Papers by Ayda Alehashemi
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2021
LARHYSS Journal P-ISSN 1112-3680 / E-ISSN 2521-9782, Sep 30, 2021
For centuries, complex hydraulic systems had a pivotal role in shaping Iranian cities. As socio-t... more For centuries, complex hydraulic systems had a pivotal role in shaping Iranian cities. As socio-technical systems, water infrastructures outlined a strong connection with the socio- spatial organization of the Iranian cities. This article examines the traditional urban rural linkage in the city of Semnân and shows how this linkage was shaped in various aspects based on the traditional water infrastructure of the city. The paper focuses particularly on the socio-spatial connection between water infrastructure and urban-rural structure in Semnan before the mid- twentieth century. It successively outlines this traditional interconnection in three scales of territorial, urban and architectural organizations. It then puts into question the current situation of the traditional hydraulic system and its correlation with the modern development of the city. The Results of the research shows that the traditional water infrastructure in Semnan had a leading role in Urban-Rural linkage, and spatial organization of the city on different scales until the mid-twentieth century. It shows the integration between hydraulic systems and rural and urban organizations was not limited to the physical aspects. But the hydraulic system governance and organization was in fact deeply integrated with a hierarchical societal system which formed the socio-spatial organization of the Semnan.
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - SHS, 2020
Identified as a central issue and a challenge for reaching sustainability and resilience in urban... more Identified as a central issue and a challenge for reaching sustainability and resilience in urban and territorial development, water management cannot be operated without a deep and situated understanding of both city-water and society-water relationships as seen from a structural, physical and mental level. For Strasbourg and the Upper Rhine Region, water has always been a fundamental element for urban and territorial development. This article illustrates a critical understanding of the historically and culturally-based processes that shaped and transformed this territory over time through water management and different urban rationalizations. Each historical phase, conditioned by different ideologies, social needs and desires, revisits and relates differently to the geographical, topographical and hydrographical features of the territorial support, producing different landscapes and spatial organizations. The text then focuses on the current period still under construction, pointing out the conflicting lines and spaces of negotiation for reinventing Strasbourg’s relationship to water, while articulating the cross-border metropolitan ambition, a reconsidered value of the “blue thread” through new urban development, public uses and ecological concerns, the water uses and structures inherited from the previous periods, and the risks related to recent drought events that are likely to become more frequent. The article finally presents briefly our active contribution in this sense as researchers and urban designers. Reaching for a renewed complex, multi-scalar and multi-actor approach, we defend a conceptual framework relying on design as a negotiation platform where water, as a structuring network, a territorial matrix and a fluctuating resource, could re-engage all design scales: watershed, metropolis, city, district, public spaces, buildings.
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 2021
Flood-control infrastructures—channelization, levees, and dams—are considered as the flood mitiga... more Flood-control infrastructures—channelization, levees, and dams—are considered as the flood mitigation which can control flood disturbances of rivers. However, the flood mitigation, which is deemed as a rigid and one-dimensional approach, not only increases the frequency and severity of floods but also destroys the ecological and societal aspects of rivers. The Kan River, in Tehran, is one of the rivers which is equipped by channels, but it is still considered as one of the chaotic rivers in Tehran. Therefore, an alternative plan instead of channelization is required in order to mitigate the floods of the river. In this regard, we seek to propose an indigenous and flood-friendly plan for the river against flood disturbances. To this purpose, the theoretical foundation of social-ecological resilience is considered as an appropriate approach; thus, the theory of social-ecological resilience is reviewed, and its indicators are extracted. Then, based on the inherent characteristics and landscape of the river, a resilient plan in the face of floods is proposed. We argue that the river should be considered as a dynamic and social-ecological phenomenon. Such a view would help to overcome the disturbances of the river and avoid the one-dimensional planning and approaches. In addition, we suggest that the indicators of social-ecological resilience can be utilized to provide and suggest large-scale, middle-scale, and micro-scale strategies in order to improve the resiliency of the river against floods. The findings of this paper can be applied to the rehabilitation of chaotic urban rivers globally.
