International Journal of Architectural Engineering & Urban Planning

A Study on Improving Kansei Engineering Precision through Implicit Association Test

Nasser Koleini Mamaghani

Background: In Kansei Engineering, measuring user emotions often relies on self-report methods, which can be biased and imprecise. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) offers a more objective way to assess emotions that are implicitly and non-consciously expressed. Aim: This study investigates whether the IAT can serve as a precise and less biased tool for measuring affective responses in Kansei Engineering. Methods: We developed a software platform to record participants’ reaction times (n=16) as they categorized product stimuli (reception chairs, n=9) with Kansei-related words. Faster responses were assumed to indicate stronger or more confident opinions, providing a potential metric for emotional intensity. Results: The data revealed a W-shaped distribution of reaction scores, with high concentrations at both extremes and in the middle. This deviates from the expected normal distribution, indicating that participants tended to hold either strong or neutral opinions, while moderate opinions were rare. This pattern emerged through an implicit cognitive measure rather than self-reporting, suggesting it reflects underlying cognitive mechanisms. Conclusion: This finding aligns with the "gap instinct," which posits that humans tend to dichotomize their experiences to reduce cognitive load. The results indicate that the IAT offers a valuable tool for enhancing the measurement of affective responses in Kansei Engineering by capturing these implicit, underlying cognitive tendencies

Reconceptualizing the Notion of Place in Light of Hippocampal Function and Cognitive Prototypes, Case Study: Perception of Place Among Residents and Pilgrims in Mashhad

Somaye Sabouri

The concept of place has long been regarded as a foundational notion in urban design, environmental psychology, and cognitive science. Yet, the mental and neural mechanisms underlying place perception have rarely been examined through an interdisciplinary lens. This study focuses on the role of the hippocampal neural structure in the mental representation of place, exploring the links between episodic memory, emotion, lived experience, and the semantic dimensions of place. Drawing on cognitive and semantic theories, prototypes are considered as primary, central configurations that shape individual perceptions of place.

The research was designed at both conceptual and empirical levels. Conceptually, the notions of “place,” “hippocampus,” and “prototype” were analyzed from the perspectives of neuroscience, environmental psychology, and phenomenology. Empirically, free word-association data were collected from 60 residents and pilgrims in the vicinity of the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad. The data were analyzed using content analysis, with internal validity ensured through theoretical saturation.

Findings reveal that mental associations with the term " place" fall into four main clusters: personal spaces, sacred and spiritual spaces, functional spaces, and value concepts of place. Due to early theoretical saturation and the limited diversity of responses, place-based experiences in the contemporary urban context appear restricted, with urban spaces often failing to evoke memory, meaning, or sensory engagement—particularly among residents. Pilgrims exhibit more intense emotional engagement but a narrower spatial focus, whereas residents experience a broader spatial range with less emotional intensity.

In conclusion, place perception is not merely a spatial or functional phenomenon but is deeply rooted in the interweaving of memory, emotion, and daily life, underpinned by the hippocampus. By integrating concepts from cognitive neuroscience with place theory, this study opens new horizons for understanding human experience of place and for developing urban design approaches grounded in memory and perception.

How Can the Built Environment and Studentification Explain Crime Occurrence in Urban Areas?

Mohammad Ghazaie

This study investigates crime, particularly robbery, in Mashhad, the second largest city in Iran. It examines whether urban facilities and students—representing the built environment and studentification—act as crime attractors or detractors. The study also introduces crime prevention strategies in urban contexts, focusing on crime detractors. To this aim, quantitative analysis and spatial statistics methods such as correlation, regression, Moran's I index, and Getis-Ord Gi are applied. These tools are used to explore the spatial distribution of robberies and their relationships with urban facilities and students. The findings reveal that robberies are often concentrated in impoverished and marginalized neighborhoods. Commercial, residential, educational, green spaces, farms, gardens, and warehousing generally act as robbery attractors. In contrast, cultural facilities and students, as culturally expressive social groups, serve as robbery detractors. Challenging the assumption of purely rational offenders, the study argues that crime is primarily driven by life necessities. Since most facilities attract crime, while cultural facilities and students reduce it, a culture-led crime prevention strategy is suggested as a potential pathway to lower crime rates.

