysis for the relationship between house facade

arrangement principles and the continuity of architectural Identity produced following facts (r =

0.095 at p = 0.119). This result refers directly to a very weak relation between mentioned

variables. However, it was not statistically significant. The lack of relation or very weak

relationship between house façade arrangement principles and the continuity of architectural

identity is an indication that house façade arrangement principles have less influence than the other

variables.

Table 3: Summary of Correlation Analyses between Dependant and Independent Variables. S Hypothesis r P Result 11 There is a positive relation between mass &

articulation and the continuity of architectural identity.

0.307 p < 0.01 Significant

H 2 There is a positive relation between house façade openings and the continuity of architectural

identity. 0.252 p < 0.01 Significant

H 3 There is a positive relation between house façade architectural details and the continuity of

architectural identity. 0.276 p < 0.01 Significant

H 4 There is a positive relation between house façade architectural materials and the continuity of

architectural identity. 0.236 p < 0.01 Significant

H 5 There is a positive relation between house façade arrangement principles and the continuity of

architectural identity. 0.095 P=0.119 Insignificant

Based on correlation analyses in Table 3, the overall influence positively correlates to the most

of independent variables, namely: Mass and Articulation, Openings, Architectural Detail and

Materials with the continuity of architectural identity. With the exception of house façade

arrangement principles that correlates in a very weak relation to the study’s main dependant

variable. The Pearson product-moment coefficient correlation results reveal that the strongest

association is related to the first parameter (Mass and Articulation) with (r) value of 0.307,

followed by Architectural detail (r) = 0.276, then Openings (r) = 0.252, and finally House façade

materials (r) = 0.236. These results conclusively prove that house façade modernity factors have a

crucial impact on the continuity of architectural identity.

After identifying the overall influence and correlations between the variables, a multiple


233

regression analysis was conducted to test the relationship further, make a prediction about the

dependent variable based on its covariance with all the concerned independent variables and

formulate an equation that represent the best prediction of the continuity of architectural Identity

from several independent variables.

The collective effect of the independent variables formulates the mathematical formula of the

study. Hence, the multiple regression analysis was employed to determine the variance of each

component of house façade modernization factors. Five parameters were used as independent

variables, and the continuity of architectural identity was set as the dependent variable. The

recommended model was performed by determining the collective effect of the independent

variables namely, (1) Mass and Articulation, (2) Openings, (3) Architectural details, (4) Materials

and (5) House façade arrangement principles towards the overall perceived of the continuity of

architectural identity. In the light of the above, a regression model was developed in settling the

relationships between variables. The model is as follows.

Continuity = β + β1 Mass & Articulation + β2 Openings+ β3 Architectural Details

+ β4 Materials + β5 Arrangement Principles + ε

Where,

Continuity = the Continuity of Architectural Identity

β = constant

ε = standard error

The model summary is showed in Table 4 and the summary of multiple regression analysis is

presented in Table 5. Therefore, the R2 for this model is 0.254 (Adjusted R2= 0.251), indicating

that the house façade modernity factors explained 25.4% of the variation towards the continuity of

architectural Identity.

Table 4: Model Summary of Multiple Regression Analyses between Dependant and Independent Variables.

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate

1 .504(a) .254 .251 .29819 Predictors: (Constant), Modernity

Dependent Variable: Identity

In terms of importance, the “Mass & Articulation” parameter (β=0.192, p= 0.003) and the

“Architectural details” parameter (β=0.108, p=0.020) have significant positive associations with

continuity of architectural Identity. These results reveal that “Mass & Articulation” parameter is

the most influential in interpreting the continuity of architectural Identity, because every unit of

change in this parameter is associated with a 0.192 change in the continuity of architectural


Identity. Every unit of change in the “Architectural Details” parameter is related to a 0.108

in continuity of architectural Identity. Interestingly, although not significant, “Openings” (β

=0.086, p=0.167), “Materials” (β=0.105, p=0.097), and House façade arrangement principles (

=0.080, p=0.715) have positive relationships with the continuity of architectural identity.

Table 5: Summery of Multiple Regressions Analysis. β Std. Error Standardized

β t p

(Constant) 1.819 0.299 6.074 0.000 Mass and Articulation 0.192 0.065 0.189 2.952 0.003

Openings 0.086 0.062 0.090 1.385 0.167 Architectural details 0.108 0.046 0.148 2.340 0.020

Materials 0.105 0.063 0.104 1.666 0.097 Arrangement Principles 0.030 0.083 0.021 0.365 0.715

R2=0.254 Adjusted R2=0.251 F=0.002 Significance F=.000*

*Significance at the 0.05 level

Table 5 highlights the results from the multiple regression analysis. The beta values

represent the unique contribution of each variable and formulate the final equation of the model

which is as follow:

Continuity =1.819 + 0.192 Mass & Articulation + 0.086 Openings + 0.108 Architectural

Details + 0.105 Materials + 0.030 Arrangement Principles + 0.299.

6. Conclusions This paper reveals the positive association between the house façade modernization factors

and the continuity of architectural identity in Erbil city. The Pearson product-moment

coefficient correlation results showed that the (Mass and Articulation, Openings, Architectural

Detail and Materials) factors are positively correlated with the continuity of architectural identity.

With the exception of house façade (Arrangement Principles) factor that correlates in a very weak

relation to the study’s main dependant variable. The correlation results revealed that the

strongest associations in proper sequence were as follow: firstly Mass and Articulation factor,

followed by Architectural detail factor, then Openings factor, and finally Material factor. These

findings conclusively proved that the house façade modernity factors have a crucial impact on the


On the other hand, the multiple regressions results indicate that the proposed model is proven

statistically. It represented the prediction of the continuity of architectural identity from house

façade modernity factors. In terms of importance, the house façade modernity factors explained

more than quarter of the variation towards the continuity of architectural Identity. The multiple

regressions analysis results revealed that the “Mass & Articulation” factor and “Architectural

details” factor are the most influential in interpreting the continuity of architectural Identity,

because every unit of change in these factors is associated with significant positive changes in the


235

continuity of architectural Identity. Accordingly, these factors could significantly predict the

continuity of architectural Identity.

7. References Akalin, A., Yildirim, K., Wilson, C., & Kilicoglu, O. (2009). Architecture and Engineering

Students’ Evaluations of House Façades: Preference, Complexity and Impressiveness. Environmental Psychology, 29(1), 124-132.

Askari, A. H., & Dola, K. B. (2009). Influence of Building Façade Visual Elements on Its Historical Image: Case of Kuala Lumpur City, Malaysia. Journal of Design and Built Environment, 5, pp. 49–59.

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, a. K. (2000). Research Methods in Education (Fifth ed.). London: Routledge.

Elshahed, M. (2007). Facades of Modernity: Image, Performance and Transformation in the Egyptian Metropolis. Unpublished PHD, Massachusetts institute of Technology, Massachusetts.

Gromlich, B. F. (1989). Design Guidelines for Historic Districts. Unpublished Master Thesis, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.

Kumar, R. (2005). Research Methodology A step by step Guide for Beginners (Second ed.): SAGE Publication LTD.

Meiss, P. v. (2004). Elements of Architecture from form to place. Hong Kong: Spons Press.

Moughtin, C., Taner, O., Tiesdell, S. . (1999). Urban Design: Ornament and Decoration (Second ed.). Oxford: Architectural Press.

Nasar, J. L. (1983). Adult Viewers’ Preferences in Residential Scenes: A Study of the Relationship of Environmental Attributes to Preference. Journal of Environment and Behavior, , 15(5), 589-614.

Niezabitowski, A. M. (2009). Architectonics - A System of Exploring Architectural Forms In Spatial Categories. Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research, 3(2), 92-129.

Pellitteri, G. (1997). A tool for a first analysis of architectural facades Automation in Construction (5), 379-391.

Rapoport, A. (1969). House Form and Culture. London: Prentice-Hall ,INC., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Rapoport, A. (1990). History and Precedent in Environmental Design. New York: Plenum Press.

Sari, R. M., Şen, D. E., Al, S., Kahya, N. C., & Sağsöz, A. (2011). The Effects of Traditions, Customs and Beliefs on Architectural Design: The Example of Turkey. International Journal of Academic Research 3(3), 780-792.

Salingaros, N. (2003). The sensory value of ornament. Communication and Cognition, 36(1).

Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Schulz, C. N. (1971). Existence, space & architecture. New York: Praeger.

Stamps III, A. (2003). Advances in visual diversity and entropy. Environment and Planning B, Planning and Design 30(1) 449-463.

Knaack, U. T. K., Bilow, M., & Auer., A. T. (2007). Façades: Principles of Construction.


Boston/Basel/Berlin: Birkhaüser-Verlag.

Whang, H.-J. (1998). The Role of Complexity and Order in Determining Aesthetic Preference in Architectural Forms. Unpublished PHD, Texas A&M University, Texas.

Dr. Salahaddin Yasin Baper is a lecturer in the Department Of Architecture at Salahaddin University-Hawler. He obtained his BS in Architecture from University of Technology, Baghdad Iraq with Honors in 1993 and ranked first out of 65 students. He continued his M.Sc. in architectural technology at University of Technology, Iraq. He earned his PhD in theory of architecture in School of Housing, Building and Planning-USM Malaysia. He works as a Consultant Architect and designed several important projects in Erbil city like supplementary buildings in Erbil International Airport and Sami Abdurrahman Park.

Dr. Ahmad Sanusi Hassan is an Associate Professor in Architecture Programme at the School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia. He obtains a Bachelor and Master of Architecture degrees from University of Houston, Texas, USA, and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) degree focussing on sustainable architecture and urban planning development for Southeast Asia from University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. At USM, he is lecturing in courses related to urban design, studio architecture and history and theory of architecture. He is also teaching architecture courses in Computer Aided Design (CAD) and computer animation that he is emphasised in heritage and architectural building’s study.


*Corresponding author (Krishna Kumar Dhote). Tel/Fax: +91-94065 18194/ +91 755 2670562. E-mail address: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/237-251.pdf

237



Identifying the Sustainable Practices from the Vernacular Architecture of Tribes of Central India Krishna Kumar Dhote a*, Preeti Onkara and Santanu Dasb

a Department of Architecture and Planning, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal M.P. INDIA b Urban Planning Consultant INDIA A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T RA C T

Article history: Received April 19, 2012 Received in revised form July 09, 2012 Accepted July 20, 2012 Available online July 24, 2012 Keywords: Tribal Habitat Sustainability Vernacular Architecture

What once called a “house of all seasons” has now been christened “climate-conscious”, “bioclimatic”, “energy-efficient”, or “sustainable” architecture. These terminologies are just not a welter but have definite meaning with respect to context at given point of time. In the present work the sustainable practices are identified by documenting the tribal settlements and habitat of Central India to understand the concept of indigenous habitat and its integration with nature. The study comprises of typology of settlement pattern with reference to physiographic features, site selection with appropriateness to respond to local climate and spatial organization of settlement to suit the functional need. Habitat study concentrates upon structural stability, climatic responsiveness to achieve physical comfort with the given building materials and technology. The underlying principles of sustainability of the settlement and habitat are studied and are compiled so that they can be applied in the modern context of course after necessary modifications to suit the present need and in order to achieve sustainable design solutions.



238 Krishna Kumar Dhote, Preeti Onkar and Santanu Das

1. Introduction The art, architecture and tradition of tribal settlements are great indigenous vernacular

expression of the diverse culture of India. Tribal people have through their efforts, over thousands

of years, created rich and colorful styles of vernacular architecture, responding to local

environments. This reflects an evolved response to geography, climate, distribution of ethnic

peoples and sustainable habitats. (Wang and Cai, 2006). The tribal population of India is scattered

throughout the country and about eight percent of Indian population is tribal. The percentage of

tribal population is high in the geographically remote areas, the islands in south, south-west and the

mountain ranges of north and small & isolated states of north east. The reason for more

percentage of tribal in the states can be attributed to the geographical locations like islands, rivers

and mountain ranges. In Central India the state of Madhya Pradesh has the highest population of

tribes, which, as per 2001 census constitutes the 20.26 % of the total population of the state.

The state of Madhya Pradesh which is the Central India is termed as heart of India due to its

geographical conditions and it is also lung of India as its 40 percent area is under forest cover. The

state straddles the Narmada River, which runs east and west between the Vindhya and Satpura

mountain ranges; this ranges and the Narmada are the traditional boundary between the north and

south of India. The tribes of Central India have the simplest of lifestyles with a rich culture still

untouched by modernity and traditions as old as their origin.

The Central India was taken as the region for study and the tribes selected are Gond, Bhil,

Korku and Bharia. The tribes were selected from varied geographical locations of Narmada River

basin. The basin can be classified as upper and lower hilly areas which are dense forests, upper

middle and lower plain with fertile soil suitable for cultivation. The present paper is an attempt to

identify the sustainable practices of the tribal settlements as well as architecture of their houses on

which the impact of local niche is obvious.

2. Location and Occupation The geographical aspect of the region has been a prominent decider on the distribution of tribal

communities in the state. The Tribes are widely spread on both the banks of Narmada in the

Vindhyan and Satpura mountain ranges in the dense forests, thus making them impervious to any


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outside intrusions. This helped them maintain their culture and customs safe and continue till

present day. They indulge in various activities to earn their livelihood. Earlier they were semi

nomadic people but most of them have now settled down and have chosen their occupation. The

tribes are an agro-silvicultural community and their forest dependency is high, in the hilly tracts,

most of the tribes cultivate their land and in springs they migrate to Narmada river plains for

harvesting where they are engaged as laborers. As they are a bailiwick of their topography, few

tribes like bhils were employed as hunters in the pre-independent India. In that age of history,

they were also recruited in the armies of kings and served as soldiers. The forests are home to

them and provide sustenance in the form of forest produce, water, grazing grounds and habitat for

shifting cultivation (Sarin, 2005).

3. Climatic Condition The climate varies from place to place with physiographic features. The hilly regions with

forest coverage are extremely cool whereas the open lands are comparatively hot. The minimum

temperature goes up to 4o C and a maximum of 28 – 30oC in the hilly regions whereas in the plain

land, the minimum temperatures ranges 8 – 10oC and has a maximum of 42oC. Winter starts in

October and ends till March, summers starts from April and extends till June and monsoons starts

from July and ends in October. This climate facilitates two crops during the year. The climate at

micro-region is more important for study as the thick vegetation, water body and topography plays

a significant role on habitat.

4. Settlement Pattern and Habitat This diversity and independence of tribes has encouraged the development of unique and

varied ethnic culture and habitat. Overall, the spatial pattern corresponds to the topographical

character of the areas they have chosen for settlement. The settlement pattern varies from tribe to

tribe as it is determined by location, sociological circumstances, occupation and ethnicity. The size

of settlement is considerably small, cluster size is three to four houses and maximum number of

houses in a settlement is 100-150. Tribes follow all together different pattern within the same

geographical location and tribes often mingle among themselves. This variation is mainly due to


topography, microclimatic condition and their occupation.

At present the majority of the traditional village had undergone changes due to spatial

arrangement patterns of the active response of the society. These changes arise from the

development paradigm and the new innovations, so that the growth in the field of social, economic

and culture is experienced (Alit, 2004; Chiri and Giovagnorio, 2012). However the development

in the tribal areas is not at the pace of their urban or even rural counterpart. To analyze the

settlement pattern of tribal of tribal areas which are unconsciously planned, function is to be

studied as “function is an analogy between social life and organic life” (Mandal, 2001). The tribal

communities consists of cluster, all arranged to form a social structure and their inter relation in

terms of social contiguity.

One of the major functions in case of tribes is agriculture. They are engaged in ploughing,

sowing, and harvesting in the fields and return to dwellings for relaxation. This daily up down

movement is either by walking or on carts and creates an intimate relation between house and farm.

During harvesting period they prefer to live in temporary huts built in the field itself and

animal yard is also erected nearby (Nath, 1989).

4.1 Typology of Settlements On the basis of morphological study the settlements are classified into three typologies. The

typologies are worked on the basis of size and structure. The first typology is a village

predominantly of farmers. These villages are located on plains and the occupants are mainly

associated with agriculture and the average size of village is 1000-1500 houses, Figure 01

represents one such plan. These villages cannot be termed as tribal settlements as the inhabitants

are from other communities. Still they are studied as they become the nucleus for the small tribal

settlements which are in the periphery at the distance from 2 to 10 km. The growth of village is

organic and the distinct impression is made by the road which connects the village with other

villages. This road acts as a line of division between the old village and the new development. The

old village consists of non uniform dwelling units placed with respect to landform in a manner that

the streets allow to drain the rain water during monsoon. While all the public buildings are clubbed


241

together around open space. This open space is multifunctional. It is the center place where the

market, fairs during festival and rituals are performed throughout the year. The clusters of the

dwellings along the streets are formed on the basis of ethnicity. The dwelling units of this village

are advanced, more spacious and comfortable than that of tribes. The tribal people who are engaged

as labors are accommodated in these houses on temporary basis. The streets passing through the

farms lead to smaller tribal settlements. In present days, tribal have started building their houses on

the outskirts of villages. However the houses are very small compared to that of the villagers.

Figure 1: Settlement typology.1

The second type of settlement is comparatively smaller the number of dwellings goes up to

150. These settlements are satellites of the nucleolus village described above. They are linear

i.e. a row of houses facing each other along a street. It is interesting to know that the liner street is

not a well conscious effort but the left over space between two houses facing each other, the plan of

linear village is shown in Figure 2. The houses are so placed that the street becomes the place of

social cohesion and the back yard is connected to their farm. Once the settlement reaches

maximum number of houses a new settlement in the vicinity is set up.


Figure 2: Settlement typology 2.

The third typology is of the tribes inhabited in the hilly areas. They depend upon forest

produce for their livelihood. They are also engaged in terrace farming. Unlike the tribal living in

plain areas their dwellings are scattered (see Figure 3). They lived in clusters of three to four

houses as shown in Figure 3 and even these clusters are at different levels at certain distances

because of undulating land form. These clusters are not connected by defined pathways as the

houses are constructed in the fields itself.

Figure 3: Settlement typology 3.


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The aspect of sustainability entails use of natural resources, land, water, and forests. In context

of development, sustainability refers to optimal utilization of resources whereas tribes are using

minimal resources. The land occupied by them for dwelling is limited and keeps on changing

from place to place, thus posing no harm to landforms. The settlements have single resource of

water which is a river, waterfall, spring or a community well. There is no provision of sewerage in

those settlements. The waste water is directed into the backyard. The waste from animals is

collected in the outskirts for preparation of organic manure. The nucleus villages, houses people

from various communities. It includes people from various occupations to fulfill their needs such

as people like carpenter, blacksmith and potter. The festivals are incomplete without the

involvement of tribal community. The festivity is the essence of tribal life. The simple and straight

community enjoys festivals with great fervor and joy. Music, painting and artifacts have become a

source of income for them. Their knowledge about herbs and other forest products is helping in

conservation of biodiversity.

4.2 Typology of Habitat Empirical study from tribal groups of India suggests that there are values, integrating into the

spatial, social and ritual perspectives and ultimately leading to their habitat. Their lifestyle is

amply represented in their dwelling which varies depending upon the location, occupation,

community and the micro climate. For analyzing, typologies can be worked out on the basis of

spatial configuration, use of materials and building technology & form. However for the sake of

simplicity typology has been worked on the basis of spatial configuration. The first type of

dwelling unit shown in Figure 4 is habitat type Model-I, which is from the nucleus village. This is

essentially the house of farmer and not the house of tribes, who inhibits them. It is the richest in

terms of size, hierarchy of spaces and use of material (see Figure 4). This house has an enclosure

for protection. It has a formal open courtyard used for social activities, semi enclosed private space

which is used for guests, a covered living space which is sometimes two storied and cooking space

with rear courtyard. The enclosure which is semi open is used as animal yard. The tribes engaged

as labors are allotted one room or allowed to live in the animal yard. The house is elongated along

the major axis and is geometrically symmetrical. The roof type is lean to for semi open space and

double lean to for covered and private spaces. The inner private spaces are elevated. The central


place is the highest and sometimes mezzanine floors are also constructed. The walls are 60 to 90

cm thick mud walls. The roofing is done with earthen tiles supported by timber framework. For

supporting roof of semi open spaces timber columns are used. The openings have door panels only

on the external walls. For ventilation small vents are provided on the external walls.

The second type of house Model-II which is shown in Figure 5 is found in linear pattern and

follows the hierarchy of semi open, covered and semi open spaces. In this case the house is

elongated along the major axis and there are no openings on side walls. Bamboo baskets or the

grain storage made up of mud are used for creating partitions in living spaces. The house is of

mud walls with pitched roof with earthen tiles, reeds are used for partitions. For cattle a

temporary structure is erected either in front of the house or along the side walls.

Figure 4: Habitat type Model –I. Figure 5: Habitat type Model –II.

The third type of houses, the Model - III is found in clusters. The unit appears to be one

rectangular block with a sloping roof. Within the rectangular plan partition walls are erected to

separate living from cooking space. The walls are directly exposed to sun and very small

openings are provided for ventilation. The plan of Model III is shown in Figure 6. The animal


245

yard is constructed nearby. In the fourth typology i.e. the Model IV, the plan of which represented

in Figure 7 is a house, elongated along the horizontal axis. The spatial hierarchy has semi open

spaces adjoining the covered space. The entire dwelling unit is enclosed with walls and in under

one roof. The entry is through a semi open space. On entrance a temporary shed is provided or a

separate enclosure with thatch roof is provided for cattle. In the third and fourth typology the

house appeared to be one unit.

Figure 6: Habitat type Model –III. Figure 7: Habitat type Model –IV.

