干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Iran is a large country with a variety of climatic and environmental conditions, from cold mountains to hot and arid deserts. Regarding the national design regulations, the present Iranian cities-follow similar national design rules and therefore share identical features regardless of specific climatic, environmental, social and cultural characteristics of their own region, while traditional cities in each climatic zone of Iran used their own specific design strategies to survive in their surrounding conditions throughout history. This environmentally conscious design approach that had been surviving and evolving over hundreds of years started to cease by the modernization of the country during late 19th to mid-20th century.

This paper aims to investigate the events during modernization of Iran that resulted in new architectural trends leading to merely non-environment-friendly cities, following identical design and construction patterns all over the country.

The three main research questions are firstly to show if the traditional Iranian cities in hot and arid region owned environment-friendly design bases that responded to the severe climatic conditions in the region. Secondly to investigate if this continuous chain of urban and architectural design in Iran broke in the 206 century, and finally to seek the grounds beyond modernization in Iran that ceased the hundreds year application of environment-friendly design patterns in this region.

This theoretical study is made by application of qualitative method to provide insights into the research questions by gaining an understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations that caused the cease of a long-survived system of environment-friendly design.

The authors therefore provide timelines to review the notable changes and reformations in relation to each other, during Qajar and Pahlavi periods, when Iran started to change into a modern country. Research tools such as library research and logic evaluation by observation, comparison and interpretation of historical facts are applied.

This research shows that transformations towards modernization of the country started in Qajar period (1785-1925 AD) specifically among the aristocrats, and changed the royal patterns of architecture in Qajar palaces. At city scale, dramatic changes took place in the capital city, Tehran and then penetrated into the whole image. of the cities and daily living spaces during Pahlavi period (1925-1979).

This trend for hasty modernization accelerated during the first Pahlavi period through industrialization of the country, and soared during the second Pahlavi by natiohalization of the oil and the land reforms and the White Revolution. Such economic and social incidents finally resulted in radical changes in urban fabrics of the historical cities, injuring the integrity of the urban fabrics and neglecting their traditional environment-friendly design strategies.

The discussions in this paper can provide lessons for architects and urban planners who seek to update the Iranian cities with the present living standards. It is also inspiring for redefining design strategies from traditional Iranian city and architectural features for adapting into contemporary architectural and urban. design, to achieve a more successful environment friendly design.