Manzar Journal, 2018
Persian Garden, as one of the most significant achievements of Iranian civilization in the world,... more Persian Garden, as one of the most significant achievements of Iranian civilization in the world, is a reflection of Iranian worldview. During various epochs of time, numerous Iranian and foreign scholars have sought to attain a pattern or archetype in Persian garden. For a long time, "Chāhār-Bāgh" has been globally recognized as the prevalent pattern in Persian garden; a geometric pattern, which tries to be adapted to Iranian worldview and the promised paradise introduced in Islam on the basis of the quadruple worldview. This geometric pattern aims at justifying the formation of the quadruple division in Persian garden and introducing it as the original archetype of Persian garden. The development of studies on the spatial adaptation of this pattern and the various types of Persian garden, doubts that "Chāhār-Bāgh" pattern is the archetype of all Persian gardens. Recent studies of mostly Iranian researchers reveal that Persian garden is an axial garden rather than a quadruple divided garden, where the main axis plays a fundamental role in formation of its geometry. The results of this paper recognize that the formation of Persian garden pattern is based on the formation of the main axis which defines and configures a direction from the entrance to the pavilion. The adaptation of this pattern to the Iranian worldview is based on the movement from darkness to light and its subsequent triple division.
Manzar journal, 2020
Fath-Abad Garden in Kerman, in the central desert of Iran, is one of the considerable examples of... more Fath-Abad Garden in Kerman, in the central desert of Iran, is one of the considerable examples of Persian garden in the Qajar period. The garden strictly responds to the original factors of the Persian garden, while represents some contradictions with classic structure of the Persian garden. After decades of neglect, this garden was renovated in 2015 and opened to the public. Today, when we visit this garden it is difficult to redefine it as a Persian garden. By referring to the previous on the structural indicators of the Persian gardens, this paper compares Fath-Abad garden, before and after renovation, with original characters of Persian Garden as a unique identity. To achieve this goal, aerial photos as and general photos of the garden before and after renovation were the basic resources of this research. Considering the garden's structure before and after renovation, this paper argues that the neglect of two main structural indicators of the Persian gardens, which has disturbed the perception of this garden as a Persian garden. The results show that the ignorance of two important indicators of Persian garden including being enclosed with walls, the position of the main entrance and its relation with main axis and pavilion, have disturbed the perception of this garden as the Persian garden and as a complex of three detached garden.
Larhyss Journal, 2021
For centuries, complex hydraulic systems had a pivotal role in shaping Iranian cities. As socio-t... more For centuries, complex hydraulic systems had a pivotal role in shaping Iranian cities. As socio-technical systems, water infrastructures outlined a strong connection with the socio- spatial organization of the Iranian cities.
This article examines the traditional urban rural linkage in the city of Semnân and shows how this linkage was shaped in various aspects based on the traditional water infrastructure of the city. The paper focuses particularly on the socio-spatial connection between water infrastructure and urban-rural structure in Semnan before the mid- twentieth century. It successively outlines this traditional interconnection in three scales of territorial, urban and architectural organizations. It then puts into question the current situation of the traditional hydraulic system and its correlation with the modern development of the city.
The Results of the research shows that the traditional water infrastructure in Semnan had a leading role in Urban-Rural linkage, and spatial organization of the city on different scales until the mid-twentieth century. It shows the integration between hydraulic systems and rural and urban organizations was not limited to the physical aspects. But the hydraulic system governance and organization was in fact deeply integrated with a hierarchical societal system which formed the socio-spatial organization of the Semnan.
JACO, 2017
The urban water networks in Morocco just like other countries in North Africa and Middle East rep... more The urban water networks in Morocco just like other countries in North Africa and Middle East represent complex networks, which are integrated deeply with various aspects of social life. The water networks in the Moroccan cities still play a pivotal role in the urban landscape where the traditional fountains with their repetitive formal instructions in Chefchaouen, Tétouan, Tangier, Fez and Meknès gains a significant attention of each visitor. Why and how the water networks emerge and work in this special way in the cities of Morocco, is the question that this paper tries to find the answer for. Visiting the cities of Morocco and deciphering the relation between the fountains and the urban structure and topography shows that these fountains (places where water emerge) as a last chain of the water network in the Moroccan cities have roles more than a mere functional one. Analyzing the information gathered in the field visits states that these elements coincide completely with the topographical situation of the cities, and are the focal points in the formation of urban facilities, city centers and neighborhoods, and even more in the organization of residential fabrics. These elements have considerable presence in the main urban components such as, mosques, Hammams (public bath), Zaviehs (rooms for dervish), further to the city centers, neighborhood centers, and city entrances and gates, in the open spaces in bazaar and so on. The results of this brief survey also show that besides the decisive role of the traditional fountains in the spatial structure of Moroccan cities, with their special aesthetical instruction and semi-mihrab form integrated to the Moroccan subjectivity and familiar ethics, these elements play a significant cultural and an identical role in the Moroccan cities. Synthesizing the result of field observation in the Islamic Moroccan cities and the remains of the ancient roman city called Volubilis, near the city of Meknes, revealed the relation between indigenous and Islamic rituals and roman traditions in the field of water networks and their main elements, fountains.