The main building material used for constructing the load-bearing walls of the dwellings was

adobe, since earth is the most plentiful resource in the region. Adobe units were made of earth,

which could be found on site, mixed with straw along with water. Stones were used to reinforce

the wall. In the case of houses in hilly terrain where bamboo is plentiful, the walls are made of split

bamboos. The walls are often made of bulrushes, maize stalks (Shah, 1943). The roofs are

hipped, double lean and lean to roof. The roofing is done with earthen tiles. The earthen tiles are


supported by a timber framework. The timber used is crude and undressed, the straws or bamboo

strips are used to provide the support to earthen tiles. This make the roof perforated and allows

ventilation. The load-bearing walls support the roof frame placed above. The Eaves of the roofs are

projected along with the length of the house. This projection protects the erosion of mud wall

during rains and also provides sunshade. The temporary structure for cattle is constructed with

four wooden post and flat thatch roof; reeds are also used for partition walls. The lintels were of

timber planks. For ventilation circular voids were left in wall. Bamboos were used as grill in case

of large openings. The mezzanine floor of the dwellings consists of the wooden logs or the beams

that bear the wooden floor placed right above the timber ties. They make huge storage bins for

grain storage. Generally, the bins are quite tall and square in shape. (Aashi, 1996) Cow dung and

mud is applied for finishing and surfacing of flooring and walls. The houses are decorated by

painting the figures of animals, birds and vegetation. Relief work is also seen which is done by

using rice husk and mud.

5. Sustainable Practices Due to natural physical barriers tribes have little access to the outer world. They seek help

from other fellows for cultivation and protection from wild animals. The spatial planning is

mostly governed by the social groups formed due to ethnicity, topography, availability of fertile

land and shared community facilities like water sources and movement channels. The

transformation of clusters is an outcome of increase in the number of family members (Hinani et

al., 1993). In the absence of external forces, growth in traditional settlements was mostly driven by

the daily needs of users and mechanisms that emerged from a symbiosis between the social norms,

occupation and religious customs (Besim, 1994; Akbar, 1988).

There has been a considerable amount of research that defines and characterizes the form for a

sustainable city, and which urban forms may be more sustainable (Mike et al, 2010). It is a

complex issue. The physical dimension may include its size, shape, land use, configuration and

distribution of open spaces - a composite of a multitude of characteristics including a city transport

system and urban design features. However its sustainability depends on abstract issues like

environment, social and economic. It would be unfair to analyze the tribal settlements on above


247

parameters as they are not comparable with any urban form in terms of scale, magnitude and

character. However the settlements are being analyzed on the five dimensions of sustainability.

These dimensions are physical, social, economic, cultural and environmental. Physical

sustainability of the tribal settlements it is evident from the close proximity of their workplace and

natural resources most importantly water with respect to their dwellings. The initial setting up of

these settlements was in harmony with their bioregion and is being preserved through their

community practices. The luminosity of tribal settlements is restricted to day lighting and the

orientation of their settlement is such that they get maximum ventilation and minimum solar

radiation. The streets are leftover spaces between houses and serves as natural drains. The pattern

of the settlement, linear or clustered is derived out of the land form. The structure is legible

because of the sizable scale of the settlements.

The tribes or depending upon the agrarians for their livelihood and the farmers depend on

tribes for supporting activities, this interdependency leads to social cohesion amongst them.

Music, painting and other art forms are integral part of their life. The festivals, religious rituals

and social functions are attended by other communities as well. The settlement consists of

persons varied occupation i.e. carpenter, blacksmith and potter making the community self

sufficient. Also there exists a group of distinct cultural identity which leads to setting up of a

living and working community that reflects the diversity of the settlement and a better social

cohesion. The houses facing each other share common community spaces and are a focal point for

various community activities raising social value. The economic dependency of the settlements is

mainly upon agriculture and forest products and maintains the biodiversity.

The climatic responsiveness in terms of urban architecture can be defined as the satisfied need

of human being in terms of thermal comfort, luminosity and acoustics (Maria, 2009). The

conventional definition of sustainable architecture may not fit for tribal habitat, the sustainability in

terms of tribal habitat needs to be redefined. The present study of tribe revels that the habitat

emerged from the complex mix of considerations including climate, economics, socio cultural

factors and religious purposes. The morphology of built form and spatial order of the clusters


dwelling unit reflect the concern for function and indicate other socio cultural characteristics.

(Saleh, 1999).

The climate of central India is tropical. However for thermal comfort, climate and

microclimate plays a significant role. Typically thermal comfort requires low solar gain,

ventilation and adequate natural light in day time. During the night time in winters the heat gain

inside the house needs to be retained. In monsoon protection for dwellers as well as the cattle is

required. The habitats on plains have moderate climate as compared to the hilly regions. In hilly

regions the days are warmer and the nights are cooler. The houses on plains shown in Model I and

II follow hierarchy of open, semi open and covered spaces. This helps in reducing the solar gain,

in covered areas. The semi open spaces lower downs the temperature of air before it enters into

covered spaces. The pitch roof of covered space allows hot air to escape from the perforation and

joint of the roofs and creates air draft. The thermal gain in the covered space is retained during

winters. The inhabitants prefer to sleep in open courtyard in summers, in semi open areas during

monsoon and particularly when the humidity is high and in covered spaces in winter. The open

courtyard, low height semi open spaces and covered spaces with pitched roof modulates the air

movement. The elongated house plans with minimum internal partitions or partitions created by

storage bins, allows an easy passage for cross ventilation. The multileveled floor and the strategic

staggering openings help in enhancing the air velocity. On the contrary Model III and IV which are

located on hilly terrain have single roof cover and a wall all around the unit. This is done

intentionally to catch up the wind of higher velocity. The pitched roof typical in all tribal houses

shows an understanding of stack effect. Hot air rises by buoyancy and is infiltrated out via gap in

between the earthen tiles.

The projected eaves, semi covered spaces around the main living area and the cattle sheds

adjoining the houses reduces the exposure of sun on walls and also protect the mud walls from

rains. The ventilators, circular in shape, which are above the lintel level allows diffused sunlight

and maintains privacy of inhabitants. In all instances local material was used, the material was

used in its crude natural form. The size, strength and bearing capacity of the material was a

guiding factor for the structure’s dimensions and formulation of spaces. The material used for

wall mud, straw, reeds and the earthen tiles or thatch roof provided thermal insulation. The


249

building material used have definite life period which differ for various material, they need to be

replaced periodically. Even the routine maintenance is required, mud floor needs to be plastered

daily with cow dung, and the earthen tiles need to rearrange before every monsoon. However, the

waste thus generated doesn’t have any adverse effect on environment.

6. Conclusion Buildings, as their design and use today contribute to serious environmental problems because

of excessive consumption of energy and other natural resources. It is also important that the local

building wisdom and culture be explored and the precious heritage of vernacular architectural

culture be passed on ( Jun H. L. et al., 2012). The tribal populations in the geographically remote

areas are still following the indigenous vernacular style for their settlements and habitat. These

habitats provide them the needed thermal and visual comforts at reduced level of resource

consumption. These practiced can be effectively adopted and integrated into the present days

building design.

The settlement pattern of the tribal habitats suggests that the size should be finite to achieve

sustainability. The structure or shape of the settlement should be with respect to the topography.

The natural drains works as streets, the ridges, the valleys and the vegetation affects the

microclimate and should be considered before placing the building blocks. The streets and

courtyard in between the cluster modulate the airflow for proper ventilation and also reduces

thermal gain in tropical conditions. The individual houses don’t have sewerage. The waste

water from the houses is disposed on the streets which dry up in the sun. The organic waste from

the settlement is dumped at one place and is used as manure.

The buildings are oriented to minimize the solar gain during summers ensuring adequate

daylight and protection from rains. The spatial configuration allows thermal comfort and

sufficient privacy and interactive spaces amongst the habitat. The materials used for construction

is low embodied energy and provides thermal insulation. The semi open spaces around the core of

the building helps in reducing the thermal gain whereas the open courtyards are used to catch the


sun for agricultural related purposes.

The tribal settlements and habitat demonstrate an economical use of native natural building

resources, and respond to climatic conditions using eco friendly design principles that provide

human comfort. These design principles are consistent with the form, orientation and materiality

of the buildings. Their combination of social, functional and environmental reveals life full with

color, flavor fervor which, instead of imposing on the nature it emanates from it.

7. References Akbar, Jamel. (1988). Crisis in the Built Environment: The Case of the Muslim City. Singapore

Concept Media, Pvt. Ltd.

Al-Hinai H., Batty, W.J. and Probert, S.D. (1993). Vernacular architecture of Oman: Features that enhance thermal comfort achieved within buildings. Applied Energy. 44(3): 233-244.

Alit, I. K. (2004). Morfologi Pola Mukiman Adati Bali. Journal Settlement. 2: 56 –107

Ashi, M. (1996). Tribal art and craft of Madhya Pradesh. Mapin Publishing Pvt Ltd, Ahmedabad, INDIA.

Besim S. Hakim, (1994). The "Urf" and its Role in Diversifying the Architecture of Traditional Islamic cities. Journal of architectural and planning research. 11(2)

Chiri, Giovanni M., and Giovagnorio, I. (2012). The Role of the City’s Shape in Urban Sustainability. International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies, 3(3): 245-258.

Jun , H. L. and, Hong, Y. B. (2012). Thoughts on Vernacular Architecture Research and Contemporary Regional Architectural Creation. Applied Mechanics and Materials. 174-177: 1656.

Mike, Jenks and Colin J., (2010). Dimensions of sustainable city, Future City. Springer science plus business, media.

Mandal, R.B. (2001). Introduction to rural settlement. Concept Publishing Company, INDIA.

Maria, V.A. (2009). Evaluation of a sustainable Greek vernacular settlement and its landscape: Architectural typology and building physic. Building and Environment. 44(6): 1095-1106.

Nath, M. (1989). The upper Chambal basin; a geographical study in rural settlement. Northern Book Centre, INDIA.

Saleh, M.A.E. (1999). Al-Alkhalaf: the evolution of the urban built-form of a traditional settlement


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in southwestern Saudi Arab. Building and Environment. 34(6): 649-699.

Sarin, M.(2005). Scheduled Tribes Bill: A Comment. Economic and Political Weekly 40 (21).

Shah, H.M. (1943). Aboriginal tribes of india and Pakistan the bhils and the kolhis. Sindhi Kitab Ghar,Karachi.

Wang, R. and Cai, Z. (2006). An ecological assessment of vernacular architecture and of its embodied energy in Yunnan, China. Building and environment 41: 687-697.

Dr.Krishna Kumar Dhote is an Associate Professor in Department of Architecture and Planning, MANIT, Bhopal. He received his B. Arch in 1993 from MACT, Bhopal. His PhD was on Urban Renewal and Redevelopment for the Disadvantaged Section of the Society. His current research and professional engagements focus on Sustainable Urban redevelopment and slum free cities. He is currently working on a sponsored research project on scientific validation of tribal dwellings.

Preeti Onkar is an Assistant Professor is an Assistant Professor in Department of Architecture and Planning, MANIT, Bhopal. Graduate in Architecture and Planning, MANIT, Bhopal has done her Doctoral work on Quality of Life in Urban Distress Area. She is practicing over 15 years and is presently working on prestigious architectural and planning projects for Government of Madhya Pradesh India. She is currently working on a sponsored research project on scientific validation of tribal dwellings.

Santanu Das is an Urban Planner, Graduate in Planning from NIT Bhopal India is currently involved in Planning for Simhastha in Ujjain City of India. His research interest includes forest management and environmental planning.




Call-for-Papers:





*Corresponding author ((Ibrahim Abdallah Shinbira). Tel/Fax: +218-0512762646. E-mail addresses: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/253-264.pdf

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Conservation of the Urban Heritage to Conserve the Sense of Place, a Case Study Misurata City, Libya Ibrahim Abdallah Shinbira a*

a Department of Architecture Faculty of Engineering, Misurata University, LIBYA A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history: Received April 18, 2012 Received in revised form July 01, 2012 Accepted July 20, 2012 Available online July 25, 2012 Keywords: Urban Heritage; Conservation; Sense of Place.

The sense of place can only be achieved if the urban heritage is still intact and preserved whilst accommodating for new development. In the past Misurata city center where the traditional areas and historical significance are located did not have any positive consideration and appreciation from government which, were destroyed to build a new commercial buildings within business district area of city center. This paper intends to highlight on urban heritage "historical significance & activity pattern" that still survive in the city center of Misurata and reflects the sense of place. The study adapted the visual survey field method for data collection and this approach adopted techniques namely photograph and diagrams or maps. The results of the study indicate that there are some urban areas and buildings with historical or traditional significance and conducive sense of belonging and identity that must be renewed, restored, reused and conserved; for instance the marketplace, Allfah Square and the old city center.



254 Ibrahim Abdallah Shinbira

1. Introduction The concept of conservation touches on the very essence of culture survival. Often defined

as maintaining the presence of the past in the present time, it reflects on the need to safeguard the

built environment that we inherit so that the future generation are able to appreciate, learned and

value their history and the past. Our cities are actually a testimony of our existence and help to

build a stronger foundation for the future. The current scene in the development of cities saw a

trend towards a bland and uniform modern development reflecting the values and ideals of the

modern city. The historic environment, which comprise of the old and historic buildings,

traditional street pattern, activities and urban landscape provide a local distinctiveness to our city

that reflect our culture and civilization. Their presence is so vital to our sense of place and

belonging through their uniqueness that gives each city its own identity. Historic environment

also provides a sense of stability to the modern society, whose hectic lifestyle needed an

environment to remind us of our purpose in life. T he urban heritage consists of all elements that

shape the urban fabric including the local people, their activities and way of life. These elements

have to be seen in total as they contribute to the character of our cities. Thus conservation efforts

must focus on maintaining these qualities so that the whole historic environment is kept as an

ensemble. This paper attempts to explore and evaluate the urban heritage “historical significance

& activity pattern” that still survive and reflects the sense of place, identity and culture value in

Misurata city. The significance of such investigation is that conservation of our urban heritage

and buildings of historical significance or areas with tradition or social aspects is one main

elements to ensure city characteristics and provide a sense of place that relate to sustainable

design. This paper is based on a study that investigates the physical features and activities pattern

in Misurata city center and Trablus Street in order to determine the qualities which are conducive

for place character and sense of place.

2. Concept of Sense of Place “Genius Loci" The term 'place' is very rich and has geographical, architectural/physical and social

connotations (Canter, 1977). Canter (1977) suggested that a place is a result of the relationship

between actions, conception and physical attributes. The geographical concept of place refers to

the aerial context of events, objects and actions. This includes both natural elements and human

construction in terms of materials and ideals. The concept of ‘place’ also refers to the integration


255

of elements of nature and culture and interconnected by a system of spatial interaction (Relph,

1976).

Place means more than an abstract location, it is totally made of concrete things having

materials, substance, shape, texture and colour. All these things determine the character and the

essence of a place. It is an area where perception is enriched and a person is made aware of the

distinctive character of specific localities. Sense of place is the ability to recognize different

places and different identities of a place. This concept incorporates imageability, topophilia,

attachment and symbolic meaning of places (Relph, 1976). The search for a sense of place

permits individuals to relate spatially to the aspects of the urban life they specifically choose to

identify with (Banz, 1970). In theory gaining a sense of place means that a person can orient

himself in his environment by using all his senses. The ability to acquire a sense of place depends

on the degree of familiarity a person has with the place. Since sense of place comes from the

attribution of meanings to physical forms, place is affected by people and in return people are

effected by places. As a result, there is an interaction with a place rather than a response to place

and endows the place with meanings. This is why old and historical places have more sense of

place than newer places.

In fact, places that do not relate to any particular period and which are lacking a sense of

continuity are uncomfortable environment. Thus, the stability and continuity of an environment

act as a therapy to the rapidity and scale of modern social and environment changes. People who

are satisfied with their environment will also develop a collective motivation to retain its

qualities, where those who are dissatisfied with their habitat may relocate or opt for improvement

(Downs & Stea, 1973).

3. The Concept of Urban Heritage Conservation Conservation “means all the processes of looking after a place so as to retain its cultural

significance" (Burra Charter Article 1.4). “Conservation encompasses the activities that are

aimed at the safeguarding of a cultural resource so as to retain its historic value and extend its


physical life. There are conservation disciplines that address different kinds of cultural resources.

All share a broad concept of conservation that embraces one or more strategies that can be placed

on a continuum that runs from least intervention to greatest; that is, from maintenance to

modification of the cultural resource. All operations are designed to understand a property, know

its history and meaning, ensure its material safeguard and, if required, its restoration and

enhancement.

The term 'heritage' is used widely in a variety of contexts. Traditionally, the word 'heritage'

relates to the natural environment, buildings and monuments, the arts, social customs and

traditions. Man's contribution to the natural environments has resulted in buildings and

monuments of significant historical value, which can be broadly termed 'the built heritage'.

According to UNESCO in 1972 conference the heritage is classified into two categories; firstly

the Cultural Heritage, which involves a monument, group of buildings or site of historical,

aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value. Secondly, the Natural

Heritage, outstanding physical, biological, and geographical features; habitats of threatened

plants or animals' species and areas of value on scientific or aesthetic grounds or from the point

of view of conservation (UNESCO, 1972). Building conservation generally involves the

renovation of old structures, which could bring them back to fulfilling their original function by

contemporary standards or adapt them to new uses. Sometimes a building could be stripped

down to its historic façade to act as frontispiece for a new function space. "Urban culture

indicates human heritage. It gives worldwide reasons for living in congested cities. Aesthetic is

basically for human pleasure while historical quality need to be determined through careful

analysis. The aim of urban heritage conservation is to retain its character" (Nahoum Cohen,

2001). Montgomery (2001) argued that all good cities have distinctive identities and character.

Figure 1: Ancient city of Misurata that was destroyed to rebuilt new phenomena of commercial

and official blocks. (Source: http://misurata.com.ly/news/index.php).


257

Figure 2: Colonial building damaged during war should be restored and retained “Recent issue.”

4. Background Over the past four decades Libya not only has witnessed tremendous missing in terms of

urban heritage conservation, but unfortunately has witnessed also the destruction of some of the

buildings or sometimes a whole area that organized as a traditional, historical, significance and

cultural values. In 1980s the government decided to bring down the ancient city of Misurata and

rebuilt commercial tower blocks. Since the historic core is strategically located in the hub of the

Central Business District, they have been the focus for speculative commercial development and

subjected to intense pressure for change (Figure 1). Currently, there are some colonials buildings

and other areas such as the marketplace that reflects the social interaction and activities which

faced the destruction during the war in the Trablus Street and other areas (Figure 2). These places

mentioned are the historical or traditional core that contributed significantly to the sense of place

in Misurata city, which must be considered in future for any development or reconstructions

through the architectural qualities, townscape and exciting activities that provide the life and

charm of our cities (Figure 3).


Figure 3: Marketplace, must be rehabilitated and conserve as a social and cultural aspects

reflecting the sense of place "Recent issue".

5. Method This study is based on two main categories below (Figure 4):

1. Literature review which describes some point of views that relate to the urban heritage, place,

conservation and urban design. This is to obtain a theory synthesis about urban heritage

conservation and sense of place.

2. Field survey which applies the theory synthesis to the real condition of place or city. This is to

know the opportunities that ensure sustainable design for future development and conservation

of the city character.

6. Discussion

6.1 The Threats The value of historic environment lies on its authenticity and the way in which its fabric is

kept intact. The historic core contributed significantly to the sense of place in our cities through

the richness of its architectural qualities, picturesque, townscape and exciting activities that

provide the life and charm of our cities. It is also the place that reflects the true culture and the

people and their presence has influence on the survival of the culture. A study of the old town

centers in Libya that dated from 1980s until now revealed a lot of worrying trends that threaten

the life could possibly lead to the death of our historic environment. These threats can easily by

categorized into the following groups:


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Figure 4: Layout of Study Area in Misurata shows the significant and historical buildings location

. (Source: Master Plan of Misurata, Cityhall).

6.1.1 Disruption of the Urban Pattern The historic core unique urban pattern of fine grain even texture has been disrupted by the

invasion of the office tower blocks and residents blocks by altering the grain and texture (Figure

5). The danger of allowing large scale commercial development, if not designed sensitively,

within the fabric of the historic core is that they might act as a cancer that could in the end

destroy what still survive from the fabric of the historic environment. This is because such


development may attract insensitive speculative development and inflating the land values within

the city center of Misurata. This will make the historic and traditional buildings no longer

economically viable to be located where they are at the moment.

Figure 5: Changing grain and texture through invasion of modern commercial development not

sensitive to the scale and proportion of the tradition core center.

Figure 6: New development attacking the Alshik Mosque (Historical Significant) and the traditional

core within the city center.

Figure 7: New development is alien to traditional shops in terms of architectural qualities, scale and

proportion.

6.1.2 Disappearing Townscape The unique townscape qualities of the traditional architecture, social activates and their

human scale are lackluster and slowly going to disappear as a result of modern development

encroaching into and within the vicinity of city center of Misurata. In addition, many original

buildings were destroyed through insensitive set-back policies with intention of developing the

city during the last thirty years (Figures 6 &7).


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6.1.3 Changing Activity Pattern The charm of the historic environment is to a great extent due to the variety of activities

taking place, enriching our sensory experience of the townscape through the stimulation of

colours, smell, sight, sound and moods. The market related activities can still be seen in the old

city center such as Sog Allfah, narrow roads market in center core and the marketplace that is

located in Tubules Street reflect the true nature of our society which must be considered by

conservation efforts (Figures 8 & 9). However, these activities are facing tremendous changes by

the policy of large scale commercial buildings development which makes the area disrupted by

traffic jam, car park, townscape disappearing and changing activities pattern (Figures 10& 11).

Figure 8 Figure 9

Vitality of activities that enriches our sensory experience of old center townscape. The creative use of the traditional streets support the human activities.

Figure 10 Figure 11

Erosion of public spaces and design of new structures within the existing fabric.


6.2 The Prospects There is no denying that conservation of the urban heritage has significant impact in giving a

place its identity. The meanings often associated with familiar and historically significant places

provide a sense of stability and security to urban dwellers. These qualities are important to secure

the cultural survival of a society. Still, it could be questioned at what cost, considering the

heritage value of the activities that occurred there before.

