Utilizing Mazandaran’s Local Architectural Elements to Increase Vitality and Livability in Babolsar’s Residential Complexes; Case Study: Babolsar City’s Mehr Residential Complexes

Seyedian, Seyyed Ali; Ahmadi, Sahel

doi:10.22034/aaud.2024.378216.2747

Utilizing Mazandaran’s Local Architectural Elements to Increase Vitality and Livability in Babolsar’s Residential Complexes; Case Study: Babolsar City’s Mehr Residential Complexes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Seyyed Ali Seyedian ¹

Sahel Ahmadi ²

¹ Assistant Professor of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Mazandaran, Iran (Corresponding Author).

² M.A. of Architecture, Pardisan Institute of Higher Education, Babolsar, Iran.

10.22034/aaud.2024.378216.2747

Abstract

Mehr Residential Complexes in Mazandaran’s Babolsar City have failed to pay as much attention as needed to the fundamental concepts of vitality and livability in their living environments due to a quantitative approach to housing designs and growing demands in this connection. This subject, together with the interplay of residents’ quality of life, would require a comprehensive yet systematic pattern of vitality and livability for residential environments. Mazandaran’s local housing architecture has also offered solutions to bond components of vitality and livability that may influence people’s daily lives and their living conditions. To understand the local architectural properties of Mazandaran, it is required to identify these components and apply them in current housing design processes. For this, the goal of this study was to provide solutions to strengthen the quality of residential spaces in Babolsar City by recognizing components of vitality and livability through local housing architecture in the Iranian province of Mazandaran. The literature review helped provide patterns of vitality and livability and generalize them to local architecture through the collection of field data. The random sampling method was used to produce a 175-person sample of residents in four Mehr Residential Buildings in Babolsar, and a questionnaire was later administered to them. The questionnaire was analyzed using the SPSS software. Factor analysis results suggested that out of the seven factors of vitality (e.g., urban vitality/happiness, physical indicators, psychological dimensions, promoting spatial-activity desirability, focus on residents, security and safety, and contact with nature), five factors were significant, whereas the fourth and seventh factors were eliminated by architecture and urban planning experts despite their levels of importance.

Keywords

Components of Vitality

Livability

Local Architecture

Residential Complexes

Babolsar

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