Climate-Responsive Vernacular Architecture: Environmental and Cultural Adaptation Strategies in the Historic City of Lar

Amin Habibi

This study examines climate-responsive form in the historic fabric of Lar (Fars, Iran) and clarifies how its vernacular differs from canonical hot-arid cases such as Yazd/Kashan. We adopt a mixed-methods, mechanism-centred approach: plans and field documentation were compiled for 30 dwellings (19 with an iwan, 11 without), iwan and courtyard attributes were coded, and findings were benchmarked against the Mahoney tables. An expert elicitation (n = 218, Cronbach’s α = 0.91) provided ranked environmental and cultural priorities to contextualize the spatial evidence. Across the sample, Lar’s dwellings consistently express façade buffering, solar control, and ventilation staging. Iwans are typically summer-oriented, often aligned with prevailing winds, span about half the façade, and have depth equal to or greater than the principal room, with one-way side access used more often than two-way. Openings on exposed fronts are small and recessed. At the urban-fabric scale, narrow lanes and covered passages (sabat) sustain shaded, ventilated continuity. Courtyards are predominantly central or three-sided, with intermediate plot shares (~20–40%) and elongated proportions (~1/2–1/3) that deepen self-shade and channel breezes; walls and roofs are heavy earthen assemblies, sometimes complemented by basements for thermal damping. Expert rankings place temperature/sunlight as the leading environmental concern and historical/place-based practices as the leading cultural theme, aligning with the observed configurations. Distinctive features of Lar include its dense sabat network, short-wide wind-catchers, and water-organized urban grain. The paper translates these convergences into practice-ready rules for hot-arid design: compact courtyard planning with elongated courts; deep transitional iwans serving principal rooms; protected, recessed openings; shaded, narrow pedestrian ways; and heavy, time-lagging envelopes with adequate drainage. These lessons demonstrate how Lar’s vernacular can inform contemporary, culturally resonant low-energy architecture.

Ranking and Comparing Traditional and Contemporary Residential Spaces in Shiraz City Based on Green Architecture Indicators Using VIKOR Method

Ali khaki

The article aimed to analyze and compare the various characteristics of different residential spaces in the Iranian city of Shiraz, especially the differences and similarities between traditional and Contemporary buildings based on green architectural standards and principles. To meet this, eight samples of traditional and Contemporary buildings of Shiraz City were randomly selected and were then evaluated and ranked using green architecture indicators using the VIKOR method. Therefore, the methodology of this study was descriptive-analytical via field surveys. Findings showed that in traditional buildings the architect used to apply the highest and the best types of green architecture indicators in his architectural model, while modern architecture requires applying local architecture to achieve green architecture indicators. Results also showed that architects of the past employed the best green architecture indicators in designing traditional housing while generating valuable patterns of use based on these indicators.

Popular Architecture and Urbanism of the City of Qom on the Edge of Tradition and Modernity

Masoud Nari Ghomi

This research aims to explore the process of modernization of the city’s image—a topic that has not yet been critically
examined. The study employs an interpretive-historical method, drawing on publications, photographs, and oral
historiography related to both existing and lost buildings of the period. In the case of Qom, the obligatory modern
changes—such as cutting streets through the traditional urban fabric—could not entirely erase traditional conceptions of
the city image at the microscale. Revisiting the street façades of the early modern era in Qom reveals that the public
perception of the new phenomenon of the street was derived from the spatial logic of inner courtyards as well as the bazaar.
The baroque-style planning of the new city was exceptional within Reza Khan’s urban plans and had the greatest impact
on turning the holy shrine into the new city center. However, about a decade after the onset of this modernization process,
a popular trend emerged toward adopting certain modern spatial features. Thus, in this small city at the beginning of
modernization—and later a large city at its peak—numerous popular adaptations between tradition and modernity can be
observed, not only at the microscale and in façade design but also at the urban scale, where modern detached spaces were
integrated through the adaptation of traditional spatial patterns.