Figure 12: Buildings in the historic center, does not get any conservation efforts. Sog Allfah

6.2.1 Increase in Tourist Attraction and Revenue The economic gain of conservation efforts can be seen through the increase in the tourist

attraction of the historic and actions that reflect culture and social activities of the city as is observed in old Tripoli (Figure 12). It is a widely accepted knowledge that historic environment has a tremendous attraction to tourists who are more interested in the local culture as compared to its modern counterparts (predominantly international style). Thus through conserving the historic fabric and the urban heritage, revenue can be achieved if the environment is conserved whilst accommodating to the tourists' needs for services and facilities. Over patronizing the historic quarters by tourists should be avoided at all costs as it can destroy the sense of place, which attracts the tourists in the first place. This calls for effective urban managements and planning for the tourism industry when dealing with historic environment.

6.2.2 Providing Life to Obsolete Building Stocks The derelict buildings in the historic quarter can be seen through restoration of these building

and adapting it into the use that could benefit from the presence of the tourists. Such projects not only provide new life for these old buildings but also has the added value of being of historical and architectural significance to the city (Figure 13). This value is not found in new buildings, as


263

meanings and associations are stronger in buildings that have been around for a long time and thus become a familiar part of the environment for the residents.

Conservation projects, if conducted in the manner can easily turned a blighted area of

dilapidated buildings into a vibrant and charming place in the city center. The beauty of conservation as opposed to preservation is that it is looking for new ways to ensure that the historic environment becomes relevant in the modern times.

Figure 13: Restoration and rehabilitation can be helpful to consolidate the old city center core of

Misurata, to relive the sense of place and to keep the inherited features for new architecture.

7. Conclusion The challenge that we faced is to ensure that future development of the historic quarter will

not destroy the heritage value that gives the places its uniqueness and heritage value. This can be done by adopting a sustainable approach when dealing with development in places of historical, architectural and cultural significance. Sustainable development can be defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This involves the protection of not only basic resources but also the cultural heritage and thus conserving this environment will be leading towards a sustainable environment for the future generation.

A sustainable approach in conserving the urban heritage means that the interrelationship

between historic environment and the natural environment and between these and wider economic and social issues will be given due consideration. This environment can be resulted from particular activities or from attractive historic, culture, architectural, landscape or townscape features. Area with an attractive character and strong sense of identity or sense of place must be maintained, conserved and enhanced and, where practicable, other areas are upgraded to provide an improved sense of identity and place.


8. Acknowledgements All praise due to Allah, the Most Merciful, for His Love and Guidance. Salute on the Prophet

Muhammad (PBUH), his family, and fellow companions. I would like to convey my appreciation to University of Misurata for support to the work of this article.

9. References Banz (1970). Elements of Urban Form, McGraw Hill Book Company

Canter, D, (1977). The Psychology of Place, Architectural Press, London.

Cohen, Nahoum (2000). Urban Planning Conservation and Preservation, McGraw Hill Companies, USA

Downs and Stea (Ed.) (1973). Image and Environment: Cognitive Mapping and Spatial Behavior, Aldine Press, Chicago

Montgomery, John. (2003). Cultural Quarters as Mechanism for Urban Regeneration. Part 1: Conceptualizing Culture Quarters, Planning, Practice & Research, Vol. 18, No.4, pp.293-306

Relph, E, (1976). Place and Placelessness, Poin, London

Shuhana & Sulaiman (2007). Conservation of Urban Heritage in Malaysia: the Threats, the Prospects and the Challenges. UTM. Skudai, Johor

UNESCO, (1975). the conservation of cities, the UNESCO Press, Paris

WORSKETT (1970). The Character of Towns. An Approach to Conservation. The Architectural Press. London

Ibrahim Abdallah Shinbira is a Lecture of Department of Architecture at Misurata University. He received his BSc (ARCH) from Nasser University – AL Khoms, Libya in 2001. He was awarded a Master degree in Urban Design from University Technology Malaysia (UTM) in 2007. He is currently attending a PhD study at Nottingham University in Urbanism field. He worked as a designer in architecture office and participated in many projects design and development during 2007 to 2010 in Libya.


*Corresponding author (Anwar Ahmed Baeissa) H/P 00967734066823 Email: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/265-280.pdf

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Sustainable Design and Function of Architectural Space and its Composition of Mud Brick in Buildings in Hadhramout Valley, Yemen Anwar Ahmed Baeissa a*

a Department of Architecture and Environmental Planning, Faculty of Engineering and Petroleum, Hadhramout University of Science and Technology, Yemen. A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history: Received April 15, 2012 Received in revised form July 01, 2012 Accepted July 15, 2012 Available online July 25, 2012 Keywords: Sustainable Architecture Function; Form; Space; Composition.

Function should always be regarded as the most important subject before the consideration of form and space be fulfilled. The design reaches its level of aesthetic when it is able to integrate all the required relationships in the design process with clear objectives. This can be seen clearly in the case of mud clay architecture in Hadhramout region, Yemen. The issue of material durability, traditional construction techniques, beauty, and affordability becomes the crucial factors that will be able to fulfill the user’s level of satisfaction, comfort, financial, and spiritual needs. Based on the architectural knowledge gained over the years, the Hadhrami local master builders have acquired brilliant skills and expertise to shape the regional environment and architectural heritage. They always consider ‘functional spaces’ before the buildings and houses are erected. This study investigates the use of mud clay architecture in relation to the design of the building function with its specific architectural form and space in Wadi Hadhramout. It focuses on the residential and religious buildings.



266 Anwar Ahmed Baeissa

1 Introduction

Architecture is a subject dealing with building design of form, space and function, which

enables to portray the design with the meanings of cultures at specific socio-economic activities,

technology, place and time. Architectural work is seen as a function that comes first as a design and

any spatial architecture designed must meet this function. Design is the ability to set out the

required elements in specific and clear relations. This was seen clearly in rooting in and carrying

out the artistic environment in Hadhramout Valley. The environment has achieved functional and

artistic perfection in organizing the buildings to suit human standards. However, the Hadhrami has

produced the instinctive sense to measure things. Measurement was known even in the past in

different civilization like using parts of the human body, such as the arm as a measurement unit.

Rhythm is considered one of the main bases that lead and connect the architectural structure of the

buildings. This reflects on repeating certain artistic architectural elements such as structure, vents

and vertical sequent storeys. These architectural elements can be built up in mud for many houses’

facades. The Yemeni architecture in general and the mud architecture particularly in Hadhramout

Valley have their uniqueness of employing the natural elements from the surroundings and the

heritage. The style is very distinctive in Yemen which is different from other parts of the world in

its creative value, architecture and shape. Researchers considered the style as unique and a valuable

edifice. It has a rare status in smooth shaping of multiple structures, patterns and functioning

harmony in interior spaces. The Hadhrami architecture exemplifies a typical style for human

beings living creatively and effectively with the surroundings. The Hadhramies through different

ages managed to succeed in making constructional and architectural compositions and to find out a

matching environment to appropriate the Hadhrami and his regional surroundings. In fact, he has

really managed to create different styles to surpass the world ones. The traditional architecture and

construction go very well with the surroundings and meet the functional aspects; they also go with

the religious nature of the inhabitants. Creativity has become part of the Yemeni architects’

concern in terms of incorporating the terrains with his design, employing the raw materials and

building techniques available. In his design, he takes the four seasons in the region into his

consideration for a convenient housing design with provision for human needs, for instance, proper

housing, work, worship (Al-Muqatri, 2000). The mud-brick high-rise buildings in Shibam, built in

cluster pyramid by a city wall exude the genius of Hadhrami architecture. Today Shibam is

recognised as one of the heritage site under UNESCO’s World and construction heritage lists, and


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it won the 2007 Aga Khan Award for Architecture which is the world’s largest architectural award.

As a result, the study is important to search for architectural design elements that can be integrated

in the development of space planning design in Hadhramout region. This paper studies the

elements of the historical and architectural value in its diverse architectural layout styles. The

architectural space and its relationship to form based on a specific function are significant to the

Hadhrami architecture which has artistic designs of mud clay buildings. The architectural spaces in

mud construction in Hadhramout Valley will be implemented by using different architectural

styles.

2 Interior Space Shaping in Mud Buildings The Hadhrami architects took the interest in the interior space and function and treated them in

different ways, and they found out solutions which improved the buildings. They also indicate that

they progressed in conformity with the traditional methods accumulated cognitively and culturally

over the years. It is also noted that Hadhrami architects gained transcendent ability that qualified

them to deal with time and place variables. They had the way to form the functional spaces that

were more convenient to the environment (the nature and the society) (Al-Shibany and

Al-Madhajy, 2000). Space and volume arrangement in mud buildings was made in accordance

with the shape and volume of the building on the basis of the functional and environmental

requirements. The building layout has also been made taking into account the religious believe of

its occupants. These factors can be clearly observed in the interior space layout of the buildings that

inherently tackled the weather problems. Such a combination of natural materials along with a

layout that suits the different requirements mentioned above is a good example of dealing with the

different environmental and climatic factors by controlling the function at the design and

construction level. Comfortable temperatures could be maintained inside the building through

proper selection of natural insulating construction material and through control over the flow of air

currents via narrow openings located near the top and bottom of the interior spaces. The trend of

the architectural design resulted in buildings that are of closed nature and vertically expanding in

order to cope up with the requirements of the increasing number of big families. Type of spaces

decided the nature of the ornamentation being used inside and outside the building. Different


patterns are used decorate the frames of windows, doors and frames of different woodwork. Mud

builders are characterised by homogenous and monotonous texture with respect to height, mass,

balconies and the bridges elements between the buildings. Exterior walls of mud buildings are

constructed in such a way as to give a tapering shape (wide near the bottom and relatively narrow

near the top) to the building when looked at from outside. Upper stories and roofs are lime washed

and projections are provided as shading elements and protection against rain water. As far as

proportions are concerned, the buildings form masses and plane areas with opening in the facades.

The buildings are not symmetrical in plan and the exterior elevations are neither dependent on

symmetry of mass nor shape of the architectural elements. Elements of residential, service and

religious buildings differ depending on the function to be achieved. The layout (Figure1) may be

formed of square, rectangular or compound masses discerned by the unique Hadhrami building

style in terms of elements and decoration that reflect the ancient Hadhrami and Islamic art and

architecture (Damluji, 2007).

Figure 1: Plans and Interior Spaces of the Houses

3 Scale

Scale has been used by Hadhrami since ancient times when they dealt with different objects

and their relative proportions as can been seen in the old mud buildings. The "arm" is used as a

measuring unit in buildings and the "mutaira" used as a land measurement unit. Use of projections

in some of the upper parts of buildings facing the side alleys result in shading of parts of the

exterior walls and impart a perspective dimension from an optical point of view (Figure 2). The


269

facades themselves are overlooking the street or a public square or an alley so as to facilitate

sufficient lighting and ventilation, and to provide a good view of the public space, without

exposing the interior of the neighbouring houses to view or threatening the privacy of their

inhabitants. These windows are generally distributed in such an organized fashion in the facade so

as to avoid placing the openings in the side walls of neighbouring houses since the houses of

Shibam are either attached or extremely close to each other. The distribution of these windows

follows an organised and traditional pattern. Hence, in the ground and the first floors, only small

openings are present, while wide ornamented and glass-free wooden windows are used beginning

with the Mahdarah (men's reception) on the second floor. The visitor also notes that in order to

allow large and numerous openings in the windows in the facade, screen windows consisting of

networks of geometric and floral patterns, made of local ilb tree, are fitted in and assembled in a

variety of compositions.

Figure 2: Facade and Axonometric of the Houses

4 Colour

The colour is the most important and inseparable aspect of material and its characteristics. It is

considered one of the advanced aspects of the material that has an influence on its size, rate and

shape. The colour is an essential element in the architectural composition and its sense. It is an

indispensable part in architecture and its relation with volume and space and it has a great impact


on the shape of the architectural elements. The outside colours of the mud house were often

obtained from the raw material available in the surrounding environment. The particular usage of

the whitewash for the mud houses was based on its climatic task related to the temperature and

light. It is also noted that there is a colour harmony in the mud houses. The mud colour and the

decoration of the windows and doors and the white colour used over the doors and windows create

a contrast between the light and dark colours. This contrast creates in turn a visual effect that makes

the viewer feel lively and vigorous and this also helps clearly emphasizing the visual decoration

that produces a genuine and unique expression of architecture.

5 Elements of Clay Building

Among the interior elements of a Hadhrami house unit are the doors, the windows/

Mashrabiya and the interior walls, the holes in the walls (vents), the railings and the security

bars, the columns and the beams, the roof-design, the ceiling-design, and floor-design, the spaces

for males and females, and the orientation to the Kiblah. The wooden doors that are mounted in

the front facade of the buildings are differentiated by their grandeur and by their thickness. For

most houses, the main door of the building is its only access. In the wooden frame at the top of

the door the date of the construction of the building is engraved.

5.1 Loading Bearing Walls

The exterior of the building takes a pyramid like shape with the exterior walls being tapered.

The building is wide at the base and narrows towards the top. The idea of mud walls generally

depends on selecting the proper type of soil that when mixed with water and given the desired

shape result in a storing solid entity. Proper bond of the mud blocks is achieved through either

natural drying process as is the case with Adobe which is sun dried before construction or through

in-situ drying of mud (soil and water mixture) as in the case of cob (Midamk).

5.2 Columns

Columns are called (Sahm). They are classified as wooden, stone or mud columns. The

interior columns supporting the roof are made of nabk wood. Mud columns (Madar) are circular

or rectangular in cross-section. Diameter of circular columns ranges from 30 cm to 70cm. Size of

the columns depends on the desired function inside or outside the building. Circular columns are

widely used in the yards (portico) of mosques. The capitals (the upper part of these interior


271

columns) (Figure 3) of these wooden columns have the same forms. Usually they are in a simple

rectangular cross-section and several carved protrusions. In appearance they are almost similar to

the capitals of the columns used in the prehistoric civilisation of the Arabian Peninsula and

Persia, especially those capitals carrying the heads of two arms. These are known as kabsh

meaning ‘ram’ in Arabic although birds or pigeons may be seen in some other cases.

Furthermore, a large percentage of cylindrical columns with circular cross-sections, and columns

with square cross-sections, are built from madar or stones. These are moulded from madar or cut

from stone in circular and semi-circular forms for that purpose. They are then smoothen up and

covered with a layer of mortar (mulat) to look like one homogeneous piece. Some of the capitals

of these columns are similar to the base of the square Islamic columns; in the others especially in

the case of the capitals in the palaces (such as in Tarim and Sayion) which were built around the

turn of the century and which were influenced in their details and ornamentations by the classical

Western civilisation, they have the form of classical Doric and Ionic Greek columns.

Figure 3: Columns of the House.

5.3 Stair Walls

Beings an important element of the building, this column is called the "bride" (arus). It is

constructed from square or rectangular mud blocks (120cm x150cm). It is attached to the stairs

leading to the upper floors and raised to match the height of the building. The stairwell (Figure 4) is

located centrally around arus, a vertical column near the entrance forming the main support for the


storeys of the building stretching vertically through the building to its upper floors carrying the

stairs around it. The height of the ground floor ranges from 4-5 meters (13-16 feet). There are one

or two additional basement storeys, known as khann. This is accommodated in order to take into

account the variation between the main street level and the level of the city's raised site.

Figure 4: Sections and Stairs of the Houses

5.4 Arches Closing narrow and long areas is the main function of arches in mud building of Hadhramout

valley. Sometimes branches of green trees are used to temporarily support the arches; these

branches are taken away after two or three months when the roofs have dried out. The

master-builders build the rows of the bricks over the thresholds using the traditional way until they

reached the level of the ceiling. The Arched Ceiling Construction (Figure 5), is an expression

(jamlul, or yamlul) which refers to the method used in constructing arched ceilings or vaults. This

method is composed of laying the brick (madar) in a circular or spiral pattern, when constructing a

dome, or arranging them in the shape of an arch stretching longitudinally. When constructing

arched vault (aqd), the entire three-dimensional arch receives the shape of a segment of a circle,

less than a semi-circle. The jamlu then, does not relate to the details of the building method itself,

but rather to the method in which the interior and exterior walls are vaulted. Usually, the

construction of the ceiling is carried out when the builders have completed the task of constructing

the first floor. They either lay the wood (ud) for a flat ceiling or employ the method arch (ukuf). The

arched ceilings can be in the form of domes or vaults (jalabab), operating in length. Jalabab and

ukuf are expressions locally used to refer to that (Baeissa & Hassan 2006).


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Figure 5: Arches from Gypsum for Decoration.

5.5 Windows

Ventilation and lighting are the main functions of the wooden windows in mud buildings of

Hadhramout valley. Location of windows takes into account the social aspects and life style such

as provision of privacy. Windows are generally located on the facades of buildings facing the main

road and interior open yards. The windows contain screens of beautiful geometric figures that limit

entrance of the sun light and regulate the movement of air currents inside the building. Coloured

glass is widely used in windows of buildings of Seiyun and Tarim nabk wood is in making the

windows. The windows (Figure 6) are small and they are constructed close to the floor, and usually

decorated as well as carved in latticework screens with wooden frames and shutters. Above the


windows, many small rectangular openings are designed to allow the light in when the lower

shutter is closed. Here a plain mat, made of plaited palm, may be placed on the floor while wealthy

people may placed camel-hair rugs striped in rust-brown, white and black. Hard cushions are often

placed against the walls for relaxation. The distribution and arrangement of the windows on the

external facades of Hadhrami houses add a special aesthetic character to the buildings as a whole.

The main windows of each house are articulated over the main facade of the house. The facades

themselves are overlooking the street or a public square or an alley so as to facilitate sufficient

lighting and ventilation, and to provide a good view of the public space, without exposing the

interior of the neighbouring houses to view or threatening the privacy of their inhabitant.

Figure 6: Facade and Decorative Window of the Houses

5.6 LightOpenings "manwar" or "shammah"

In general the type of openings (Figure 7) used in Hadhrami architecture can be seen in the

ground floor which contains the main entrance and the spaces for grain stores. The walls have small

ventilated holes; also there is a little hole (mannor) near the stairs for air movement (ventilation)

and temperature. The stairs rally around a huge pillar near the entrance that forms the main support

for the house. They are designed to stretch vertically inside the house, from the ground floor up to

the roof; and they are usually adjacent to the stairwell, sharing a wall with it, and providing it with

light and ventilation. The ground floor layout provides efficient lighting from the Al-Shammasah

from Shams (the sun) which provides ventilation and the interior temperature of the house. Vents

provide the space with ventilation and interior lighting for the house and extend on the length and


275

height of the building vertically from the ground floor to the last floor which intervene rectangular

long small holes. In various locations across the length of the Shammash, there are small

longitudinal and rectangular openings made out of mud known as Khaysh, differing in their forms

and ornamentations, which are usually a simple repeated pattern of squares, triangles or circles.

The longitudinal and narrow, or circular openings called the Al-Ukrah is for ventilation purposes.

Mostly they are located at the upper end of the walls of the ground and first floors, near the ceiling;

but sometimes they are inserted between the openings of the large windows or above them, for the

purposes of ventilation and lighting (Damluji, 1992).

Figure 7: Openings at the Interior Walls, Shammash.

5.7 Doors

The wooden doors (Figure 8) that are mounted in the front facade of the buildings are

differentiated by their grandeur and by their thickness. For the most part, the main door of the

building is its only access. In the wooden frame at the top of the door the date of the construction of

the building is engraved. Generally the doors are impressed and dovetailed, as well as adorned with

enormous iron nails and famous wooden bolts in two parts (galudah and gayshamah), which can be

unlocked by wooden keys (iqlid). These wooden keys are also made by the carpenters and may

have some simple pattern. Baeissa and Hassan (2005) also notice that the keys and locks come in

different sizes according to the sizes of the exterior or the interior doors. The most magnificent

doors are found in the popular traditional and customs museum in Sayion. These doors are loaded


with geometric ornamentations and Arabic calligraphy, and made with a precision and skill

approaching excellence. They further noted that contemporary local doors cannot match the

articulate eminence of exquisiteness attained by the old craftsmen, regardless of the fact that the

present day artisans in Al-Sahil perform their carpentry and wood work in the same way as their

predecessors had done many years before. Doors are made of nabk wood and are generally

characterized by their thickness and beauty of the ornamental work and the artistic Arabic writings.

Figure 8: Decorative Doors of a House

6 Ornamentation

The prominence of the skilful ability of the Hadhrami architect, which is built from one

substance and two designations as well as technical constructions, made up the occupations for its

need and functions to provide comfort and relaxation. Its strength reflects spiritual desires through

its beauty. This is because of the production of the profound perception in the way of making up

architectural occupations between the perception and awareness that deals with changes, place and

time. In addition to this, it provides characteristics of specific and changeable places, climate and

social settings. On the other hand, the changeability of time, specific effectiveness, as a result of the

same belief and social harmony and the Hadhrami spiritual traditions in different regions are all

attractions that make Hadhramout a unique place to live. There are several beautiful palaces,

buildings and mosques built of mud with beautiful ornamental and decorative works that consist of

different geometrical and botanical shapes. These elements reflect the high class of art work of its

performers. Ornamentation has been widely used on walls and facades of old buildings in the form


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of carved patterns and engraved writings. Such kind of work was also used to decorate windows

(Figure 6), doors (Figure 8), wooden columns (Figure 3) and mud columns. Decoration has always

been used in mud buildings as an element to express the importance of the building and to highlight

its beautiful aspects.

7 Domes A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere.

The dome (Figure 9) has taken on a defining role in the organization of interior and exterior space

in the built environment and developed a high level of specialization by types. Domes are usually

used in the Hadhrami architecture in the ground and first floors of the buildings. Domes have been

widely used in mud building and became one of its distinguishing elements, especially in mosques

and tombs. Semi spherical domes have also been used and constructed by placing clay bricks

(madar) of circular shapes during the construction of domes. When these have been built, the walls

of the upper floors are then built. The extreme thickness of the walls in proportion to the height of

the dome is another indication that these chambers stood at the beginning of the series. Hadhramies

used the domes as mosque, tomb and palaces roofs.

