Volume 17 (2021): Edizione 1 (January 2021)

Liveability within urban planning is a necessary prerequisite to the development of micro-housing. Liveability may contribute to improvement of urban environments where micro-homes are prevalent, notably, in highly populated urban areas. After a brief review of the concept, discussion is focused on whether the historic centre of Cascais has liveability standards to facilitate micro housing. The key metrics highlight if such metrics perform the role of determining whether Cascais fulfils the set liveability criteria.

City is a network with clear organization and architecture. It also has permanent connections. Human senses, perception and cognition are the base points while understanding these connections. Hypothesis of this article proposes that concentration of creativity potential in strategically placed junctions (cultural nodes) would catalyse people flow between them naturally. Three main features of the cultural node are distinguished, and possible identification methodology is being proposed. This strategy leads to more extensive methodology research and appliance analysing city structure.

The paper presents a summary of large-scale buildings of resort establishments of Soviet period in Jūrmala, by analysing their typology, physical parameters, scenarios of the development, architectural stylistic and the present state of physical condition and authentic substance. The research reveals that half of the large-scale resort buildings are already irreversibly lost and the rest of buildings are seriously endangered due to the tendency of extensive rebuilding.

It is claimed that rapid changes, including globalization and urbanization, may lead to uniform urban environment. Therefore, it is crucial to address issues in terms of local architecture. This research particularly focuses on the visual identity of Riga 21st century residential developments. Theoretical studies and empirical research methods were used. According to the research results, the most typical characteristics are linear building blocks, symmetric arraignment of façade elements, polychrome façade colour approach and usage of white/grey/ black colour palette. However, considering variety of visual expressions as well as different architectural and spatial situations, there cannot be determined one exact visual identity.

This article discusses the way of rating the competency of architects through their ability to recognize the autopoietic properties of architecture in developed urban projects. The following theoretical methods were used: abstraction, analogy, generalization and reasoning. Metalanguage of consideration (opposite to directive metalanguage) embedded in projects displays the fact, that a person is able to recognize such autopoietic features as connotations, memory traces, that are important for continuity of locus cultural identity.

The changing concept of sustainable development is changing the practice of designing sustainable urban forms. The article presents a variety of concepts of a sustainable urban form and their ambiguous assessment – the model of a compact city, if applied in all cases, can cost the quality of one’s environment and the quality of life. New bottom-up trends are emerging in theory and in practice of the 21st century, which focus on the urban planning process which is more inclusive in terms of society. The article discusses examples of the creation of a sustainable urban narrative for the development of a relationship with the community.

The article discusses individual approaches to the formation of the architectural and spatial environment of maternity hospitals and perinatal centres contributing to social distancing. A ‘functional-spatial’ approach is proposed, in which the boundaries of spaces in the most active functional areas of the maternity hospital are changed: entrance area, reception of women in labour, area for relatives and visitors of the hospital, delivery of newborns, consultations in the polyclinic department of the maternity hospital. As a planning technique for distancing is proposed the formation of a system of space ‘soft borders’ using flexible, inclined, semi-cylindrical and ‘flowing’ translucent partitions. The second, ‘environmental approach’, is based on changing the scheme of communication and environmental situations in the internal environment of the maternity hospital due to the thoughtful arrangement of furniture and interior equipment, as well as due to light, colour and graphic navigation. Such a reorganization of the architectural and spatial structure of the maternity hospitals, based on the requirements of social distancing, preserves the value characteristics of the therapeutic environment.

COVID-19, evidently the world’s worst pandemic during the last two centuries, has predicated several challenges for urban designers, especially in their bid to find appropriate designing strategies. Even though there are umpteenth studies in the literature that have focused on the different aspects of COVID-19 related pandemics, very scant studies sought to find appropriate mitigating strategies in designing pandemic friendly urban spaces. Thus, through qualitative grounded theory as a main methodological approach, this study hypothesized that the COVID-19 induced pandemic has direct effects on the liveability of public spaces. Accordingly, by developing a comprehensive review of the literature on the environmental and socio-economic effects of the pandemic, this study proposed a comprehensive framework for understanding its side effects and a comprehensive mitigating strategy to deal with it in the short and long term of designing a healthy urban environment.

Earthquake parks are open spaces where sustenance, shelter and security needs required by people to sustain their daily lives after a disaster may be addressed. In this study, the use of Ataşehir and Topkapı earthquake parks as recreation areas before an earthquake and as a post-disaster park were examined from a space design aspect using on-site observations. Standards required for earthquake parks were determined, such as land location and suitability, transportation, size and function, infrastructure systems, structural and vegetative designs, whereas evaluations of these criteria were conducted at two parks. As a result of this study, it was identified that unlike traditional parks, designing earthquake parks according to site location and suitability, transportation, size and function, infrastructure systems, structural and planting design is important for post-disaster use.