The Theory of Relativity and Spatial Impacts in Sustainable Urban Planning: A Case Study of Shahr-e Rey

Zeinab Talebi

This paper aims to regenerate the urban identity of Shahr-e Rey by proposing an analytical model for sustainable urban planning. In this context, the ‘theory of Relativity’ refers to the idea that urban identity is shaped by the relative relationships among cultural, social, and natural forces, and the ‘principle of biocentrism’ emphasizes the central role of ecological considerations in planning. Building on these theoretical foundations, this model guides urban regeneration by identifying and evaluating the dynamic interactions among cultural, social, and natural forces affexting the city. Regarding methodology, the study uses both historical and analytical data, integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches. In the first stage, historical and documentary information on Shahr-e Rey is gathered from written sources and semi-structured interviews with professors at the Tehran University. In the second stage, spatial and functional analyses were conducted using satellite imagery and analytical tools. The findings led to the development of a two-part framework: the Observer Model and the Functional Model. The Observer Model serves as the theoretical and analytical foundation, focusing on how urban phenomena are perceived and interpreted. In contrast, the Functional Model outlines the proposed spatial system, based on empirical data and biocentric indicators. Functional relationship matrices enabled the evaluation of convergence or divergence among urban spaces. This approach allowed for a redefinition of the city’s essential urban functions. The results demonstrate that applying the theory of Relativity in urban planning makes possible a flexible, context-sensitive, and localized design approach. Accordingly, urban policy should move away from dependence on capitalist paradigms and imitation of global models, and instead, through relative and data-driven analyses, advance toward the development of a sustainable and identity-based city. To achieve this, biocentrism must be prioritized as a higher-order indicator in analyses and decision-making, with its relationship to other areas, particularly the built environment, redefined. Such an approach enables Shahr-e Rey to progress toward self-sufficiency and to stabilize at a sustainable level consistent with its historical identity and natural setting

Exploring the Relationship Between Stress Levels and Sound Environment Preferences: Toward Pandemic-Resilient Urban Park Design

Fatemeh Khozaei

This study aims to examine how the Burden of COVID-19 (BUC), depression (DEP), and stress (STR) are related to soundscape preferences (City Voice/traffic, Music, Voice of Nature/birdsong) and to distil design implications for pandemic-resilient urban parks. This cross-sectional online study with N = 323 university students used a 60-s 3D animation of a constant green pedestrian way with three randomized audio conditions (City Voice, Music, Voice of Nature). Psychological variables were assessed with DASS-21 subscales (DEP, STR) and a 10-item BUC index. To minimize loudness confounds, audio was loudness-normalized (BS.1770-5) and participants completed a brief headphone screening before trials. Analyses reported Cronbach’s α, Pearson correlations, exact p values, and FDR control. The study showed that BUC correlated positively with Music (r = .288, p < .001), DEP (r = .213, p < .001), and STR (r = .186, p = .001), but not with City Voice or Voice of Nature. DEP correlated positively with Music (r = .174, p = .002) and Voice of Nature (r = .492, p < .001). STR correlated positively with Voice of Nature
(r = .377, p < .001). City Voice showed no reliable associations with BUC, DEP, or STR. All effects with p ≤ .002 remained after FDR control. Park and streetscape projects should buffer traffic noise, foreground pleasant natural acoustics (e.g., water features, habitat for birds/insects), and consider opt-in, curated music zones during crises to support self-regulation and recovery. Sound-attentive design can extend restorative experiences to communities with limited access to large green spaces, supporting equitable mental-health resilience during public-health emergencies. However, findings should be interpreted with caution given the student sample, correlational design, and single-item soundscape preference measures. The study isolates the auditory contribution to restoration under controlled loudness in a virtual park, links pandemic burden to sound preferences, and translates results into actionable soundscape guidelines for pandemic-ready urban design.