Figure 9: Domes design in Mosques and Tombs


8 Conclusions

In conclusion:

1. The Hadhrami styles are distinguished in function, shape, spaces, elements and

decorations.

2. The main construction material is brick.

3. The subordinate construction materials are clay, lime and wood.

4. The system of the main and external construction is loading walls.

5. The system of construction is from arches and column free.

6. The design for walk and prosperities of the planning is blocked and a vertical design for big

and extended family. It constitutes with the other quarters join with services such as

mosques and yards.

7. The building fabric is coherent and well-adjusted in heights and spaces, as well as

balconies.

8. The distinguished main front of the building is located on the Main Street or yards. The

decorations are seen (Mashrabiya) and covered the building at the bottom and the top with

lime.

9. The distinctive characteristics of the main facades of the buildings look out on the streets or

squares. Patterns are represented by windows (Mashrabiya). The buildings are painted with

limestone for protection. The external walls are generally pyramided. 10. The external decoration consist of simple frames and shapes around the windows. They are

centred in the wood setters of the windows and doors.

11. The type of building design and characteristics of planning is enclosed and vertically

directed in building. It forms with the other buildings zones sharing similar public services

functions, mosques, and squares.

12. The composition of religions service building is different in plan. The form of the building

is square and rectangular open to the outside.

13. The Hadhrami city model is unique with morphologically and functionally created objects,

elements, and pattern. There exist an interrelationship of ancient Hadhrami architecture and

Islamic art along with the perpetuating experience laden with knowledge accumulation.

14. Simplicity of similar and different elements in the pattern morphology inside and outside

and the gradual heights. There is also a variety in the forms of the openings on the surface of


279

the facade, by changing the size and the position of rectangular form of the openings, along

with the harmonious colour distribution.

15. The environmental control of climate; the architectural type is rich in its experiences with

the ability of environmental climatic control in creating heat comfort given the direction of

building and functions, selection of building materials having thermal isolation ability,

volume control of acquired heat, air movement activation through narrow low and high

openings.

10 References

Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2007). Intervention Architecture Building for Change. London: 1.B. Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, w2 4BU, printed and bound in Singapore by K.H.L. printing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Al-Muqatri (2000), Nahu Tataweer wa Tasis Fadha jaded bi bin Teni, (Towards the Development and Establishment of New Space within the Clay Construction). Proceedings of the First Scientific Conference of Clay Architecture on the Threshold of the 21st Century. Research Studies, Hadhramout University of Science and Technology, February 10-13.

Al-Shibany, A. R. and Al-Madhajy, M. (2000), Al-Saluk fi Tashkeel Al-fadhah Al-memari fi Al-Yameen, (Behaviour of the Architectural Spaces Composition in the Yemeni Clay Architectural). Proceedings of First Scientific Conference of Clay Architecture on the Threshold of the 21st Century 2000.Research Studies, Hadhramout University of science and Technology, February 10-13.

Baeissa, A. and Hassan. S. (2005). A Design Model of Mid-rise Houses in Shibam for Tourist Attractions. Proceedings of the National Conference on Tourism Development. Universiti Sains Malaysia, January 9-11.

Baeissa, A and Hassan.S. (2005).Sustainable Mud Brick Construction Material in High-rise Houses at Hadhramout Valley, Yemen. Proceedings of the International Conference on

Construction and Real Estate Management:Challenge and Innovation in Construction and

Real Estate,(Volume2),Universiti Sains Malaysia, International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, December12th-13th.

Baeissa, A and Hassan, S. (2006). Mud Brick Houses in Hadhramout Valley, Yemen: Learning from the Past Experiences for Sustainable Development. Proceedings of the International Conference On Sustainable Housing. 2006, School of Housing Building and Planning (HBP), Universiti Sains Malaysia. Publication Cataloguing Data National Library of Malaysia, September18-19


Damluji, S. S. (1992). The Valley of Mud Brick Architecture Shibam, Tharim and Wadi Hadhramout.Garnet Publishing, London, UK

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Dr. Anwar Ahmed Baeissa is an assistant professor at Department of Architecture & Environmental Planning, Faculty of Engineering & Petroleum, Hadhramout University of Science & Technology (HUST), Yemen. He earned a Bachelor and a Master of Architecture (B. Arch & M. Arch) degrees in 1998 from the Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Ukraine, USSR. He worked from 1999-2003 as instructor at department of Architecture & Environmental, Planning and he had been awarded a PhD degree in 2009 from the University of Science Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia. His research is focused on evaluations of space planning towards habitable house designs for low-income group.


*Corresponding author (R. ROSTAMI). H/P: +06-177187197 E-mail address: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/281-294.pdf

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Contribution of Historical Persian Gardens for Sustainable Urban and Environment Lessons from Hot Arid Region of Iran

Raheleh ROSTAMI a*, Hasanuddin LAMITa, and Seyed Mysam Khoshnavab

a Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA b Department of Construction Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history: Received April 20, 2012 Received in revised form July 03, 2012 Accepted July 24, 2012 Available online July 25, 2012 Keywords: Sustainable Architect; Hot arid regions; Historical Persian gardens; Sustainable environment.

Sustainable development is a widely accepted strategic framework in city planning and urban green spaces have an important role in it. Beside, increasing empirical evidence indicates that the presence of natural areas contributes to the quality of life in many ways. Also, urban nature provides important social and psychological benefits to human societies, which enrich human life with meanings and emotions. In order to exemplify the importance of urban green spaces for sustainability this paper analyses some historical Persian gardens for environmental sustainability and citizens’ well-being. In this study, historical Persian Gardens were chosen due to their historical background as first sample of Iranian urban green spaces which are still being used successfully. Some results of a survey conducted among visitors of historical gardens in Iran are presented and discussed. The issues investigated people’s motives for visiting gardens and the emotional dimension involved in the experience of nature and its importance for people’s general well-being.



282 Raheleh, Rostami, Hasanuddin Lamit, and Seyed Meysam Khsohnava

1. Introduction Theory of sustainable architecture and urbanism is one of the contentious fields of

architecture. The idea of sustainable architecture is offered to answer the questions about quality

and types of relationship between design and environment. Sustainable architecture is a responsive

and active design toward environment and place features and conditions. Sustainable architecture

uses its ecological capabilities to create a suitable and desirable environmental condition. It

includes a mixture of aesthetic, environmental, political, social and moral values. Some studies on

the subject indicate that the concept of sustainability has a root in old customs and traditional

cultures of mankind. Therefore, traditional architecture are recognized for considering cultural and

social identities and help a great deal in creating social, environmental and economical

sustainability. So, traditional aspects were considered in sustainable design philosophy.

Furthermore, sustainability is also a widely accepted strategic framework in city planning and

urban green spaces have an important role in it and considered as one possible step towards

creating sustainable urban environments (Costanza et al., 1997; Jongman et al., 2004; Opdam et al,

2006; Jongman, 1995; Zhang and Wang, 2006). Also, open green spaces are of a strategic

importance for the quality of life of our increasingly urbanized society (Miller, 1988; Chiesura,

2004). In fact, increasing empirical evidence indicates that the presence of natural resources (i.e.

urban parks, gardens and forests, green belts) and components (i.e. trees, water) in urban contexts

contributes to the quality of life in many ways. Protective factors of nature for physical,

psychological, and social health of people and community have been emphasized by various

researches (Takano et al, 2002; St Leger, 2003; Maller et al, 2005). Physically and psychologically,

view of natural scenes or elements foster stress recovery (Ulrich, 1981) by evoking positive

feelings, reducing negative emotions, and blocking stressful thoughts and provide a sense of

peacefulness and tranquility (Kaplan, 1983) and resulted in mental (Hartig et al., 1991; Conway,

2000) and physical health (Godbey et al., 1992). Therefore, local people consider urban nature and

daily outdoor recreation opportunities to be the main factors that enhance their every day

well-being (Eronene et al., 1997) even if used occasionally (Solecki &Welch,1995; Thompson

2002; Tinsley and Croskeys 2002; Chiesura 2004; Krenichyn 2004). Socially, nature can

encourage the use of outdoor spaces, increase social integration and interaction among neighbors

(Coley et al., 1997) which lead to trust, mutual understanding, shared values and supportive


283

behavior (Loures et al., 2007). So, natural areas provide social, psychological and physical

services, which enrich human life with meanings and emotions which are of crucial significance

for the livability of modern cities and the well-being of urban dwellers which is a key component of

sustainable city.

Besides the aforementioned, the functions of urban nature can provide economic benefits for

both municipalities and citizens. Air purification by trees, for example, can lead to reduced costs of

pollution reduction and water purification, wind and noise filtration can lead to microclimate

stabilization. Furthermore, aesthetic, historical and recreational values of urban green spaces

increase the attractiveness of the city and promote it as tourist destination, thus generating

employment and revenues (Chiesura, 2004).

In order to exemplify the importance of urban green spaces for wellbeing of citizens and for

the sustainability of the city where they live in, this paper analyses some historical Persian gardens.

In this study, historical Persian Gardens were chosen due to their historical background as first

sample of Iranian urban green spaces which are still being used successfully. Beside, historical

Persian gardens are one of the well-known traditional methods in hot arid regions of Iran which

play a role in works of beauty and aesthetic as well as compensating poor humidity to create a

sustainable micro climate for human living.

2. Making Cities Sustainable Nowadays, increasing in population, urbanization and the impact of urban areas on global

environment mean that creating more sustainable urban areas is essential to sustainability

(Ozdemir, 2007). Now, the question is: what is a sustainable city and how we can make a

sustainable city?

Whereas, there is no acceptable definition for sustainable city; therefore, the concept of

sustainable development which includes aspects of urban planning and community development is

considered for cities sustainability. According to Bruntland commission (The World Commission


on Environment and Development, 1987) sustainable development meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’’. Also, Sibley

(1998) stated that sustainability refers to “the continuing ability of the planet to meet the needs of

its living inhabitants”. So, some cities have been developing their own sustainability indicators and

aspects such as “amount of public green spaces per inhabitant”, “public parks” and “recreation

areas” which are often mentioned as important factors to make the city livable, pleasant and

attractive for its citizens (Chiesura, 2004). But, from another point of view, developing more

sustainable cities is not just about improving the abiotic and biotic aspects of urban life, it is also

about the social aspects of city life, that is about people’s satisfaction, experiences and perceptions

of the quality of their everyday environments and quality of life issues are central to all.

To reach these goals, it is essential to follow all dimensions of sustainable development

(environmental, social and economic). According to principles which were presented in The

European Landscape Convention in Florence, 2000; to achieve sustainability, development should

be “based on a balanced and harmonious relationship between social needs, economic activities

and the environment”. Researchers (Beck, 1992; Sachs, 1995, Ferris et al, 2001; Loureset et al,

2007) claimed that urban landscape can be very positively linked to sustainability policies.

Thompson (2000) indicates that sustainable development seems to offer “landscape architects a

tangible way of relating their aesthetic, social and ecological values”. Urban green spaces benefits

urban communities environmentally, aesthetically, recreationally, psychologically, socially and

economically (Grahn, P., 1985; Burgess, J., Harrison, C., Limb, M.,1988; Conway, H., 2000; Gehl,

J., Gemzoe, L, 2001). Once more, urban green spaces are considered as key components in urban

sustainability.

3. Material and Method Both, secondary (literature review) and primary data collection have been gathered. Primary

data have been collected through a survey conducted among residents of two historical cities of

Iran where, a lot of historical Persian gardens still exist and being used actively by urban residents.

To find the most popular and memorable garden among the existing samples, a pilot test was

undertaken based on residents’ preferences. The pilot test concluded Hasht Behesht Garden or/

Bagh-e- Bolbol (literally: Eight Paradise Garden or/ Nightingle Garden) which dating back to


285

1660, in Isfahan city and Shahzdeh Garden (literally: Prince garden), which is created in 18th

century, in Kerman as the most frequented.

Respondents were randomly selected among visitors of gardens from various age groups.

Also, personal attributes like gender, occupation, and educational background were considered.

Respondents were asked to fill the questionnaire during their stay in the gardens, so the answers

would reflect their immediate experiences. Questionnaires were distributed on weekdays and

weekends, in different hours of the day, and in different parts of the gardens. Responses formats

were either closed (multiple choices) and open ended. The questionnaires addressed a broad range

of issues, ranging from motives for respondents to visit gardens, their activities during visit periods

and their feelings towards the gardens. Both descriptive and inferential techniques have been used

to analyze and interpret the answers.

4. Results In total, 252 respondents took part in both cities. Sample includes 152 respondents (60.31%) in

Esfahan and 100 respondents (39.68%) in Kerman. In total, male gender constitute prevalent

respondents (57.5%). Age classes ranged from below 10 years old to over 60 and prevalent by

20-30 age groups (48.0%). Most of the respondents had university degree and categorized as

student in occupation. The mean of living period in cities is about 23 years (S.D = 16.16).

4.1 Motives for Visiting Gardens To calculate the data about people’s motives to visit the gardens, respondents were asked:

“Why do you visit this garden?” The following alternative options were given: I visit this garden

because of its nature and vegetation, its diversity, its beauty, it’s fascinating, its restorativeness

effect, its accessibility, its silence, its familiarity, its representativeness and others. A frequency

analysis of people’s motives to visit gardens showed that gardens nature and vegetation achieved

highest percentage (54.4%) among other options (Fig. 1). This motive reflects the need of natural

environment in urban context.


Figure 1: Motivations of gardens for visitors: Frequency distribution.

Beauty of gardens stands out as second most effective factor for 42.9% of respondents. This

motive revealed the relation of aesthetic attributes and people’s preferences and emphasized the

effect of aesthetic on preferences like other researches (See: Nasar, 1983; Lothian, 1999;

Kaltenborn & Bjerk, 2002; Parsons & Daniel, 2002; Hidalgo, Berto, Galindo, and Getren, 2006).

So, gardens became fascinating for 29% of the respondents. Also, aesthetic attributes can

affect place’s restorativeness (Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989; Kaplan, 1995; Hernandez, Hidalgo,

Berto, and Peron, 2001; Staats, Kieviet, and Hartig, 2003; Koole, Vnder, and Wulp, 2003; Galindo

and Hidalgo, 2005) which was mentioned by almost 28% of respondents. Restorativeness effects

of gardens can create a place for relaxation and step away from daily worries, breath fresh air and

relax mentally and physically.

Garden’s open view and easy accessibility were cited by almost 24% of respondents. Findings

also, indicates that 18.3% of respondents visit garden because of its visual diversity and because it

is a representative place of the city. 62.7% of respondents mentioned that these gardens are historic

and represent a symbol for their cities. Hence, sense of attachment to these gardens was identified

by 17.5% of respondents. Sense of attachment to a place result in a sense of belonging to towns and

society and consequently enhance society’s health status. Silence of gardens, meeting people and

familiarity option follow in decreasing frequency. Motives like garden’s silence and consideration

of garden as meeting place reflect needs of experiencing solitude, as well as social relation and

integration.

54.4%42.9%

29%27.4%

24.6%24.2%

18.3%18.3%17.5%17.5%

11.9%8.3%

Its Nature Its Beauty

It's FascinatingIts restorativeness effect

Its open viewIts accessibility

Its visual diversityIt is a representative place of city

Its silenceA sense of attachment to place

It’s a meeting place I'm familiar with it


287

4.2 Functional Aspects of the Gardens Another aspect of gardens is how gardens are to be used by residents. To understand the

functions of gardens in urban area, respondents were asked: “What is your experience and activity

during visitation of garden?” The following alternative options were given: I come to visit this

garden for recreation, for sitting alone, for wandering and walking, for family picnic, to be with

others, to do exercise, to observe nature and to be part of nature. A frequency analysis of people’s

activity in gardens revealed that the most important experience which is considered by respondents

is recreation. 49.6% of respondents visit gardens for recreation (Fig. 2). This result denotes the

psychological effects of nature which evoke calm and relaxation as well as stress reduction.

Subsequently, this confirms why 40% of respondents considered natural observation as second

most important experience of garden. Also, 27.8% of respondents mentioned that visiting gardens

is like being a part of nature. This result reflects again the importance of nature.

Figure 2: Experiences and activities in garden.

Family picnic (25.4%) and to be with others (22.2%) constitute another important aspects of

garden’s function. These functions reveal the social aspects of gardens which encourage people to

use urban green spaces as part of their daily life style and to be with others. Subsequently, increase

social interaction and integration invoke trust and supportive behaviors. Other activities like

sitting, exercising and walking follow in decreasing frequency and less considered by respondents.

4.3 The Emotional Dimension of Gardens’ Experience Another important research interest was to explore the emotional dimension of nature based

49.6%

27.8%

25.4%

22.2%

17%

7.5%

4%

For Recreation

To observe nature

For family picnic

To be with others

For sitting

To do exercise

For walking


experiences, the benefits people perceive through natural contact and the relationship with their

well-being. To explore emotional aspects of garden, respondents were asked to answer the

following question: “What feelings do gardens evoke you?” and the following alternative options

were given: safety, freedom, comfortable, happiness, calm and tranquility, memories

remembrance, feeling healthier, feeling that you are closer to nature and feeling that you are

different. Frequency analysis of the answers about the feelings experienced (Fig. 3) shows that

“calm and tranquility” is the feeling most frequently cited by respondents, which accounts for 50%

of the answers. The tranquil atmosphere of the garden inspires reflection, meditation, and a general

feeling of harmony between one self and the surrounding. Also, it is assumed that feelings and

emotions we perceive in natural environment are relevant part of our experiences in nature. So,

integration of results of first important experience in gardens (recreation) and current finding verify

the assumption. Memories remembrance is another emotional aspects which was considered by

42.8% of respondents.

Figure 3: Feelings and emotional experiences.

Happiness is another feeling that gardens evoke for respondents, accounting almost 35% of the

answers. Also, 33.7% of respondents mentioned feeling closer to nature. Therefore, it can be

proven that there is a relationship between nature and positive feelings like happiness as well as

comfortable (21.8%) and feeling healthier (19.4%). Feeling safe and freedom follow in decreasing

frequency. Feeling “I am different in this garden” was less considered by respondents (2%).

50%42.8%

35.3%33.7%

21.8%19.4%

15.5%14.7%

2%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Calm and tranquilityMemories remembrance

HappinessCloser to nature

ComfortableFeel healthier

SafetyFreedom

Feel I am different


289

4.4 Garden Visitation and Wellbeing For better understanding about the importance of natural experience for people’s well-being,

respondents were asked to rank the importance of visiting gardens for emotional and physical

disease like: depression, sadness, tiredness and sickness along a 1–5 points measurement scale (1,

not important at all; 2, not important; 3, important; 4, very important; 5, essential). A frequency

analysis showed that responses range from important to essential. Respondents believed that

visiting gardens could mostly reduce depression (94%) as well as removing tiredness, accounting

almost 90% of answers. Also, results show that sadness (81.6%) and physical sickness (76.3%)

could be better during and after garden visitations. Overall, findings revealed nature effects on

betterment of both emotional and physical disease, widely emotional ones.

Table 1: Variables that Affect People Presence in the Gardens.

Variables Very Much Much Less Very Less Not Effective

Organization 37.9% 6.7% 6.7% 0.0% 3.0%

Representative 37.9% 6.3% 6.5% 1.3% 2.4%

Accessibility 27.2% 12.5% 10.1% 0.0% 4.5%

Familiarity 27.2% 17.2% 8.4% 0.2% 1.3%

Symbolism 28.2% 14.4% 6.0% 1.1% 4.3%

Emotion 14.2% 14.7% 1.1% 0.9% 1.9%

Activity 13.4% 5.4% 6.5% 2.4% 5.2%

Memories 7.8% 8.6% 7.3% 3.4% 6.6%

Naturalness 17.9% 6.5% 3.9% 0.6% 3.9%

At the end, to articulate aspects of historical Persian garden that could affect people’s

presence, respondents were asked to rank the importance of the following features for people

presence. Features include: garden’s organization, accessibility, familiarity, activity, naturalness,

emotion and memory of respondents about gardens, garden’s representativeness and symbolisms.

Findings indicate that all features ranged as essential one with different frequency (See Table 1).

Garden’s organizations as well as representativeness are considered as most important features that

could affect people presence for almost 37.9% of respondents. Symbolism identified as second


most important feature that affect 28% of people who visit these gardens. Most of respondents

mentioned that people visit this garden because these gardens are historic. Accessibility and

familiarity achieved a same value (27.2%) for people presence in gardens. Emotional and physical

(activity) aspects of gardens follow in decreasing frequency, accounting around ¼ of the answers.

Respondent’s garden related memories identified as the last factor that could affect people

presence in gardens (7.8%).

5. Discussions and Recommendations The information emerged from the survey indicates that historical Persian gardens fulfils

important residents’ needs in urban context. Obtained results are according to previous researches

regarding people’s need to experience nature (Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989). People visit gardens

primarily because they want to relax. Recreation is as an important need fulfilled in Persian

gardens (49.6%). Residents considered gardens as recreational area which is mentioned in

Chiesura (2004) research and important factors to make the city livable, pleasant and attractive for

its citizens and this is why ¼ of respondents carry out social activities like being with others and

family picnic in these gardens. Social activities that happened in these gardens signify Coley et al

(1997) results that nature can encourage the use of outdoor spaces and increase social integration

and interaction among neighbors which lead to trust, mutual understanding, shared values and

supportive behavior (Loures et al., 2007). Therefore from the social point of view, historical

Persian gardens considered by residents as urban nature and daily outdoor recreation opportunities

are the main factors that Eronene et al (1997) believed could enhance every day well-being.