JACO, 2020
Water substructure of Semnan city is considered to be one of the unique examples of the interconn... more Water substructure of Semnan city is considered to be one of the unique examples of the interconnectedness of water network and urban structure in Iran and provides a valuable opportunity for reading different aspects of the relationship between water substructures and urban structures in Iran. Knowledge of hidden and manifest apsects of this multidimensional interconnection are considered in the redefinition of the role of water substructures in urban substructures in contemporary Iranian cities. The current essay seeks to answer the question concerning the quality of formation and development of traditional water substructures in harmony with neighborhood structures that form Iranian cities through the study of Semnan City as its case specifically focusing on the role of physical and transphysical connections resulted from the neighborhood relations in the formation of water substructures of Semnan. To this end, by referring to historical documents and contemporary studies of the structure of Semnan City and traditional system of water division in this city, the author historically identifies different aspects of the interconnection between the structure of historical city of Semnan and this city's traditional water substructure. The results of our studies show that the bilateral interconnection between the city and water substructure in Semnan in a specific way follows the neighborhood system that has formed the city. This system has gone beyond the down-top management of physical structures and in a multidimensional form is related to the social, economic and cultural structures of the city. This interconnection in a specific form in the scale of urban neighborhoods and individual and colelective life of the residents of urban neighborhoods has also made the neighborhood system governing the city the basis of water substructure and in this way provided the ground for survival and preservation of this traditional substructure.
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology (IJEST), 2022
Flood-control infrastructures—channelization, levees, and dams—are considered as the flood mitiga... more Flood-control infrastructures—channelization, levees, and dams—are considered as the flood mitigation which can control flood disturbances of rivers. However, the flood mitigation, which is deemed as a rigid and one-dimensional approach, not only increases the frequency and severity of floods but also destroys the ecological and societal aspects of rivers. The Kan River, in Tehran, is one of the rivers which is equipped by channels, but it is still considered as one of the chaotic rivers in Tehran. Therefore, an alternative plan instead of channelization is required in order to mitigate the floods of the river. In this regard, we seek to propose an indigenous and flood-friendly plan for the river against flood disturbances. To this purpose, the theoretical foundation of social-ecological resilience is considered as an appropriate approach; thus, the theory of social-ecological resilience is reviewed, and its indicators are extracted. Then, based on the inherent characteristics and landscape of the river, a resilient plan in the face of floods is proposed. We argue that the river should be considered as a dynamic and social-ecological phenomenon. Such a view would help to overcome the disturbances of the river and avoid the one-dimensional planning and approaches. In addition, we suggest that the indicators of social-ecological resilience can be utilized to provide and suggest large-scale, middle-scale, and micro-scale strategies in order to improve the resiliency of the river against floods. The findings of this paper can be applied to the rehabilitation of chaotic urban rivers globally.
MANZAR Journal, 2021
An important part of Iranian civilization has been shaped in connection with the management and e... more An important part of Iranian civilization has been shaped in connection with the management and exploitation of water resources on various scales. Qazvin traditional orchards are one of the unique examples of the connection between hydraulic infrastructure and the development of human settlements on the Iranian plateau. In the last half-century, the orchards have been destroyed in various ways and the importance of protecting its landscape has been discussed in recent decades.