El Kala is a city on the edge of eastern Algeria, located in an exceptional natural landscape, classified as a world biosphere reserve in 1990 by UNESCO. The diversity of nature within the domestic space leads to research and study its place and value for the inhabitants and encourages to think about how to qualify the relationship between inhabitants and nature through the domestic space. This study is based on a biophilic approach, adapted to the architectural scale, based on a landscape and architectural analysis. The results obtained show that the observed biophilic design is only a means to build a relationship with nature by the inhabitants. The objective of this article is to highlight the contribution of the biophilic approach in determining the behaviour of the inhabitants of the city of El Kala.

This study aims to research the expectations of users who bring their children to a park of the neighbourhood scale. For this purpose, a survey was conducted randomly with 550 people in 2018. The scope of this task encompassed research entailed questions regarding the occupation, educational status, age of the users, their relation to the children, as well as the age and gender of the children they brought to the park. These research questions were tested with the analyses of the survey questions, which included matters such as security, maintenance, and adequacy of green spaces, all of which are thought to affect park quality and convenient utilization. When viewing the research result, it was concluded that the demand for better security, adequate green area, additional activities, and playgrounds was higher amongst the user group with university education.

Since the late-20^th century, there has been a transition from an industrial society to an ‘information network society’. ‘The production, organization and dissemination of knowledge’ began to change rapidly at the start of the 21^st century, whereas this situation was met by the more effective search, use and evaluation of all kinds of information by library users. This work has focused on how the paradigm shift in information technology differentiates the functions and architecture of the 21^st century ‘next-gen’ libraries from the traditional sort. Constituting the sample area of the study, the Oodi Library and its architectural features was examined within the context of ‘new architectural design criteria’, such as accessibility, symbolism, spatial organization, access to collections, self-study and integration, both in situ and by means of literature research. In research, it was observed that libraries need to be designed in line with new architectural design criteria, keeping the digitalization of information and integrating new information technologies in the forefront. The paradigm shift in information technology with digitalization has been the catalyst that transforms the libraries of the 21^st century into centres of intellectual life, while reinforcing their role as a symbol of education, equality, transparency and civilization.

Public spaces facilitate opportunities for social interaction and promote social life. The social-spatial complexity of public spaces can be explored through the relationship between built forms and users’ daily social activities. The contemporary needs of users have retrofitted or replaced the controversial public spaces such as streets, depriving the prime function of sustaining and facilitating social life. Thus, any factors influencing users’ social/public life impact the quality of public spaces. Also, contextualization and definition of public spaces necessitate an evaluation of their quality. The lack of a quality assessment directory (QAD) for evaluating multi-functional public spaces motivated us to address it. To achieve the aim, this research has conducted a systematic literature review applying the content analysis to explore the principles and indicators influencing and enhancing social interactions in multi-functional public space design and then performed a normalization analysis to measure the weight of each indicator. The QAD constitutes five criteria (C1 – Inclusiveness, C2 – Desirable activities, C3 – Comfort, C4 – Safety, C5 – Pleasurability), and forty-two (42) embedded sub-criteria. The research found that Inclusiveness (Wn_C1 = 4.38) and Pleasurability (Wn_C2 = 3.88) have received the highest weights. Also, the research found that the sub-criteria ‘Physical/visual connection or openness to adjacent spaces’ (Wn_Sc.4.1 = 1.00), ‘Users of diverse ages’ and ‘Community gathering third places’ (Wn = 0.750) have received the highest weights. Using such a QAD, urban professionals can quantify the effectiveness and efficiency of public spaces’ environmental and physical qualities in promoting social interactions and sociability.

Preservation of cultural heritage is our duty, but there are situations where the heritage cannot be preserved. In this case, if ruins and/or traces of building remain, they should be documented. The aim of this study is to recommend simple, quick and easily-applicable solutions for documentation studies of ruins of cultural heritage that was not preserved. In the extent of this study, a cultural heritage that could not preserve its existence till today but whose place was determined thanks to its traces is dealt with. Iasos Ancient City Theatre, which is the focus of the study, does not exist but its ruins should be documented. For this particular example, photogrammetry was used instead of traditional survey technique that is quite difficult to be applied. As a method, two different photograph-based programs made for photogrammetry were used and after comparing according to 6 criteria, advantages and disadvantages were presented. According to the findings, it can be said that there is no dimensional difference between two programs and both can be applicable.

The representation of modernism in architecture was affected by various determinants which were related to the technical, economic, and social circumstances of the period. The decade when modernism began to be seen in the architectural sphere was marked with aims to create new building forms associated with the ambition for a more socially balanced and egalitarian form of society in which the ideals of equal rights and liberation would be realised. However, establishing equality-based communities, adjusting the housing problem, and creating new universal values dismissed the connection with the tradition. This paper aims to analyse the dialect of modernism in Kaunas, Lithuania, and its characteristics by investigating its various physical nuances and invisible social context, which makes it distinguished when compared with the modernist language in the same period. Furthermore, it focuses on the experimental architectural language and the urban planning trends of the interwar period Kaunas through analysis of values in local architecture and urban planning levels to conduct its integrity.