Furthermore, findings show that the experience of nature in the city is a source of a large array

of positive feelings to people. Calm and tranquility is the most important feeling that residents

experience in historical Persian gardens. Besides, feeling happiness, comfortable, safety, freedom

and even healthier were frequently mentioned by respondents. Results confirmed psychological

health effects of nature on positive moods like pleasure which were indicated by Ulrich (1982) as

well as reduction of negative effects like anger and anxiety (Rohde and Kendle, 1994) which evoke

calmness and tranquility and provide restorative environments that can help strengthen the

activities of the right hemisphere of the brain and restore harmony to functions on the brain as a

whole (Furnas, 1979). In other words, people who have access to nearby natural settings were


291

found to be healthier overall than other individuals (Kaplan, 1989). And, all these emotional and

psychological benefits contribute critically to the quality of human life, which in turn is a key

component of sustainable development (Chiesura, 2004). This is why respondents ranged the

importance of visiting gardens for emotional and physical disease as important and even as

essential factors. Most of the respondents believed that during and after gardens’ visitation,

depression and tiredness decreased and even sadness and physical disease could be lessened.

6. Conclusion In the context of this study, the role of historical Persian gardens as provider of social services

and their importance for city sustainability has been addressed. Some results have been presented

of a survey aimed at exploring the motives and perceptions of visitors of two well-known samples

of historical Persian gardens. Some conclusive remarks can be made.

First of all, historical Persian gardens as natural urban area fulfill many social functions and

psychological needs of citizens, which make these gardens a valuable municipal resource, and a

key ingredient for city sustainability.

Secondly, attributes of the physical environment interact with various human characteristics,

such as socio demographics and people’s perceptions of the environment could affect physical

activities and this in turn influences health outcomes. So, links among environmental attributes,

physical activity, body weight, and health can result in environmental compatibility and sense of

attachment to a place which result on the quality of life and well-being.

Therefore, valuation of the various amenities, social and psychological services of urban areas

should be integrated into project assessments’ procedure and be properly accounted for in policy

decisions and urban planning strategies as well as user’s satisfactions, needs and their

representation and participation in all aspects of urban life which are critical components in a

sustainable city.


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Raheleh Rostami received her MSc in Architecture in 2006 from Islamic Azad University of Kerman. Currently she is a PhD Candidate in Landscape Architecture in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Her current research interests are landscape design and its history and philosophy, people's perceptions and behaviors with regard to urban landscapes and integration of public perceptions and values in planning and management of urban open spaces.

Dr.Hasanuddin Lamit received his PhD in Architecture from Sheffield University, United Kingdom. Currently, he is an Associated Professor in the Faculty of Built Environment Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. His current research interests are urban design and history / philosophy of landscape architecture.

Seyed Meysam Khoshnava is currently a master student in Construction Management in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. His current research interests are Green and Sustainability, and application of softwares such as BIM, Autodesk Ecotech, and Auto desk Green Studio.

*Corresponding author (K.Kramer). Tel: +66-5394-2806. Fax: +66-5322-1448. E-mail address: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/295-317.pdf

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Social Responsibility in Architectural Education Kimberly Kramera*

a Faculty of Architecture, Chiang Mai University, THAILAND

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T RA C T

Article history: Received April 02, 2012 Received in revised form July 10, 2012 Accepted July 26, 2012 Available online July 28, 2012 Keywords: Education in built environment; Human and social factors.

As designers of the built environment, architects have a tremendous opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of the ‘bottom billion’. However, in order to be effective agents of change, these designers must understand and appreciate the concept of social responsibility in architecture, and learn to implement it in their own work. This study seeks to determine the current state of social responsibility training in architectural education by examining the curriculum requirements set by a number of national architectural education accrediting boards to determine whether they include training in the precepts of social responsibility in design. Because these curriculum requirements largely determine the topics and concepts that students will be exposed to in the course of their architectural education, improving this aspect of architectural education is an important step toward maximizing the profession’s contribution to the global effort to improve the lives of the ‘bottom billion’.


1. Introduction ‘Architectural education should have two basic purposes: to produce competent, creative,

critically minded and ethical professional designers/builders; and to produce good world


296 Boonsap Witchayangkoon, and Paulo C.L. Segantine

citizens who are intellectually mature, ecologically sensitive and socially responsible.’

-International Union of Architects (UIA, 2008)

As designers of the built environment, architects have a tremendous opportunity to make a

positive impact on the lives of the ‘bottom billion’. However, in order to be effective agents of

change, these designers must understand and appreciate the concept of social responsibility in

architecture, and learn to implement it in their own work. Including this subject in the standard

architecture curriculum is an important step toward this goal. This study seeks to determine the

current state of social responsibility training in architectural education.

Social responsibility in architecture may be defined in a number of ways. According to Paul

Goldberger, an architecture critic for The New Yorker, ‘Social responsibility in architecture is, at

least in part, a matter of believing, passionately and absolutely, in the potential of architecture to

improve the quality of life.’ (Goldberger, 2002) This study will focus on four particular aspects of

socially responsible architectural practice.

Sustainability: A considerable amount of attention has been focused recently on sustainable

and environmentally responsible design. This is an important aspect of social responsibility in

architecture, and while substantial progress has been made in this area, there is still significant

room for improvement.

Responsibility to consider the needs of communities and the wider public: Architects have a

responsibility to consider the needs of local communities and the wider public as project

stakeholders and to reconcile the needs of these groups with those of a project’s client, owner and

user groups. By understanding and embracing this responsibility, architects have the opportunity,

within their professional roles, to become community advocates and agents of positive social

change.

Ethics: Architects have a duty to understand the ethical implications of their design decisions

in regard to social, political, environmental and cultural issues. Understanding these implications

empowers architects to make responsible decisions.

Civic engagement through public service: Although architects have a unique and useful skill


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set that enables them to serve as important contributors and leaders within society, civic

engagement and public service in architecture is still significantly underdeveloped. By

integrating civic engagement and public service into the practice of architecture, architects can

apply their professional skills to the benefit of society.

While these issues certainly overlap in some respects, they also represent four distinct aspects

of the socially responsible practice of architecture. These four aspects describe significant ways

in which architects help to improve society’s quality of life through responsible practice and

educating future architects in these aspects of social responsibility will significantly affect the

profession’s ability to take up the moral challenge of addressing the needs of the ‘bottom billion’.

2. Approach The curriculum requirements set by architectural education accrediting boards around the

world largely determine the topics and concepts that students will be exposed to in the course of

their architectural education. This study examines the curriculum requirements set by a number of

national architectural education accrediting boards to determine whether they include training in

the precepts of social responsibility in design. The countries included in this study are those for

which English-language accreditation criteria documentation is readily available.

3. Results For each country, the relevant accrediting authority and specific accreditation criteria are

identified and examined below. The results are summarized in Table 10, at the end of the section.

3.1 Australia The accreditation of architectural academic programmes in Australia is jointly conducted by

the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia (AACA) and the Royal Australian Institute of

Architects (RAIA). (AACA and RAIA, 2006) According to the Australian Architecture Program

Accreditation and Recognition Procedure, published jointly by these organizations, ‘Review of

programs is undertaken with close reference to both the Architects Accreditation Council of

Australia National Competency Standards in Architecture (NCSA 01) and The Royal Australian


Institute of Architects Education Policy. Extracts from these documents jointly form the

Accreditation and Recognition Criteria.’ (AACA and RAIA, 2006)

The Accreditation and Recognition Criteria are organized into a list of numbered

‘Performance Criteria.’ Table 1 lists the Performance Criteria relevant to social responsibility in

architecture.

Table 1: Australia: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation, Extracted

from the AACA National Competency Standards (AACA and RAIA, 2006). Performance

Criteria # Text of Performance Criteria

06 The concept is informed by an understanding of the history of architectural thought and traditions of buildings and construction and by relevant current social and environmental concerns

11 The impact of the design concept upon the environment and the community is assessed and heeded

13 Respect for the natural environment and awareness of the issues of sustainability are demonstrated in the conceptual design

21 The interests of building users, the community and other relevant groups are investigated and reconciled with the project brief

22 Human, social, environmental and contextual issues are researched and addressed

54 Interests of building users, the community and other relevant groups are reconfirmed

86 Cultural factors relating to the project are researched and their influence and implications reported

87 Community participation processes are understood and recommendations made

88 Relevant environmental issues relating to the site and its location are identified and reported

145 An understanding of professional ethics as they apply to the practice of architecture is demonstrated and ethical practice observed.

An additional section of the Accreditation and Recognition Criteria includes Performance

Criteria extracted from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ Education Policy. Table 2

lists the Performance Criteria relevant to social responsibility.

Together, the Performance Criteria outlined in Tables 1 and 2 constitute the required training

for Australian architecture students in the precepts of social responsibility in design. These

criteria require students to develop a significant awareness and understanding of the environmental

impacts of their designs. They also require a high level of awareness and understanding of


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community interests, needs and participation processes, encouraging students to consider the larger

social impact of their designs and their responsibility as designers to acknowledge, assess and

address these issues and impacts. The criteria glance on the topic of professional ethics, but stop

short of encouraging students to understand and embrace the opportunity for civic engagement and

public service in architecture.

Table 2: Australia: Additional Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation,

Extracted from RAIA Education Policy (AACA and RAIA, 2006). Performance


2.3.i Ability to inform action through knowledge of natural systems and built environments

2.3.ii An understanding of issues of ecological sustainability and design for reduction of energy use and environmental impact

2.3.iv An understanding of passive systems for thermal comfort, lighting and acoustics and their relationship to active systems

2.4.1 An ability to inform action through knowledge of society, clients and users

2.4.iii An understanding of the social context in which built environments are procured and responsibilities to clients, the public and users

Table 3: Britain: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation

(RIBA, 2010). Criteria # Text of Criteria

GC5 The graduate will have an understanding of the relationship between people and buildings, and between buildings and their environment, and the need to relate buildings and the spaces between them to human needs and scale

GC5.2 The graduate will have an understanding of the impact of buildings on the environment, and the precepts of sustainable design

GC5.3 The graduate will have an understanding of the way in which buildings fit into their local context

GC6 The graduate will have an understanding of the profession of architecture and the role of the architect in society, in particular in preparing briefs that take account of social factors

GC6.1 The graduate will have an understanding of the nature of professionalism and the duties and responsibilities of architects to clients, building users, constructors, co-professionals and the wider society

GC6.3 The graduate will have an understanding of the potential impact of building projects on existing and proposed communities


3.2 Britain The accreditation requirements for British architectural education programmes are published

as the Criteria for Validation by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). (RIBA, 2010)

Table 3 lists the Criteria relevant to social responsibility.

The RIBA accreditation criteria require students to understand the impacts of their projects on

the environment and communities as well as their duties and responsibilities as architects, not just

to traditional project stakeholders but to the wider society. However, like the Australian criteria,

the RIBA criteria stop short of encouraging students to understand and embrace the opportunity for

civic engagement and public service in architecture. While an understanding of the ethical

implications of design decisions is not required in the educational portion of the validation criteria,

it is discussed in the RIBA Professional Criteria required to sit the Professional Practice

Examination in Architecture.

3.3 Canada The Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB) assumes accreditation responsibility

for University Schools of Architecture in Canada that offer a professional degree in architecture.

(CACB, 2011) The accreditation criteria are published as the CACB Conditions and Procedures

for Accreditation. (CACB, 2005) For the purposes of accreditation, graduating students must

demonstrate awareness, understanding, or ability in a number of ‘Performance Criteria.’ Table 4

lists the Performance Criteria relevant to social responsibility in architecture.

Table 4: Canada: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation (CACB, 2005).

Performance Criteria # Text of Performance Criteria

13 Environmental Conservation: Understanding of the basic principles of ecology and architects' responsibilities with respect to environmental and resource conservation in architecture and urban design

37 Ethics and Professional Judgment: Awareness of the ethical issues involved in the formation of professional judgments in architecture design and practice

When conducting accreditation reviews, the CACB also requires educational institutions to

address the perspectives of each of its constituencies. This includes public members, addressed

by the ‘Architecture Education and Society’ requirement:


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‘The programme must demonstrate that it not only equips students with an informed

understanding of social and environmental problems but that it also develops their capacity to

help address these problems with sound architecture and urban design decisions. Given its

particular mission, the APR [Architecture Program Report] may cover such issues as: how

students gain an informed understanding of architecture as a social art, including the complex

processes carried out by the multiple stakeholders who shape built environments; the

emphasis given to generating the knowledge that can mitigate social and environmental

problems; how students gain an understanding of the ethical implications of built environment

decisions; and how a climate of civic engagement is nurtured, including a commitment to

professional and public service.’ (CACB, 2005).

The CACB accreditation criteria require students to develop an understanding of

environmental responsibility in design, as well as an awareness of the ethical issues involved in

design and practice decisions. The Canadian criteria take a strong stance in demanding a focus on

civic engagement opportunities and responsibilities for architects. Though implied, architects’

responsibility to consider the needs of the communities and the wider public is not specifically

addressed.

3.4 Hong Kong Because of its size, Hong Kong takes a different approach to architectural education

accreditation than most other countries. Rather than create a standard national set of criteria for

accreditation, the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA), which is responsible for accrediting

schools of architecture within Hong Kong, has simply made a list of schools whose architecture

programs are accredited. Within Hong Kong, this includes the Master of Architecture program at

The University of Hong Kong, and the Master of Architecture program at The Chinese University

of Hong Kong. (HKIA, n.d.) The list also specifies overseas accreditation schemes which are

recognised as equivalent by the HKIA: the U.S. National Architectural Accrediting Board

(NAAB), the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA), the Architects Accreditation

Council of Australia (AACA), and the People’s Republic of China National Board of Architectural

Accreditation (NBAA). (HKIA, n.d.)


A cursory examination of the two domestic masters programs accredited by the HKIA shows

that the University of Hong Kong Master of Architecture programme does not prioritise the topic

of social responsibility within their programme, though they do mention that ‘the design thesis is

an opportunity for students to conduct research in areas that overlap staff research activities,

including architecture’s relationship to the environment, its impact on community, and its potential

to enrich culture’. (UHK, 2011) The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Master of Architecture

programme states that among the studios’ aims for its students in terms of professional competence

is that ‘the framework and outcomes of the studios should reflect the following aspects: awareness

of issues such as sustainability and economy’. However, this is the only mention of topics related

to social responsibility in architecture. (CUHK, 2011; CUHK, 2010)

3.5 India In India, the Council of Architecture (COA) prescribes the standards of architectural education

required for granting recognized qualifications. These standards are published as the Council of

Architecture – Minimum Standards of Architectural Education, which supplement the 1983 COA

Regulations. (COA, 2008) The Minimum Standards of Education were revised in 2008 to update

the original 1983 document, which had no requirements for social responsibility education in

architecture curricula. (COA, 2002) Within the Minimum Standards, the curriculum requirements

are organized into ‘Subjects for Examination’ in two stages. Table 5 lists the Subjects for

Examination relevant to social responsibility.

Table 5: India: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation (COA, 2008). Subj. for

Examination Text of Subject for Examination

Stage 1 # 12

Understanding of Climate and its impact on architectural design, fundamentals of climatology and environmental studies

Stage 1 # 18 Group subjects of specialisation: B. Eco Architecture

Stage 2 # xv

Sustainability- Principles and methods, Energy conscious design ecological balance conservation of natural resources, Solar passive architecture, Re-cycling

Stage 2 # xvi

Use of energy in buildings, Conserving energy, Solar passive and solar active systems, wind energy, Biomass energy, Re-cycling

Stage 2 # xx

Environmental factors effecting human habitat such as climate, environmental pollutions, environmental degradation, green cover etc. at the micro and macro scales


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The document also outlines a course of study for an Eco Architecture specialisation track at

Stage 2. While it is heartening to see the COA criteria updated to include the subject of

environmental responsibility in the standard architecture curriculum (this was lacking in the 1983

document), the criteria still do not mention civic engagement and public service in architecture, or

the architect’s responsibility to consider the needs of communities and the wider public in addition

to the traditional project stakeholders.

3.6 Korea The Korea Architectural Accrediting Board (KAAB) is responsible for accrediting

architectural education programs within the Republic of Korea. The criteria for accreditation are

published as the KAAB Conditions & Procedures for Professional Degree Programs in

Architecture. (KAAB, 2005) The KAAB accreditation conditions require each architectural

programme to demonstrate how it addresses a number of different perspectives. Table 6 lists

those relevant to social responsibility in architecture.

Table 6: Korea: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation (KAAB, 2005).

Perspective Relevant conditions (for each condition, the following issues must be addressed)

Registration (2.1.3) Delivering issues of responsibility for the society and ethics

Profession (2.1.4)

Issues in reconciling the conflicts between architects’ obligation to their clients, the society, and private enterprise.

Society (2.1.5)

The program must promote student understanding in various social, environmental challenges and foster skills dealing with these issues through proper architectural and urban design resolution

Society (2.1.5) Importance of ethical implications of built environment determinations

Society (2.1.5)

Issues in promoting civic engagement through commitment to professional and public service

Additional KAAB accreditation requirements are listed in the Conditions & Procedures as

‘Student Performance Criteria’. Table 7 lists the Performance Criteria relevant to social

responsibility.


Table 7: Korea: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation (KAAB, 2005).

Performance Criteria # Text of Performance Criteria

(2.2.2) 14 Understanding of principles and theories of sustainability in designing and making of architecture and urban design decisions

(2.2.3) 17 Ability of comprehensive architectural design based on collective pieces of information on natural, environmental factors and limitations with consideration for sustainability

(2.2.5) 41 Understanding of ethical issues and responsibility as an architectural professional serving client in the context of society as a whole

The KAAB Conditions & Procedures document begins with the same excerpt from the

UNESCO/UIA Charter for Architectural Education which is quoted at the beginning of this study:

‘Architectural education has two basic purposes: To produce competent, creative, critically minded

and ethical professionals and designers/builders; to produce good world citizens who are

intellectually mature, ecologically sensitive and socially responsible.’ (KAAB, 2005) This is a

strong statement of commitment to social responsibility in architectural education but it is an

appropriate one for the KAAB accreditation criteria, which take a serious stance on the issue of

social responsibility in architectural education. The KAAB criteria require students to understand

and address the issues of sustainability, ethical implications of design decisions, the architect’s

responsibility to society as a whole, and civic engagement through professional and public service.

3.7 Malaysia Architectural education accreditation in Malaysia is managed by the Board of Architects

Malaysia/Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia (LAM). The Malaysian criteria for accreditation, published

in the Policy and Procedure for Accreditation of Architectural Programmes, are adopted from the

2003 British Criteria for Validation jointly approved by the Royal Institute of British Architects

(RIBA) and the Architects Registration Board (ARB). (LAM, 2005 [Appendix A]; RIBA, 2003)

The criteria specify that all graduates must ‘have knowledge and ability in architectural design

including ecological balance,’ and that they ‘comprehend thoroughly the architects’ roles and

responsibilities in society.’ (LAM, 2005) The LAM accreditation requirements are further

clarified in Appendix A, organized as a list of learning outcomes. Table 8 lists the learning

outcomes relevant to social responsibility.


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Table 8: Malaysia: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation (LAM, 2005, [Appendix A]).

Learning Outcome # Text of Learning Outcome

Part I - 2.1 Knowledge of the principles of building technologies, environmental design and construction methods, in relation to: human well-being; the welfare of future generations; the natural world; consideration of a sustainable environment

Part I - 3.1 An awareness of the influences on the contemporary built environment of individual buildings, the design of cities, past and present societies and wider global issues

Part II – 1.1 Knowledge of the social, political, economic and professional context that guides building construction

Part II – 1.2 An understanding of briefs and how to critically appraise them to ensure that the design response is appropriate to site and context, and for reasons such as sustainability and budget

Part II – 2.2 Knowledge of climatic design and the relationship between climate, built form, construction, life style, energy consumption and human well-being

Part II – 2.3 Understanding of building technologies, environmental design and construction methods in relation to: human well-being; the welfare of future generations; the natural world; consideration of a sustainable environment

Part II – 3.1 Understanding of the influence on the contemporary built environment of individual buildings, the design of cities, past and present societies and wider global issues

Part II – 3.3 Understanding of the inter-relationship between people, buildings and the environment and an understanding of the need to relate buildings and the spaces between them to human needs and scale

The LAM accreditation criteria require students to develop an understanding and knowledge

of sustainability but the other aspects of social responsibility in design are not addressed by these

criteria.

3.8 New Zealand New Zealand uses the Australian National Competency Standards in Architecture under

license. (McRae, 2011) Please refer to the ‘Australia’ section above for details of accreditation

criteria.

3.9 Pakistan The Pakistan Council of Architects & Town Planners’ (PCATP) accreditation criteria, as

published in the Accreditation Guide provide only very general, loose guidance in terms of

expected educational outcomes. (PCATP, 2008) According to Arif Balgaumi, principal architect


at a Pakistani architecture firm and honorary treasurer of the Institute of Architects Pakistan, this is

because:

‘After remaining in the doldrums for many years, the profession of architecture in Pakistan is

showing signs of staging a revival. Unfortunately, decades of neglect and apathy have meant

that there has been no significant growth in the quality or capacity of architectural education in

Pakistan. The need to establish new institutions of architectural education and to improve the

quality of the existing ones has put tremendous pressure on the regulating agencies... to

develop and enforce criteria that are realistic and yet provide the impetus to improve the

quality of architectural education in the county.’ (Belgaumi, 2008)

The only element of the PCATP Accreditation Guide which touches on social responsibility is

the following general guideline for External Interaction: ‘The institution should provide the

environment, which fosters the personality of the students and provide them opportunities through

co-curricular and extracurricular activities and student services. These opportunities are to enable

the students to become responsible members of the society and should be readily accessible to the

students.’ (PCATP, 2008)

3.10 Singapore Singapore’s approach to architectural education accreditation is similar to that taken by Hong

Kong. Rather than create a full set of accreditation criteria, the Board of Architects (BOA) has

identified two local programmes recognised by BOA for the purpose of registration. These

programmes are the Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture programmes at the

National University of Singapore. The Board has also identified a list of overseas programmes in

architecture with accredited courses recognised for the purposes of professional registration in

Singapore. (BOA, 2010)

A cursory review of the curriculums of the two accredited domestic programmes shows that in

the Bachelor of Architecture programme, all students are required to take courses in Climatic

Responsive Architecture and Strategies for Sustainable Architecture. The programme also offers

students the choice pursuing a concurrent degree program in Design Technology and

Sustainability. (NUS, 2008) The Master of Architecture Programme Information does not specify

any particular curriculum requirements related to social responsibility in design. (NUS, n.d.)