Asking how to protect the landscape of the orchards, the study reads the landscape of Qazvin orchards from the perspective of shaping hydraulic infrastructure in an interpretive historical research methodology. By relying on historical documents, images and maps, along with contemporary studies on Qazvin orchards and oral history, interviews with trustees and orchardists, this research tries to analyze the role of hydraulic infrastructure in the formation of components and processes shaping the Qazvin orchards landscape. Finally, this article considers the landscape of Qazvin orchards as a hydraulic landscape A landscape that has been affected by the management and exploitation of water resources at all scales, from local to micro. Thus, the protection and rehabilitation of the landscape of Qazvin Orchards depends on the protection and rehabilitation of its traditional water system as a fundamental component of the landscape.
Revue FLUX, 2021
Stimulé par une croissance économique et démogra- phique dont la vigueur n’a pas faibli durant un... more Stimulé par une croissance économique et démogra- phique dont la vigueur n’a pas faibli durant un siècle, l’Iran a engagé à partir de 1920 une politique de modernisation en profondeur de ses réseaux et infrastructures hydrauliques. L’article propose un bilan de cette transition extrêmement rapide d’un système traditionnel et ancestral, hérité de la ci- vilisation millénaire de l’eau en Perse, vers un modèle uni- versel d’adduction. À partir d’études inédites, conduites sur le terrain entre 2015 et 2019, sur un échantillon représentatif des typologies urbaines en Iran (Téhéran, Semnân, Nâeen), les auteurs analysent la diversité des trajectoires de transition et d’hybridation entre les réseaux hydrauliques traditionnels et leurs substituts modernes, les effets socio-économiques et environnementaux produits, et l’évolution des formes ur- baines et des structures de gouvernance territoriale de l’eau qui en résultent depuis le début du XXe siècle.
L’étude soulève des questions qui interrogent le devenir des relations entre réseaux et territoires au XXIe siècle, en Iran comme dans de nombreux autres pays. Là où l’intégra- tion des systèmes hydrauliques et des structures urbaines traditionnelles permettait une distribution équilibrée des res- sources, grâce à un double ou triple réseau d’approvision- nement résilient aux crises hydriques les plus sévères, les provinces les plus fragiles sont de plus en plus dépendantes d’une gestion centralisée qui leur échappe, subissant les pé- nuries sans recours ni alternative. De ce point de vue, en privilégiant l’efficacité technique, les politiques de moder- nisation ont aggravé les inégalités socio-spatiales et fragilisé la cohésion entre villes et territoires. Si le cas de l’Iran est si singulier, ce n’est pas seulement pour des raisons environne- mentales, en particulier l’épuisement de ses aquifères et la perspective de crise hydrique permanente. C’est aussi parce que la rapidité et la brutalité de sa modernisation a entraîné des fractures et dépendances qui ne concernent pas les seuls réseaux hydrauliques, mais un vaste ensemble d’éléments immatériels qui font système avec le réseau et bouleversent son organisation sociale et ses pratiques culturelles de l’eau.
Manzar Journal, 2020
The traditional Qazvin gardens were generally fruitful gardens that were located far away from th... more The traditional Qazvin gardens were generally fruitful gardens that were located far away from the city of Qazvin. These gardens are more than a thousand years old and two thousand five hundred acres of Qazvin's area are located in three directions east, south and west. One of the references to written history is Nasser Khosrow's travelogue, which represents the history of this garden complex
In the past decades, the proliferation of Qazvin has caused great damage to the identity and domain of traditional Qazvin gardens and has endangered the traditional Qazvin gardens. Factors such as urban development, population growth, rising land levels, social and economic changes, rising land prices, the construction of a landfill site and, of course, mismanagement of urban management have caused this devastation. Lack of consistent and contemporary implementation of the people's lives and lack of a comprehensive plan for defining a variety of functions for these parts of the city that caused the destruction, drying, alteration and dismantling of this green and vital infrastructure of Qazvin.
Mullah Khalila Park in the traditional garden garden of Qazvin is one of the few efforts that the Qazvin municipality aimed at reviving the traditional gardens and freshening them to the modern life of the citizens of Qazvin with the needs of their modern life. This park was opened in 2015 and now it is used by people of Qazvin on a daily basis. The present research tries to increase the level of continuity and loyalty of the park's design to the traditional Qazvin gardens, which today serve as a pilot example for live livelihoods. Qazvin gardens are considered, to be analyzed in traditional gardens' structures and patterns.