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3.11 South Africa South Africa’s architectural education programmes are validated by The South African

Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP), according to their Guidelines for the Validation

of Courses in Architecture. Rather than provide a specific list of learning outcomes and criteria

required for validation, this document references the general criteria for higher education quality

assurance in South Africa (as outlined by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC)) and

provides guidelines based on international architectural accreditation standards:

‘In an international context criteria for validation should at least take account of the UIA/UNESCO Charter for Architectural Education, June 1996. For credibility in the international sphere within which architects from the Republic of South Africa operate (mainly Africa, the Middle East and Europe), broad conformity should also be sought with the RIBA Procedures, Criteria and Policies for the International Validation of Courses, Programs and Examinations in Architecture (February 2001) and the CAA Procedures and Criteria, Qualifications in Architecture Recommended for Recognition by CAA.’ (SACAP, 2007) The referenced validation criteria cover a range of approaches to social responsibility training

in architectural education. RIBA validation criteria are examined in the ‘Britain’ section above.

Information about CAA and UIA criteria is presented in the ‘Future Directions – International

Collaboration’ section below.

3.12 United States In the United States, the architectural education accreditation process is administered by the

National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). (NAAB, 2009) The 2009 NAAB Conditions

for Accreditation require that:

‘students enrolled in the accredited degree program are prepared: to be active, engaged

citizens; to be responsive to the needs of a changing world; to acquire the knowledge needed to

address pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges through design, conservation

and responsible professional practice; to understand the ethical implications of their decisions;

to reconcile differences between the architect’s obligation to his/her client and the public; and

to nurture a climate of civic engagement, including a commitment to professional and public

service and leadership’ (NAAB, 2009)


Additional NAAB accreditation requirements are published in the Conditions for

Accreditation as Student Performance Criteria. Table 9 lists the Performance Criteria relevant to

social responsibility in design.

Table 9: United States: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation

(NAAB, 2009). Performance


C

Leadership and Practice: Architects need to manage, advocate, and act legally, ethically and critically for the good of the client, society and the public. Student learning aspirations include: Knowing societal and professional responsibilities; Integrating community service into the practice of architecture

C.2 Human Behavior: Understanding of the relationship between human behavior, the natural environment and the design of the built environment.

C.3 Client Role in Architecture: Understanding of the responsibility of the architect to elicit, understand, and reconcile the needs of the client, owner, user groups, and the public and community domains

C.6 Leadership: Understanding of the techniques and skills architects use to work collaboratively in the building design and construction process and on environmental, social, and aesthetic issues in their communities

C.7

Legal Responsibilities: Understanding of the architect’s responsibility to the public and the client as determined by registration law, building codes and regulations, professional service contracts, zoning and subdivision ordinances, environmental regulation, and historic preservation and accessibility laws

C.8 Ethics and Professional Judgment: Understanding of the ethical issues involved in the formation of professional judgment regarding social, political and cultural issues in architectural design and practice

C.9 Community and Social Responsibility: Understanding of the architect’s responsibility to work in the public interest, to respect historic resources, and to improve the quality of life for local and global neighbors

In preparation for the 2009 update of the Conditions for Accreditation, NAAB convened an

International/Global Task Group which created a prioritized list of issues to be considered in

developing the 2009 Conditions. This task group identified ‘social responsibility’ as the number

one priority. (NAAB, 2008) This focus on the importance of introducing issues of social

responsibility in architectural education is apparent in the final Conditions document. While the

2004 NAAB Conditions already showed a strong commitment to issues of social responsibility in

architectural education (NAAB, 2004), the 2009 document goes even further. The 2009 NAAB

accreditation criteria require that students learn to understand and address the issues of

environmental responsibility in design, architects’ responsibilities to communities and the wider


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public, and the ethical implications of design decisions, and that accredited educational institutions

nurture a climate of civic engagement, including a commitment to professional and public service

and leadership.

3.13 Summary Table 10 presents a summary of the country-specific accreditation information presented

above.

Table 10: Environmental and Social Responsibility Education Requirements

for Accreditation, by Country

Country Accreditation Organization Sustainability

Responsibility to Community/ Wider Public

Ethics Civic Engagement/ Public Service

Australia AACA/RAIA ---

Britain RIBA --- ---

Canada CACB ---

Hong Kong* HKIA

India COA --- --- ---

Korea KAAB

Malaysia LAM --- --- ---

New Zealand NZIA ---

Pakistan PCATP --- --- --- ---

Singapore* BOA

South Africa* SACAP

United States NAAB

* Because Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa do not use a published set of defined accreditation criteria, their requirements are not evaluated in this matrix

4. Conclusion The examination of individual country accreditation criteria shows that most countries (8 of

the 9 examined in the matrix above) have now embraced environmental responsibility as a required

element of architectural education. This is an important issue for all of the world’s inhabitants,


but may be particularly important for the ‘bottom billions’, who are likely to be disproportionately

affected by climate change, resource shortages, and other environmental problems. Adoption of

strict standards of environmental responsibility in design is a significant way for the architecture

profession to address the current and future challenges faced by the ‘bottom billion’, and it is

heartening to see that this aspect of social responsibility is being almost universally acknowledged

and embraced.

Requirements to teach architecture students about their responsibility to consider the needs of

communities and the wider public in design decisions and the ethical implications of design

decisions have not been as widely implemented (requirements for each of these aspects of socially

responsible design have been adopted by only 5 of the 9 countries examined in the matrix above).

However, these aspects of social responsibility in design will also be very important as the

profession moves forward to address the needs of the ‘bottom billion’. By understanding and

embracing their responsibility to community and public stakeholders, architects become

community advocates and agents of positive social change. By understanding the ethical

implications of their decisions in regard to social, political, environmental and cultural issues,

architects become empowered to make responsible, well-reasoned design and professional

decisions. Both of these aspects of well-informed social responsibility will be critical as the

profession moves forward to address the challenges faced by the ‘bottom billion’.

Requirements to teach students about the importance of civic engagement and public service

in architectural practice are lagging even further behind, with adoption by only about 30% of the

countries examined in the matrix above (3 of the 9). This is particularly disheartening as this is

perhaps the most crucial aspect in the effort to get a new generation of architects involved in the

global struggle to address the needs and challenges of the ‘bottom billion’. Architectural

education gives its graduates a unique and useful skill set which will allow them to be leading

contributors to this effort. However, in order to take full advantage of this tremendous potential, a

culture of civic engagement and public service must be created within the academic institutions and

the profession to educate, inspire and empower new generations of leaders.

5. Limitations It is important to note that this is an examination of the accreditation criteria of only those


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countries for which English-language documentation is readily available. Ideally, it would be

expanded to create a more comprehensive picture of the state of social responsibility training in

architectural education.

It is also important to acknowledge that this is an examination of official accreditation criteria

only, and not of the actual content of courses currently being offered within the accredited programs. Individual architecture schools and academic staff may emphasise or de-emphasise aspects of the accreditation criteria within their individual programs, and lack of inclusion of a certain aspect in official accreditation criteria does not necessarily imply that it is not being included as part of the curriculum. However, including these issues as a required part of the standard architecture programme is an important step to formalise the importance of social responsibility within the profession of architecture and to train an active, engaged, well-informed and socially responsible new generation of architects.

6. Future Directions – International Collaboration There is another, concurrent trend which will also have a significant effect on the pace and

effectiveness of these changes in architectural education. International collaboration in architecture has been increasing (NAAB, 2008), and accreditation authorities have been responding by creating a number of international agreements, accords and organizations intended to promote the international mobility of architects and other design professionals.

6.1 Bilateral and multilateral mutual recognition agreements As explained above, the accreditation organizations of some countries such as Singapore and

Hong Kong have established the equivalency of other national architectural education accreditation standards to their own in order to ease international mobility for architecture students and professionals. Other countries have also recognized the value of the inverse approach. Korea’s accrediting board (KAAB) has noted that ‘it is also the interest of the KAAB for KAAB accredited degrees to hold comparable accrediting or validating status for accrediting / validating agencies abroad which promote corresponding values’, and South Africa’s SACAP notes that “for credibility in the international sphere within which architects from the Republic of South Africa operate,’ broad conformity should be sought with RIBA and CAA criteria. (KAAB, 2005; SACAP, 2007)


Many countries have also gone beyond this unilateral approach to join bilateral or multilateral

mutual recognition arrangements, which establish equivalency between national accreditation

criteria for the purpose of professional registration. For example, in 2010 the Hong Kong Institute

of Architects (HKIA) and the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia (AACA) signed an

agreement establishing the mutual recognition of their accreditation systems of architectural

programs. (HKIA, 2011) Many of the countries discussed in this study are also signatories of the

multilateral Canberra Accord, which establishes recognition of substantial equivalency between

accreditation systems in the architectural education of its signatories. (Canberra Accord, 2008)

Such arrangements will likely become even more widespread as international collaboration in

architecture increases. As this process continues, it will be important to ensure that these

agreements serve to maintain or raise the requirements for training in social responsibility, rather

than reducing them to the lowest common denominator.

6.2 Commonwealth Association of Arhitects (CAA) Since 1968, the CAA has published a List of academic architectural programmes that it

considered to be of a sufficient standard to recommend recognition by national authorities. The

List was intended to provide a means of recognition of courses in countries which did not have their

own accreditation system. However, the CAA has identified a growing need for mutual recognition

of qualifications between countries both within and outside the Commonwealth. The future

formal purpose of the List is, therefore, twofold: a) to continue to provide the means of

recommending recognition of a course to a national authority in a country which does not have its

own validation procedure, and b) to provide a list of qualifications which can be recommended for

recognition by all the constituent national authorities. (CAA, 2007)

The CAA procedures and criteria are adapted from and compatible with the aims and

objectives of architectural education set out in the Charter for Architectural Education created by

the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the

International Union of Architects (UIA). (CAA, 2007) (For more information about the

UNESCO/UIA Charter, see ‘UNESCO/UIA’ below.)


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Table 11: UNESCO/UIA: Social Responsibility Education Requirements for Accreditation (UNESCO/UIA, 2005).

General Considerations Text of General Considerations

# 0

That the educators must prepare architects to formulate new solutions for the present and the future as the new era will bring with it grave and complex challenges with respect to social and functional degradation of many human settlements. These challenges may include global urbanisation and the consequent depletion of existing environments, a severe shortage of housing, urban services and social infrastructure, and the increasing exclusion of architects from built environment projects.

# 2

That it is in the public interest to ensure that architects are able to understand regional characteristics and to give practical expression to the needs, expectations and improvement to the quality of life of individuals, social groups, communities and human settlements

# 7

That the vision of the future world, cultivated in architecture schools, should include the following goals : a decent quality of life for all the inhabitants of human settlements; a technological application which respects the social, cultural and aesthetic needs of people and is aware of the appropriate use of materials in architecture and their initial and future maintenance costs; an ecologically balanced and sustainable development of the built and natural environment including the rational utilisation of available resources; an architecture which is valued as the property and responsibility of everyone

Objectives of Arch. Education Text of Objectives of Architectural Education

# 4

That the following special points be considered in the development of the curriculum: Awareness of responsibilities toward human, social, cultural, urban, architectural, and environmental values, as well as architectural heritage; Adequate knowledge of the means of achieving ecologically sustainable design and environmental conservation and rehabilitation; Development of a creative competence in building techniques, founded on a comprehensive understanding of the disciplines and construction methods related to architecture; Adequate knowledge of project financing, project management, cost control and methods of project delivery; Training in research techniques as an inherent part of architectural learning, for both students and teachers

# 5.B2 Social Studies: Ability to act with knowledge of society, and to work with clients and users that represent society’s needs

# 5.B3

Environmental Studies: Ability to act with knowledge of natural systems and built environments; Understanding of conservation and waste management issues; Understanding of the life cycle of materials, issues of ecological sustainability, environmental impact, design for reduced use of energy, as well as passive systems and their management; Awareness of the history and practice of landscape architecture, urban design, as well as territorial and national planning and their relationship to local and global demography and resources; Awareness of the management of natural systems taking into account natural disaster risks


6.3 UNESCO/UIA The UNESCO/UIA Charter for Architectural Education is the international benchmark for

architectural education accreditation, referenced in most international accreditation agreements

and accords, as well as some national accreditation criteria. As the standard for architectural

education within the international community the Charter is an important medium for advocating

social responsibility in architectural education around the world.

The 2005 UNESCO/UIA Charter for Architectural Education opens with some stirring

language on the subject of social responsibility in architecture:

‘There is no doubt that the architect's capacity to solve problems, can greatly contribute to

tasks such as community development, self-help programmes, educational facilities, etc., and

thus make a significant contribution to the improvement of the quality of life of those who are

not accepted as citizens in their full right and who cannot be counted among the architect's

usual clients...Beyond all aesthetic, technical and financial aspects of the professional

responsibilities, the major concerns, expressed by the Charter, are the social commitment of

the profession, i.e. the awareness of the role and responsibility of the architect in his or her

respective society, as well as the improvement of the quality of life through sustainable human

settlements’. (UNESCO/UIA, 2005)

The Charter also sets forth a number of ‘General Considerations’ and ‘Objectives of

Architectural Education’ which take a similarly strong stance on the role of social responsibility in

the architectural profession. Table 11 lists those most relevant to this discussion of social

responsibility in architectural education.

The UNESCO/UIA Charter sets forth an inspiring vision of the role of architectural education

and the architectural profession in addressing society’s challenges and needs. It provides a

suitably ambitious set of criteria to serve as a benchmark for national and international architectural

education accreditation criteria, and will hopefully serve to guide the profession toward a future in

which all architectural education programmes produce graduates who are inspired and empowered

to take an active and effective role in helping society to meet the challenges ahead.


315

7. References Architects Accreditation Council of Australia (AACA) and The Royal Australian Institute of

Architects (RAIA). (2006). Australian Architecture Program Accreditation and Recognition Procedure (DOC APARP 01). http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms_file?page=649/APARP01_AACARAIA_FINAL_JANUARY_2006.pdf.

Belgaumi, Arif. (2008). Architectural Education in Pakistan – Road to Excellence. http://adapk.com/architectural-education-in-pakistan/index.html.

Board of Architects Singapore (BOA). (2010). Educational Qualification. http://www.boa.gov.sg/education.html.

Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB). (2005). 2005 CACB Conditions and Procedures for Accreditation. http://www.cacb-ccca.ca/documents/2005_CACB_Conditions_and_Procedures_for_Accreditation.pdf.

Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB). (2011). Accreditation. http://www.cacb-ccca.ca/index.cfm?M=1357&Repertoire_No=660386109&Voir=menu.

Canberra Accord on Architectural Education. (2008). Recognition of Substantial Equivalency Between Accreditation/Validation Systems in Architectural Education. http://www.canberraaccord.org/Public_Documents/streamfile.aspx?name=Approved_and_signed_Canberra_Accord.pdf.

Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). (2010). MArch Study Scheme. CUHK School of Architecture. http://www.arch.cuhk.edu.hk/programme/MAProgramInformation.pdf.

Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). (2011). MArch Design Studios Overview. CUHK School of Architecture. http://www.arch.cuhk.edu.hk/index-MArchstudio.html.

Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA). (2007). Qualifications in Architecture Recommended for Recognition by CAA: Procedures and Criteria. Stamford, UK: Commonwealth Association of Architects. http://www.comarchitect.org/pdfs/VALGreenBkProcedures.pdf.

Council of Architecture (COA). (2002). Minimum Standards of Architectural Education Regulations, 1983. New Delhi: Council of Architecture. http://www.coa.gov.in/acts/regulation1983.htm.

Council of Architecture (COA). (2008). Minimum Standards of Architectural Education, 2008. New Delhi: Council of Architecture. http://www.coa.gov.in/Rev.%20Min.%20Std.pdf.

Goldberger, Paul. (2002). ‘Does Architecture Matter? Thoughts on Social Responsibility,


Buildings, and the World After September 11th'. Speech delivered at Baltimore AIA, Baltimore, MD on October 8, 2002. http://www.paulgoldberger.com/lectures/14.

Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA). (2011). HKIA Circular 16/2011. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Architects. http://www.hkia.net/UserFiles/Image/EDAC/MR_Accreditation_Systems_Arch_Programmes_AACA.pdf.

Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA). (No date available [n.d.]). HKIA Accredited/Recognised School Lists. www.hkia.net/en/doc/PA/School_Lists.doc.

International Union of Architects (UIA). (2008). UIA and Architectural Education Reflections and Recommendations. Paris: International Union of Architects. http://www.aij.or.jp/jpn/aijedu/reflex_eng.pdf.

Korea Architectural Accrediting Board (KAAB). (2005). Conditions & Procedures For Professional Degree Programs in Architecture. Seoul: Korea Architectural Accrediting Board. http://www.kaab.or.kr/download/KAAB-2005%20Conditions.pdf.

Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia (LAM). (2005). Policy and Procedure for Accreditation of Architectural Programmes. http://www.lam.gov.my/accreditation.html.

Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia (LAM). (2005). Policy and Procedure for Accreditation of Architectural Programmes: Appendix A. http://www.lam.gov.my/accreditation3.html.

McRae, Beverley (Chief Executive of the New Zealand Institute of Architects). (2011). Personal communication, 13 June 2011.

National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). (2004). NAAB Conditions for Accreditation. Washington, DC: The National Architectural Accrediting Board. http://www.naab.org/accreditation/2004_Conditions.aspx.

National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). (2008). Report of the International/Global Task Group. http://www.naab.org/documents/streamfile.aspx?name=20080321_International%20Global%20Trends%20Report.pdf&path=Public+Documents%5cAccreditation%5c%5cWinter%202008%20Task%20Group%20Reports.

National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). (2009). 2009 Conditions for Accreditation. Washington, DC: The National Architectural Accrediting Board. http://www.naab.org/accreditation/2009_Conditions.aspx.

National University of Singapore (NUS). (2008). BA (Architecture) Course Information for 2008/9 Cohort Onwards. NUS Department of Architecture. http://www.arch.nus.edu.sg/programme/architecture/ba-arch/aki_handbk_0809.pdf.

National University of Singapore (NUS). (No date available [n.d.]). Master of Architecture – Programme Information. NUS Department of Architecture.


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http://www.arch.nus.edu.sg/programme/architecture/m-arch/master_aki_info.html.

Pakistan Council of Architects & Town Planners (PCATP). (2008). Accreditation Guide. Karachi: Pakistan Council of Architects & Town Planners. http://www.pcatp.org.pk.

Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). (2003). Criteria for Validation. London: Royal Institute of British Architects. http://www.architecture.com/Files/RIBATrust/Education/2007/Validation/CriteriaForValidation.pdf.

Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). (2010). RIBA Validation Criteria at part 1 and part 2. London: Royal Institute of British Architects. http://www.architecture.com/Files/RIBAProfessionalServices/Education/Validation/RIBAValidationCriteriafromSeptember2011Parts1,23.pdf.

South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP). (2007). Guidelines for the Validation of Courses in Architecture. Johannesburg: South African Council for the Architectural Profession. http://www.sacapsa.com/sacap/action/media/downloadFile?media_fileid=100.

UNESCO/UIA Validation Committee for Architectural Education, in collaboration with the UIA Education Commission. (2005). UNESCO/UIA Charter for Architectural Education. Paris: International Union of Architects. http://www.aij.or.jp/jpn/aijedu/chart_ang.pdf.

University of Hong Kong (UHK). (2011). Master of Architecture. UHK Faculty of Architecture. http://fac.arch.hku.hk/index.asp.

Kimberly Kramer is a Foreign Lecturer at Chiang Mai University, Thailand. She holds a BA in Architecture and International Relations from Wellesley College, an M.Phil in Environmental Design from Cambridge University, and an M.Arch from the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on vernacular architecture and social responsibility in architecture.




Call-for-Papers:





*Corresponding author (Ali H. Al Jameel). E-mail address: [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3.

ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/319-334.pdf

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Investing the Concept of Courtyard for Sustainable Adaptable Multifamily Housing Ali H. Al Jameel a* and Omar A. Al Hafith a

aDepartment of Architectural Engineering Faculty of Engineering, Mosul University, IRAQ A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T RA C T

Article history: Received April 01, 2012 Received in revised form July 02, 2012 Accepted July 25, 2012 Available online July 30, 2012 Keywords Affordable Housing; Sustainable Housing Adaptability; Courtyard Housing.

Housing is one of the most important basic needs for the community. Many countries suffer from housing problems and take a number of procedures to solve it. This paper approaches one of the strategies used in many countries to provide housing which is Affordable Housing, presents the relations between affordable and sustainable housing and proposes the adaptable multifamily courtyard house as an approach to achieve a sustainable affordable housing. Method: A three items framework for adaptability is introduced, an example of adaptable courtyard multifamily housing is prepared and a comparison is made between the courtyard and the non-courtyard housing. Results: Support the argument of the possibility of investing the concept of multifamily courtyard house to achieve a sustainable adaptable housing with private courtyards for each dwelling which will lead, supposedly, to sustainable affordable housing. Conclusions: This study gives indicators for architects on designing a sustainable affordable multifamily housing.



320 Ali H. Al Jameel and Omar A. Al Hafith

1. Introduction Affordable Housing is one of the concepts that are used around the world to solve the housing

problems and to ensure that housing is available to all of the people including the low-income

people. The emergence of affordable housing belongs to the twentieth century and after the World

War II and the main objective was to provide low-cost housing for low-income people.

Affordable housing can be defined as the house which provides safety, acceptability, within

the applicable standards of housing and is designed, built to be available, accessible and convenient

for all people including low-income people. In general it does not require the tenant or owner to

spend more than 30% of their income on housing (Sidawi B. , 2008, p. 68), (Qeensland government

- Department of housing, 2004, p. 2).

1.1 The Importance of Affordable Housing The importance of affordable housing is divided into several types of positive impacts, they

are: economic impacts, educational impacts, healthy impacts and social impacts. Economic

impacts include the costs and benefits can that may be measured by observing the production,

business and the movement of funds that result from the housing projects. The social Impacts

include the positive impacts of affordable housing on education, social life, health and other

aspects that can't be easily measured in terms economic profit (Lubell, Crain, & Cohen, 2007, p. 2).

1.2 Strategies for Achieving Affordable Housing There are six strategies for achieving the affordable housing, they are:

• Using standards and determinants in designing and building housing units (Qeensland

government - Department of housing, 2004, p. 3).

• Increasing the density (Poulsen & Silverman, 2005, pp. 5-10).

• Flexibility (Rao, 2010, pp. 36-40).

• Standardization (Prince Abdullah Institute for Research, pp. 22-24).

• Eco-Affordable housing – reducing running cost (Lindburg, Howe, Bowyer, &

Fernholz, 2007, pp. 2-4).

• Adaptability (Russel& Moffat, 2001. P2).



321

2. The Multifamily Housing The emergence of multifamily housing belongs to the ancient time from the Roman till the

multifamily housing projects in Europe after the Industrial Revolution and the World War II.

The tendency towards the multifamily housing in Iraq during the last decades of twentieth

century was for different reasons and the most important reasons of them are:

• The increasing needs for dwelling units.

• The great increase in the urban residential land value as a result of the spread use of the single

family house pattern in the urban area, which led to increase value of the residential land,

especially near the centers of cities, services and transportations. This led to the trends of the

efficient use of land to the optimum extent to provide housing for largest possible number of

people and also to provide the best services to the highest residential density by using the

multifamily housing.

• Reduce the cost of services: Multifamily housing reduces the cost of services such as water

supply, electricity, phone and sewage by reducing the length of these supplying networks if

designed properly.

• Multifamily housing reduces the continuous horizontal expansion of the city which result from

single family housing pattern. The result of reducing the horizontal expansion of the city will

lead to reduce cost of infrastructure, transportation and services.

• Multifamily housing facilitates the possibility of building the largest number of dwelling units

and in short time.

• Multifamily housing has more economic efficiency compared to single family housing, which

helps to provide adequate housing for largest number of people.

But there are some criticisms that were directed to the multifamily housing compared to single

family housing, and the most important of these criticisms is that the dwelling units don't have the

ability to accommodate the changing requirements of occupants during the family lifecycle. In

addition to this, there are other criticisms like the problem of providing the privacy and the pattern

of possession of the dwelling units (Mohammed, 1989, pp. 36-40).


3. The Concept of Adaptability The research presents adaptability as a strategy towards an affordable housing, and as an

attempt to solve one of the most important multifamily housing problems. Previous studies defined

adaptability as the building ability to be adapted to accommodate changing in requirements through

simple changes. Adaptability indicates the extent to which the building can be adapted to the

changes during the period of building’s life which is inevitable due to the changes in the

requirements of families over time. The change of the building is inevitable due to the changing in

the requirements of families over time or due to the different requirements of families from each

other. Therefore, the most adaptable building is considered as the most efficient building and

remain for a longer period because it can respond to the changes in requirements (Russel & Moffat,

2001. pp.2-4).

3.1 Adaptability Benefits This paper introduces adaptability due to its significance for housing and sustainability as for

the following issues:

• Adaptability advantages for housing: Adaptability gives the house its ability to accommodate

different requirements of different families which can achieve the concept of Universal

Design; or to cope with changing requirements of the occupants during the family lifecycle.

As a result the family doesn't have to change its residence which associated with many

negative impacts to the family. This paper proposes the adaptability in this point as a strategy

to solve one of the most important problems in the multifamily housing.

• The economic advantages of adaptability: There are several economic advantages from

adaptability as it extends the service life of housing or extends its ability to achieve different

functions. Adaptability provides the possibility of modifying the current house to achieve a

different function or add another function to it according to the occupants' requirements

(Hashemain, 2005, p. 9), (Gu, Xue, & Nee, 2009, pp. 1368-1369).

• The environmental advantages of adaptability: Adaptability provides an adaptable house

which provides many functions and have the ability to be adapted. As a result it has a longer

life which participates in reducing the natural material consumption and the energy

consumption. It improves the operational efficiency and contributes in the protection of the



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environment by reducing the demolition and construction of building and as a result reduces

the damage to the environment (Moshaver, 2009, pp. 4-6).

3.2 Adaptability Design Properties There are six design properties related to the adaptable housing, they are:

3.2.1 Structure Concentration and Structure Modularity Structure Concentration is a design variable which describes the structural system of

buildings. It plays an important role in facilitating buildings adaptability as concentration means

that the supporting points of the structure must be concentrated and reduced as much as possible to

increase building adaptability.

The structural modularity indicates the extent of the similarity or repetition among the

structural units in relation to its dimensions and sizes (Al-Nijaidi R. H., 1985, pp. 50-54).

3.2.2 Zoning the Areas of Special Provisions Zoning is one of design variables of the building plan, which describes the building's parts

according to specific criteria. Zoning in previous studies related with two properties: activities'

requirements in the different parts of the building and properties of building's elements itself.

For most studies, the idea of zoning in housing depends on the zoning of kitchens and

bathrooms which must be clearly separated from other areas in the house because of the activities'

characteristics that are carried out in them, as well as the properties of the services' requirements

that are required in those zones (Lynch, 1956, p. 22).

3.2.3 Independency of Building's Elements The independence of the building's elements is one of the variables that is associated with the

building's adaptability. The buildings are compound of a variety of interrelated elements and these

elements are often of different materials and are therefore of different life period. These elements

that are independent from each other can be changed or modified without affecting the other

elements in the building (Al-Nijaidi, 1985, p. 54).


3.2.4 Other Features Other features related with the housing adaptability are: overcapacity, additive forms and

growth forms, which are proposed by Kevin Lynch (Lynch, 1956).

4. The Courtyard House This paper proposes the courtyard house as a strategy to achieve the sustainable house and

aims to use the courtyard pattern in the adaptable multifamily housing to offer a sustainable

affordable housing.

4.1 Sustainability in the Courtyard House Pattern The severe environmental condition in the hot arid regions has clear effects in the design of

houses which is associated to the use of courtyard in house design. The courtyard provides the

required optimum environmental conditions and at the same time provides the required privacy in

Islamic and Arabic cities.

The courtyard house provides the required exposure to the sun which must be exactly

determined. The courtyard house provides also the required natural ventilation between the inside

and outside. It is associated with the required humidity which provide more comfort for the

occupants.

Figure 1: Courtyard house with wind tower.



325

The courtyard house is also associated with the use of wind tower which take the cold air from

the outside to the inside. In 1989, Givoni made an experiment to prove the efficiency of courtyard

and wind tower to provide comfort conditions in the house depending on a natural tactics. Givoni

designed a wind-tower in a courtyard house in Saudi Arabia (Figure.1), and he proved that it is

possible to cool down the house by 9.9 Co between the outside and the internal rooms, and 6.7 Co

between the outside in the internal courtyard. He also discovered that it is possible to improve the

courtyard and wind tower efficiency when he used a sprinkling water and a fan in the wind tower.

He found that the difference between the outside and the internal rooms could reach to 11.1 Co

cooler and between the outside and the internal courtyard could reach to 13.5 Co cooler (Edwards,

Sibley, Hakmi, & Land, 2005, pp. 221-241)

All of these make the courtyard house consumes less energy and natural resources; and fewer

producers of bad effects on the environment and achieve one of the most important points in

Sustainable Architecture.

5. Adaptable Multifamily Courtyard House This paper aims to show the possibility of making adaptable multifamily courtyard houses. An

example of adaptable multifamily housing has been proposed and a comparison is carried out with

a normal adaptable multifamily housing according to their adaptability to prove the possibility of

making adaptable multifamily courtyard house.

5.1 Two Types of Adaptable Housing This paper introduces two types of adaptable multifamily housing. One of them adopts the

concept of courtyard while the other does not.

5.1.1 NonCourtyard Housing The example in (Figure 2) shows a model of multifamily non-courtyard housing. The building

is a residential building in the (NIS) employing the characteristics of adaptable design.

The building was designed to ensure the provision of many possibilities in the organization of

residential units within the building as the design provides adaptability in the apartments to expand,


minimize or modify the apartment according to the family's requirements (Jovanović, 2007, pp.

33-47).

Figure 2: The plans and drawings of the non–courtyard multifamily housing.

5.1.2 Courtyard Housing The second example is a multifamily housing building adopts the concept of courtyard. The

building provides private court for each apartment in the building. The design provides many

possibilities to make changes in the dwelling units' arrangement within the building. It also

provides the possibilities to expand, minimize or modify the apartments of the building according

to the family's requirement (Figure 3). (Al Hafith, 2010).

Figure 3: The plans and drawings of the courtyard multifamily housing.

Gr.F. Plan

Cross section

1St. F. Plan

2nd. F. Plan



327

6. Measurement of Properties Related Adaptable Design This paper measures three of the design characteristics that affect the building adaptability

which represent the dependent variable.

6.1 Structure Modularity Structure Modularity can be measured by dividing the number of types of compound structure

units to the total number of compound structure units of the building. The minimum amount of

the ratio means that the building is more adaptable (compound unit consist of columns, beams and

ground slab which based on them).

E1 x1/y1 1 ,

Where (E1) is the ratio of types of compound structure units to the total number of compound

units, (x1 ) refers to the number of types of compound structure units and (y1) refers to the total

number of compound structure units.

The smallest amount of this ratio means that the building has more structure modularity and as

a result it has more adaptability (Al-Nijaidi R. H., 1985, pp. 82-83).

6.2 Structure Concentration Two indicators are adopted to measure the structure concentration which affects the building's

adaptability.

Indicator 1, measures the structure concentration by dividing the number of supporting units

to the total area of the building, the minimum ratio means that the building is more adaptable.

Indicator 2, measures the structure concentration by dividing the area of supporting units to

the total area of the building, the minimum ratio means that the building is more adaptable

E2 x1/y1 2 ,

E3 x1/y1 3 ,


Where (E2) is the ratio of number of supporting units to the total area of the building, (E3) is

the ratio of area of supporting units to the total area of the building, (x1) refers to the number of

supporting units in the structure, (x2) refers to the area of supporting units in the structure and (y1)

refers to the area of the building. The smallest amount of these ratios means that the building has

more structure modularity and as a result it has more adaptability (Al-Nijaidi R. H., 1985, pp.

83-85).

6.3 Zoning Areas of Special Provision Proximity is used to measure the zoning of areas of special provision; proximity refers to the

distance between any two rooms and can determine the extent of areas of special provision. The

zoning is determined by the ratio of the distance between the rooms of special provision and all

other rooms in the building by using the formulas below:

Xx x1 x2 x3 xi /i 4 ,

Yy y1 y2 y3 yi /i2 5 ,

R Xx/Yy 6 ,

Where (R) is the ratio of the distance between the rooms of special provision and all other

rooms in the building, (x) is the average distance between each special room and all other special

rooms in the building, (y) is the average distance between each room and all the other rooms in the

building, (Xx) is the average of the average distances between each special room and all other

special rooms in the building, (Yy) is the average of the average distances between each room and

all the other rooms in the building, (i) is the number of the rooms of special provision and (i2) is the

number of common rooms. The smallest amount of this (R) ratio means that the building has more

structure modularity and as a result it has more adaptability (Al-Nijaidi R. H., 1985, pp. 89-92).

7. Comparing the Two Types A comparison between the two cases is made to support the argument of the possibility of

making adaptable courtyard multifamily housing implying a single private courtyard for each

dwelling unit in the building. The research measures the examples' adaptability by measuring three

variables of adaptability. They are structure concentration, structure modularity and zoning of



329

special provision. The first two variables will be calculated for the whole building, while the third

variable will be calculated for the apartment within the building.

7.1 Structure Concentration (Table 1) clarifies the measurement of structure concentration in the two examples using

equation (2), (3):

Table 1: Structure Concentration Measurements. courtyard example Non- courtyard example

Indicator 1 Area Column N. Area Column N.

743 36 400 30 Indicator 1 Result 0.048 0.075

Indicator 2 Area Supporting point area Area Supporting

point area 743 3.42 400 3.95

Indicator 2 Result 0.0046 0.0098

Figure 4: Structure in the two types of housing buildings.


7.2 Structure Modularity Structure concentration and modularity have been clarified in (Figure 4) for the two examples.

Modularity has been measured depending on equation (3) and the results are as the following:

The courtyard house: 4 \ 24 = 0166

The non-courtyard housing: 6 \ 20 = 0.3

It can be seen that the courtyard house has the largest and the biggest concentration in the

building and the biggest amount of modularity, which means that the case of courtyard housing is

more adaptable than the other.

7.3 Zoning Areas of Special Provision Zoning has been measured using equations (4), (5) and (6). Figure 5 and Table 2 clarify the

measurement of zoning in the two examples.

Table 2: The distances between rooms in each apartment. Non - Courtyard Dwelling units Courtyard Dwelling units

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 0 2.94 2.75 1 0 0 2 2.94 0 4.29 2 0 3.2 7.59 5.62 3 0 1.03 4.27 5.88 3 3.2 0 9.42 3.9 4 1.03 0 4.29 5.9 4 0 1.07 5 4.27 4.29 0 2.43 5 5.74 7.59 0 7.33 6 5.88 5.9 2.43 0 6 0 1.07

Av.Dis.of special rooms Av.Dis.of common rooms Av.Dis.of special rooms Av.Dis.of common rooms

1 2.845 3 4.07 1 0 2 5.47 2 3.615 4 3.74 4 0.535 3 5.506

7 3.52

5 4.263 6 0.535

4 6.886 6 4.736 7 5.616

Av. Av. Dis.of special rooms 3.326 Av. Av. Dis. of special rooms 0.356 Av. Av. Dis. of common rooms 4.202 Av. Av. Dis. of common rooms 5.869

The Zoning amount 0.791 The Zoning amount 0.06



331

Figure 5: Common rooms & special rooms.

It can be seen that the zoning of areas of special provisions in the courtyard housing is greater

than the one in the non-courtyard housing. This means that the courtyard building is more adaptable.

8. Conclusions & Recommendations

8.1 Conclusions • Adaptability is a significant strategy for achieving affordable housing in terms of

reducing the cost of housing in the long and short terms as it offers the possibility of

constructing small units compatible with the requirements of the beginning families to

grow and evolve with changing requirements without the stress of moving into new

houses.

• This paper supports the argument that (Adaptability) represents a convenient solution

for one of the most important problem in the multifamily housing which relates with

ability of dwelling units to accommodate with changing requirement of the occupants.

• Adaptability plays an important role for the issue of sustainability in terms of reducing

the consumption of natural resources and wastes of buildings and destruction.

• Courtyard house with wind tower play an important role for the issue of sustainability

in terms of reducing the consumption of energy, operating costs as well as the

courtyard association in satisfying the social requirement in terms of providing the

required privacy.

• The paper shows possibility of employing the concept of courtyard in designing


adaptable multifamily housing to achieve a sustainable affordable multifamily

housing.

8.2 Recommendations • Courtyard housing must be adopted in the hot arid area to achieve sustainable

affordable housing.

• Adaptability must be adopted in a multifamily housing to achieve sustainable

affordable housing and to solve one of the multifamily housing problems.

• To achieve adaptability, the designer has to use the Beams & Column Structural

System with minimum supporting units and minimum structural area which will

ensure the provision of the biggest possible free area for occupants to arrange or

modify it according to their requirements.

• To achieve adaptability, the designer has to design the building plan and structural

system in a way that makes the whole building composes of several similar units. This

will facilitate the modification, addition or subtraction in the dwelling units and in its

building as a whole.

• To achieve adaptability, the designer has to design the building and dwelling units plan

putting the areas of special provision in a dependent zone, leaving the biggest possible

free area in the dwelling units for occupants to arrange or modifying it according to

their requirements.

• The paper recommends studying design characteristics that are related with

adaptability and clarifying the exact influence and relative importance of each of them

for adaptability.

9. References Al Hafith, O. A. (2010). Model for multifamily courtyard Housing. Mosul. (This model of

courtyard housing was prepared by Omar Ar. Al-Hafith as part of the requirements of the MSc. course of (Advanced Architectural Design), 2010, supervised by: Dr.Hafsa Al-Omari, Dr. Ali H. Al-Jameel, Dr. Ahamad Al-Omari and Dr. Asmaa Al-dabagh, Mosul university, Iraq).

Al-Nijaidi, H. R. (1985). Flexibility in the design of building, PhD Thesis,: Department of architecture, Oxford Polytechnic, London, UK.



333

Edwards, B., Sibley, M., Hakmi, M., & Land, P. (2005). Courtyard housing past, present and future. Taylor & Francis e-Library.

Gu, P., Xue, D., & Nee, A. (2009, May 28). Adaptable design: concepts, methods, and applications. Journal of Engineering Manufacture , 11, pp. 1367-1378.

Hashemain, M. (2005). Design for adaptability, PhD Thesis. Saskatoon: Department of mechanical engineering, University of Saskatchewan.

Jovanović, G. (2007, no date). Flexible organization of floor composition and flexible organization of dwelling space as a response to contemporary market demands. The scientific Journal : Architecture and Civil Engineering , Vol. 5 (No. 1), pp. 33-47.

Lubell, J., Crain, R., & Cohen, R. (2007, 7). Center for housing policy. Retrieved 9 7, 2011, from The positive impacts of affordable housing on health: http://www.nhc.org/media/documents/FramingIssues_Heath.pdf

Lindburg, A., Howe, J., Bowyer, J., & Fernholz, K. (2007, 8 22). Combining Green Building Innovations with Affordable Housing Needs. Retrieved 9 10, 2011, from Dovetail Partners, INC.: http://www.dovetailinc.org/files/DovetailEcoAfford0807ol.pdf

Lynch, K. (1956, no date no date). Environmental adaptability. Journal of the american institute of planners , pp. 16-24.

Mohammed, S. A. (1989). Design parameters for providing flexibility in low-rise multifamily housing. Baghdad: Baghdad University.

Moshaver, S. (2009). Flexible Housing : Incorporating Working Space Within The Living Space.M.Sc. Thesis, Sheffield: School of Architecture, Sheffield University.

Poulsen, L., & Silverman, M. (2005). Design strategies for the densification of low income housing. Retrieved 6 12, 2011, from University of Pretoria: http://137.215.9.22/bitstream/handle/2263/10323/Design%20Strategies%20for%20the%20Densification%20of%20Low%20Income%20Housin.pdf?sequence=1

Prince Abdullah Institute for Research. Affordable Housing Guidance. Riyadh: High commission for the development of Riyadh.

Qeensland government - Department of housing. (2004). Affordable housing design guidelines. Retrieved 2011, from Qeensland community housing coalition:

http://www.qchc.asn.au/Portals/0/Uploads/Affordable%20Housing/aff_hsg_des_guidelines.pdf

Rao, P. (2010). Multiple Uses of Saces in architectural design. Architecture - time space & people, pp. 36-40.


Russel, P., & Moffat, S. (2001, 11). Assessing The Adaptability of Buildings. Retrieved 8 12, 2011, from Annex 31: http://annex31.wiwi.uni-karlsruhe.de/pdf/PDF%20version%20%20Background%20Reports-%20Annex%2031%20Assessing%20Building.pdf

Sidawi, B. (2008). Incorporating lifestyle in the design of affordable housing in saudi arabia kingdom. Retrieved 2012, from United Arab Emirates University - Emirates Journal of Engineering Research: http://www.engg.uaeu.ac.ae/ejer/issues/v13/pdf_iss2_13/7.pdf

Dr. Ali H. Al-Jameel is an Assistant Professor of Department of Architectural Engineering at Mosul University/ Iraq. He earned his B.Sc. in Architectural Engineering from Mosul University in 1983, his M.Sc. in 1991 and PhD from the University of Technology in Baghdad/Iraq in 1997. Now he is the Supervisor of the Higher Studies Program in the Department, Member of the Scientific Promotion Committee in the College of Engineering, Member of the Editorial Committee of Al-Rafidain Engineering Journal (a refereed journal published by Mosul University/ Iraq), and a Member of the Consulting Committee of the Journal of Architectural Engineering (a refereed journal published by the University of Technology in Baghdad/ Iraq). Dr. Al-Jameel current scientific interests involve different issues related to Theories of Architecture, Architectural Design Strategies and Architectural Education.

Omar Ar. Al Hafith is an architect. He studied at Mosul University / Department of Architectural Engineering where he received his B.Sc. in 2009 and M.Sc. in 2012 . He Won the 1st prize for his graduation project (Health Resort Spa in Hammam Al Alil) as the best graduation project in a competition held in 2009 in Baghdad, he also earned certifications from the Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Youth & Sport and Iraqi Engineering Union, as well as a certification for his participation in the ACHIPRIX International competition 2011 in USA. He completed part of his M.Sc. research at Sheffield University in UK.


*Corresponding author (D.Boussaa). Tel: +974-44034346 / Fax +974-44034341. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected]. 2012. American Transactions on Engineering & Applied Sciences. Volume 1 No.3. ISSN 2229-1652 eISSN 2229-1660 Online Available at http://TuEngr.com/ATEAS/V01/335-350.pdf

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The Casbah of Algiers, in Algeria; From an Urban Slum to a Sustainable Living Heritage

Djamel Boussaa a*

aDepartment of Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Qatar A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T RA C T

Article history: Received 10 October 2011 Received in revised form 1 July 2012 Accepted Available online Keywords: Urban management; historic buildings; cultural sustainability, urban strategy

In the face of rapid economic development, people increasing needs and changing lifestyles, most historic centers in the Arab world have experienced problems in making the necessary adaptation to the present needs and change. In the Casbah of Algiers, while the number of houses was reducing due to dereliction the density was rising and reached 4,000 persons/ha, making it one of the highest densities in the world. In addition, lack of services and poor sanitation has accelerated the dilapidation and decline of the Casbah, to become an urban slum in the heart of the capital Algiers. The Casbah of Algiers presents an urgent case for urban conservation. UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage list in December 1992, but since then there has been continuous disrepair, from 1,200 historic buildings in 1962 only 400 have remained and the number is still decreasing. The cultural heritage of the Casbah should be recognized as a valuable resource for future development. This paper attempts to propose an urgent integrated urban conservation action to rescue the Casbah from vanishing to become a sustainable living heritage.



336 Djamel Boussaa

1. Introduction In the face of rapid economic development, population growth, people increasing needs and

changing lifestyles, most historic urban areas in the Arab world have experienced problems in

making the necessary adjustment and adaptation to the present needs and change. Today, these

historic centres are not only a shelter for migrants but are also very productive. Located in a central

position in the growing urban areas, they have to function as a city centre. Consequently, they keep

the medina alive and they participate in the economic growth of the city. From the view of experts,

people choose travel destinations where they can learn about traditional and distinct cultures in

their historic context. In view of the importance of ‘heritage’ to the development of tourism, hotels

and catering and the scant attention given to heritage raise the issue of heritage tourism.

There is a growing belief that most of the historic city centers in the Arab world are facing

multiple pressures to sustain their characteristics and values. Competing demands for land use, the

introduction of new economic activities, and the marketing of heritage resources places an

important burden on the local heritage players. These are striving to find appropriate ways to

manage these historic assets, in order to save them from the threats of mass tourism and

over-consumption. The balance that must be maintained is between visitor access and conservation

needs.

During recent years new policy mechanisms have emerged to reconcile the conflicting

demands of conservation and development by applying sustainable development policies in

historic cities. These issues will be explored through the case study of the Casbah of Algiers in

Algeria, a World Heritage Site at risk. Throughout this case study, this paper will conclude with a

discussion of the more general implications of the sustainability/historic city centre debate.

2. Urban Conservation and Sustainability What is sustainable development? The 1987 report "Our Common Future" from the United

Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) set forth the most widely

used definition of the concept: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of

the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own

needs”. The Brundland Commission lists food, water, clothes, shelter, work, energy and hygiene as

examples of what is termed ‘basic needs’ (Brundland Commission, 1987: 8 & 44).


337

Sustainable development can be seen today as a powerful motivation for urban conservation

planning. Basically, it consists of a process of urban development based on the constant reuse of

existing built resources, associated with a low input of energy for adaptation to new requirements

conceived in society. It is also viewed as a process founded in the local culture, in an equitable

distribution of urban services, the use of democratic principles of management, the maintenance

and regeneration of traditional social values and practices.

From the perspective of sustainability, cultural heritage is understood as a non-renewable

resource. It includes some of the most important intangible values of society (identity, memory,

self-consciousness and history). Moreover, it is an asset capable of attributing value to new things

through the creation of new processes based on established values. As a man-made product, a city

is an artifact composed of various historically recognizable parts.

In a progressively competitive global market where spatial and temporal barriers are

disappearing, the identity of a place – its character, history, buildings, culture and distinctiveness-

becomes crucial (Boussaa, 2003). With a rapidly globalizing flow of resources, information

technologies and know-how, the distinctiveness of a specific historic city assumes greater

significance in attracting both financial and human forms of investment (Urry, 1995). This

local-global dimension of exchange contributes to explain why the local heritage players seek a

competitive advantage over similarly historic areas. Cities that demonstrate through promotion and

marketing their historical richness are more appealing to those with capital seeking attractive

locations, especially for visitors and tourists (Strange, 1997).

In heritage cities, history and heritage have become the dynamic assets that combine the local

and the global. They establish the local specificity and distinctiveness so attractive to a globalizing

tourist market. Furthermore, they structure the localized patterns, which are brought about by a

combination of national and international money exchange. However, the consumption produced

by the com-modification, interpretation and replication of a place’s history is not infinite. Rather,

the historical relics of a city are liable to deteriorate when ‘over-consumed’ by increasing visitors

and the city is pressured for new forms of development.

338 Djamel Boussaa

In many historic cities, a ‘local fatigue’ results when consuming local infrastructure, historic

buildings versus a demand on land, growing social conflict between visitors and local inhabitants,

as well as the environmental impact of tourism (Glasson & al, 1995). These tensions between the

demands for development and conservation in historic cities have raised the issue of introducing

sustainable development policies to counter the consequences of diminishing resources. Such an

interpretation implies that there are limits to growth that must not be breached within a historic city

as stated by Jacobs:

“A limit to the amount of development which an area can take over time, determined by its

environmental characteristics…[and]…that if development exceeds a particular level, the loss of or

damage to these features [environmental characteristics] will be unsustainable or otherwise

unacceptable, and should therefore not be permitted" (Jacobs, 1997: 6).

Historic cities have unique characteristics that guarantee their special conservation and

sustainability. On one hand this implies that development in these historic cores should be limited,

while on the other hand the issue of maintaining local economic vitality cannot be undermined.

Most of heritage players recognize that such places cannot reproduce themselves without some

kind of intervention. These are meant to regulate and manage the physical and social fabric upon

whom their local identity and economic success is predicated. In this way it is possible for a range

of sustainable economic development approaches to co-exist within and between cities-those

which may be growth limiting, growth enhancing, or an integration of both (Strange, 1999).

Figure 1: View of the Casbah from the lower part, at the foreground we can see the Ketchaoua

Mosque, one of the main landmarks in the historic center.


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3. The Casbah of Algiers and Rapid Change Algiers has an area of 276 Km2 and a population of more than 3 million. The Casbah is situated

on the coast to the north of the city. The complex labyrinths and a fortress from the 1500s remain as

reminders of the past. The Casbah of Algiers (Figure 1) was founded in the 6th Century BC, and

was constructed on a steep slope (118m.high), facing the harbour bay and the Mediterranean Sea.

Its historical function was military and trade.

The Casbah of Algiers, a landmark of Algerian history in the heart of the capital city, presents

an urgent case for urban conservation. UNESCO inscribed the Casbah of Algiers on the World

Heritage list in 1992, but since then there has been continuous degradation. The population grew

from 60,000 in 1969 to reach 70,000 in 1980, a double of what was in 1830. While the number of

houses is reducing, the density is rising and reached 4,000 persons/ha in several districts, making it

one of the highest densities in the world (Lesbet, 1987: 67).

Since independence, the original urban and traditional families have been progressively

abandoning the Casbah and moved to modern villas and flats on the outskirts of the city. In 1962

there were about 1,200 traditional buildings in the Casbah, going back to the Ottoman era. Thirty

years later, 250 traditional dwellings disappeared, giving an average loss of 20% of the initial

number (Ministry of Culture and Communication, 1992: 27). The old houses have been rented to

rural families migrating to the city. In the meantime the number of houses rapidly diminished due

to deterioration and collapse. About 50 dwellings collapsed between 1975 and 1979 (Lesbet, 1985:

101).

In addition to the problem of dwellings collapse a large number of significant public facilities

disappeared (Figure 2). Mosques and Zaouias (Coranic schools) have been subject to major loss,

from 130 mosques and 18 Zaouias only 10 mosques and 2 zaouias survived, while only six

hamams (public baths) remained from an original number of about one hundred. With the absence

of any legislation and planning control to protect the Casbah, each time a house was demolished, it

was replaced by an apartment block, which destroyed the historical townscape and obstructed

views to the sea for the adjacent neighbours.

340 Djamel Boussaa

Figure 2: Showing the state of deterioration and dereliction making the Casbah an urban slum in

the heart of the capital. This cycle of deterioration and disrepair resulted in a situation in which the Casbah is

perceived as an urban slum in the heart of the capital. It is seen as the home of low income and

desperate families, a place of misery, overcrowding, violence and insecurity. The present

population of the Casbah is 70,000 concentrated on 37 hectares (13 hectares representing the

vacant land of the buildings collapsed). With an average 12 persons/per room, the traditional

house originally designed for one family, now is sheltering around 6 families, an average of one

family per/room. This situation has meant that even the common spaces, such as the central

courtyard, the surrounding corridor and kitchen have been occupied and subdivided. Only 400

dwellings have survived. This number is due to decrease dramatically if no urgent rescue and

salvation action is undertaken. Sustainable development and heritage tourism can form the main

catalyst for the revitalization of the Casbah, both socially and economically. After long years of

neglect and marginalization this strategy might help the Casbah regain its legendary place within

the new growing metropolis of Algiers.

4. The Need for a Sustainable Development Approach Since 1962, the state has been trying through a multitude of conservation plans to conserve the

Casbah, but all these plans were not implemented. Apart from restoring a number of monuments

and dwellings, no comprehensive action was undertaken to cover the whole urban center. The

dilemma of conserving the Casbah is too complicated; it presents one of the rare dichotomies

between providing a decent shelter to the low income inhabitants and the need for urgent

rehabilitation. Now that the Casbah is on the “world heritage list”, it should not be left to become


341

a “world heritage at risk”.

As a starting point, a number of steps and measures should be taken to make the conservation

of the Casbah a reality. The first step would be a comprehensive survey and inventory of the

remaining buildings. Secondly, selecting of what should be conserved based on the conditions of

each building and the values it reveals. Thirdly, a typological analysis of houses and other

monuments should be identified and surveyed to be used as a guide for future design, especially in

the case of infill and reconstruction projects. Finally, a participatory approach should be promoted

to involve the local inhabitants in the rehabilitation process.

In addition to housing, heritage tourism can be a major way of intervention in the Casbah. The

historical separation between the private part (residential) and the public part (commercial), in the

Casbah should be sustained. There is a need to rehabilitate the higher Casbah for housing, while the

lower part for tourism and commercial activities. In this context, the infill projects and

reconstruction work should be planned to provide adequate shelter for the local inhabitants, while

promoting tourism in the Lower Casbah. Heritage tourism can be a catalyst to sustaining the

heritage center by introducing the hard currency. In this way, revenues generated from tourism

could be used to finance the restoration and upgrading of the remaining dwellings in the Higher

Casbah while regenerating life in the historic center.

The heritage players should bear in mind, that the Casbah is meaningful only if it is inhabited;

it is the reflection of the past and the people who live and work there. As such, the Casbah must

work in a way to upgrade the living conditions of its inhabitants which form the basis for any

sustainable development strategy. While tourism can be promoted, consuming and marketing

heritage resources should be kept to the level of not threatening the identity and distinctiveness of

the Casbah.

In order to change the image of the urban slum, there is an urgent need to inject a new heart in

the Casbah. It is important to stress that the residents of the Casbah have the right to live in a decent

shelter, work and be proud of their historical setting. Therefore, the first action to be taken is to stop

the drift of rural migrants to the Casbah. The second one should aim to reduce the occupancy of

342 Djamel Boussaa

houses by half from 6 to 3 families per house. This can be achieved by reconstructing the

demolished houses in the vacant lands.

The right to work is another imperative of sustainable development; therefore as a third

measure, there is a need to encourage the revival of the vanishing traditional crafts in the Casbah.

These will give a new breath of life to the Casbah, and will contribute to its economic and social

sustainability (Figure 3). This approach will enable the creation of jobs for a large number of

people unemployed. Once the main heritage resources are conserved, and the cultural and

economic activities enhanced, it is possible to present these heritage assets to visitors and tourists.

Figure 3: Showing the possibility of injecting new lease of life in the Casbah streets.

The situation of the Casbah along other historic city centers in the Arab World is particularly

alarming. The historic town is both the content and container of urban heritage. While heritage

tourism is an important and desired activity for both visitors and hosts, the challenge to cultural

resource managers is to minimize the amount of damage that visitors may cause to sites. The

following points emerge as principles for an appropriate visitor management to the Casbah and

other historic areas:

• Comprehensive tourist development plans are essential as the pre-condition for developing


343

any tourist potential;

• It should be a fundamental principle of any tourist development plan that both conservation, in

its widest sense, and tourism benefit from it;

• The best long-term interests of people living and working in any host community should be

the primary determining factor in selecting options for tourist development;

• Educational programs should insist and invite tourists to respect and understand the local way

of life, culture, history and religion;

• The design of buildings, sites and transport systems should minimize the potentially harmful

visual effects of tourism;

• Pollution controls should be built into all forms of infrastructure;

• Adequate management should define the level of acceptable tourism development and provide

controls to maintain that level;

• Enable the local population to participate during the selection process and development

phases;

• Develop adequate protective measures to keep visitors away from sensitive parts of the

historic centre.

These principles are crucial for tourism development in historic urban centers. While in most

urban cores lacking enough funds to save their cultural heritage, tourism can provide the necessary

hard currency to finance the restoration work. In this way, conservation and rehabilitation can be

pursued to cover the entire historic urban center. In short, these principles aim to prevent heritage

tourism from becoming blight but blessing for all, the host community and tourists.

The concept of sustainability in historic city centers is still under scrutiny. Further study and

analysis is required for the application of sustainable development approaches in the Arab World.

So far, no precise indicators have been developed in relation to the built heritage. Nevertheless,

some general guidelines can be proposed that might be relevant to achieve sustainable conservation

and development of the Casbah and other historic city centers in the Arab world:

• Respect community life, with specific emphasis on the local values and traditions;

• Improve the quality of life;

344 Djamel Boussaa

• Maintain identity, diversity and vitality;

• Minimize the loss of non-renewable heritage assets;

• Involve different actors from both the public and private sectors in the conservation process;

• Empower community action and responsibility through participation;

• Provide an appropriate strategy for integrating conservation and development;

• Define the capacity by which change can be allowed in historic centers;

• Issues such as gentrification and authenticity should be taken into consideration when

applying a sustainable development approach in the historic city.

The above actions cannot be implemented without an active participation of the local

inhabitants. Therefore, there is need to encourage community participation and involvement of the

heritage associations and the larger community. This should be done in collaboration with the local

authorities that have the duty to manage the remaining 400 buildings. Heritage management is

essential for regulating and maintaining an appropriate level of marketing and reusing the heritage

assets.

Diagram 1: A Proposed Organisational Framework in the Casbah of Algiers.

Diagram 1 attempts to propose a management framework for the conservation of the Casbah.

The Functional Unit in Charge of the Rehabilitation, Safeguard and Management of the Casbah of


345

Algiers is the main coordinator body between the other heritage players. In order to implement the

recent Casbah Safeguard Plan, this coordinating body should be in close contact with the Algiers

Municipality as well as the ministries of Culture and Housing. In addition, this unit should be open

to the Casbah inhabitants and the general public, the different associations, as well as the training

and research centers. Therefore, it should be located in the heart of the Casbah.

5. The Casbah: A Living Heritage The citadel was the first restoration project undertaken in the Casbah. This heritage complex

encompasses the Dey Castle, castles of the Beys, two mosques, gardens and annexes lying over an

area of 11,000 m2. Restoration work started in the late sixties and is still underway. The restoration

of the historical monument (Bastion 23) was the second major operation; it was launched in July

1988, and it is now open for public as a museum (Figure 4). This historic monument is an ensemble

composed of three palaces, nine houses and defense batteries. It represents the last testimony of the

destroyed marine district and lies on an area of 4,000 square meters. These two landmarks, forming

two main boundaries in the higher and lower parts of the Casbah are being re-used as museums and

cultural centers, and have become two main attractions for both the local and foreign visitors.

Figure 4: Showing an Internal View of the Bastion 23.

In addition to these two major projects, around 37 dwellings were restored. A number of new

public facilities were introduced in the Casbah, namely 3 libraries, 2 kindergartens, and 16 open-air

346 Djamel Boussaa

areas. These new infill projects are meant to revitalize and enhance the living environment of the

local inhabitants as a basis for sustainable development. Furthermore, two main streets (Figure 5)

in the Casbah (Rue Rabah Riab, and Sidi Driss Hamidouche) have been rehabilitated along with

the reconstruction of five public fountains (Ministry of Culture and Communication, 1992). While

these projects are intended to upgrade the living conditions they can also form a major catalyst for

a sustainable living heritage.

Despite the problems of insecurity encountered during the last ten years, the Ministry of

Culture and Communication succeeded during the period 1994-2000 to implement 13 restoration

projects with the assistance of Italian experts. These are mainly monuments: 10 mosques, one

castle (Dar Aziza) and the Bastion 23 complex. In addition, few refurbishment works were

undertaken on the main buildings in the Basse Casbah, in an effort to recreate the historical link

between the Casbah and the sea which is its "Raison d'être" (Zadem, 2002: 147). This link has been

revived to become a main hub for tourists with its shopping and a wide range of restaurants.

Figure 5: Showing a Rehabilitated Street in the Casbah.

It can be noticed that there has never been any comprehensive intervention in the Casbah.

Most of the work was piecemeal without any considerable effect, and not worthy of the World

Heritage status of the Casbah. An insignificant number of buildings have been restored and

rehabilitated since 1962; most of them are monuments, while dwellings are still struggling to

survive due to their advanced state of dilapidation and decay. This process of work cannot rescue


347

the Casbah nor can it sustain it for the present and future generations. While neglect is due mainly

to a lack of political will, lack of funds is another obstacle. Therefore, heritage tourism can play a

major role in reviving the Casbah socially and economically. In addition it can generate the

necessary funds to pursue the conservation endeavor for the entire world heritage center.

In the light of the problems facing historic cities in the Arab World, further study and research

is needed. The idea that effective action to promote conservation and management of historic

centers requires the implementation of a common strategy which can be based on the following

assumptions:

• Historic centers are meaningful only if inhabited; they are the reflection of the past and the

people who live and work there;

• Consuming and marketing heritage resources should be kept to the level of not threatening the

identity and distinctiveness of the historic cities;

• Historic centers must work in a way to upgrade the living conditions of the local inhabitants,

and should therefore contribute to ensure their basic needs.

The alarming situation of the Casbah demonstrates that the fundamental problem in urban

conservation is the establishment of urban management policies and community development

actions. These measures can play a major role in sustaining the conservation and regeneration of

this historic city. Obviously this can be achieved by the close cooperation of the private and public

sectors, as well as the NGO’s associations, for the safeguard of this nonrenewable cultural heritage.

The trend should be to reverse the situation from a world heritage at risk to a lively and bustling

urban centre with a new beating heart.

In order for the built heritage to be incorporated in the aim of establishing a sustainable

society, the ‘static’ goal to protect must be married to the managed ‘processes of change. The

capacity of the historic center to accept change will depend on relative values that are placed on

heritage assets and the priorities of each society (Pickard, 2001: 290).

348 Djamel Boussaa

6. Conclusion The paradox of conserving the Casbah is too complex; it presents one of the rare dichotomies

between providing a decent shelter to the low income inhabitants and the need for urgent

rehabilitation. Now that the Casbah is still on the “World Heritage List”, it should not be left to

become a “World Heritage at Risk”.

This paper attempted to propose an appropriate conservation management strategy for the

Casbah of Algiers. The Functional Unit in Charge of the Rehabilitation, Safeguard and

Management of the Casbah of Algiers is the main coordinator body between the other heritage

players. In order to implement the recent Casbah Safeguard Plan, this coordinating body should be

in close contact with the Algiers Municipality as well as the ministries of Culture and Housing. In

addition, this unit should be open to the Casbah inhabitants and the larger community.

As a matter of urgency, a number of steps and measures should be taken to make the revival of

the Casbah a reality:

1. Undertaking a comprehensive survey and inventory of the remaining buildings;

2. Selecting of what should be conserved;

3. Identify and survey the rescued structures for use as a guide for future design, in the

case of infill and reconstruction projects.

4. Promote a participatory approach to involve the local inhabitants in the rehabilitation

process.

In order to make the Casbah a living heritage, there is a need to rehabilitate the higher Casbah

for housing, while the lower part for tourism and commercial activities. In this context, the infill

projects and reconstruction work should be planned to provide adequate shelter for the local

inhabitants, while promoting tourism in the Lower Casbah.

The heritage players should bear in mind, that the Casbah is meaningful only if it is inhabited;

it is the reflection of the past and the people who live and work there. The right to work is another

imperative of sustainable development; therefore, there is a need to encourage the revival of the

vanishing traditional crafts in the Casbah. These will give a new breath of life to the Casbah, and

will contribute to its economic and social sustainability.


349

Conserving the Casbah is not a matter of restoring few houses but a question of maintaining

the vitality of the entire historic centre. The problem of the Casbah is a shared one; there is a need

to save it so it can act as a model for other historic centres in Algeria, like Constantine, Temacine,

Ghardaia, Dellys and so on. The Casbah is an example which can provide hope or defeat for the

future of historic centres in the Arab World as a whole. Therefore, the proposed strategy should be

implemented urgently before witnessing more losses in the Casbah cultural heritage.

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Opportunities, Germany, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.

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Brundland Commission. 1987. (World Commission on Environment and Development), Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York.

Feilden, B. M. 1990. Civilising our Cities. TWPR, 12(4), 311-321.

Glasson, J., & al, e. 1995. Towards Visitor Impact Management. Visitor Impacts, Carrying Capacity and Management Responses in Europe's Historic Towns and Cities. Aldershot, Avebury.

Jacobs, M. 1997. Making Sense of Environmental Capacity. Council for the Protection of Rural England, London.

Lesbet, D. 1985. La Casbah d'Alger Gestion Urbaine et Vide Social. Algiers: OPU.

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350 Djamel Boussaa

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After graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Algiers, Algeria in 1984, Dr.Djamel Boussaa was awarded a post-graduate scholarship to pursue his studies in the United Kingdom. He obtained his Master of Philosophy in Architecture from the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York, in September 1987. After practicing as an architect for one year in London he returned to Algeria in 1988. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor of architecture at the Institute of Architecture, University of Blida and taught for 8 years. He joined the UAE University, Department of Architecture Engineering in September 1996 and taught for ten years during 1996-2006 before joining the University of Bahrain for three years 2006-2009. In addition to teaching his main area of research includes issues related to conservation and development of the urban heritage in the Arab World; he finished his PhD studies in Urban Conservation in the Arab World from the University of Liverpool, UK in December 2007. At present he is an Assistant Professor at Qatar University, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning since September 2009.




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