MANZAR, the Scientific Journal of landscape, Jun 1, 2015
'Landscape' is a contemporary term in the field of urban and environmental studies. A concept whi... more 'Landscape' is a contemporary term in the field of urban and environmental studies. A concept which came from Europe to Iran and now is frequently used in various fields in the country. The concept of landscape, as a new kind of reality in the world, emerged in the Renaissance era in Europe, and according to the changes in the western worldviews in these centuries, has gained various aspects and meanings. The multifaceted concept of landscape which is even hard to describe in the philosophic view, had been coined in the field of art, passed through the world of philosophy, and affected by the recent achievements in the field of the relation between human and environment, is wildly considered in the planning and designing the human environs. Still, its multifaceted meaning frequently ignored by the specialist around the world as well as Iran. By considering the evolution of the concept of 'landscape' in Europe in a historic recall, this paper attempts to reveal the fundamental aspects of this concept, its current meaning, and anticipate its future shifts and its field of influence. By adopting a descriptive method and comparative analysis, the concept of landscape from the Renaissance until now is examining and classified through the historical and existing definitions. At the end, based on this historical review, with the futurological approach, the paper looks into the possible future for this ambiguous. The results of the classification of the definitions of 'landscape' from the Renaissance until now shows that although the emergence of 'landscape' coined based on the classic dualism between subject and object and the distinction between the world of physics and the world of phenomena as an individualistic regard to the nature, but with by the failure of this dualism and accepting the uncertainty in the world, it evaluated as a subjective-objective phenomenon. In the 21st century, this concept as a new field of science has gained the considerable attention and considered as a savior discipline for our crisis period of mono-dimensionality in the human and its environs relation.
During centuries, modern cities and societies were sustained upon technological infrastructures. ... more During centuries, modern cities and societies were sustained upon technological infrastructures. Our cities depend on these networks in a way that we can't imagine them without highways or railroad networks, airports, municipal water and sewer systems, telephone, electricity and most recently internet or communication networks. Today these infrastructural networks have a vital role just the same as sun, plants and fresh air for us. These infrastructures affected our cities and our relation with our environs more than any other achievements in the industrial era. From late 20th century by entering post-industrial era in developed countries, by the emergence of ecological hazards which led to the rise of environmental concerns since 1970s, the crises and erosion in the engineered infrastructure networks since the first decades of 21st century, beside the disability of modern technological infrastructures to response to new multi-dimensional needs of post-industrial societies, coming into focus the necessity of redefinition in the current approaches to infrastructures. By revisiting the concept, features and crises in the field of urban infrastructures, this essay puts into question the expected aspects of post-industrial infrastructures. Also by historical-interpretation study on the notion of landscape this paper examines the capacity of landscaping approach in planning and managing infrastructures in the 21st century. Finally, analyzing these two concepts showed that the solution to overcome the industrial infrastructures toward post-industrial one is to employ the more multi-dimensional and holistic approaches. Approaches that allow the multi-faceted integration between infrastructure and ecological, social and economical aspects of cities and point the end to the more than a century of civil engineering authority that shaped rigid and mono-dimensional infrastructures in the modern era. It noted also that the discipline of landscape which simultaneously with the great changes in modern philosophy, passed conceptual revolution, due to its inherent traits of being mediance and trajection that is not reduced to the objectivity and mono-dimensionality, allows us to overcome the object-oriented approaches in planning urban infrastructures. Thus the result of this short recall of two notions of infrastructure and landscape shows that the utilization of landscaping approach in planning the infrastructures is one of the solutions allows us to pass the inflexibility and solidity of modern engineered infrastructures.
Books by Ayda Alehashemi
Éditions L’Œil d’Or, 2020
This volume brings together the proceedings of the Water & City, Hydraulic Systems and Urban Stru... more This volume brings together the proceedings of the Water & City, Hydraulic Systems and Urban Structures International Conference held in Yazd between September 3rd and 7th, 2018. The 25 articles by 35 authors from 7 different countries are organised in 5 chapters following the conference sessions. Led by the School of Art and Architecture at Yazd University, the initiative originated in the encounter of a multi-disciplinary group of international researchers in architecture, history and engineering with the UNESCO International Center on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (ICQH) in Yazd.
Focusing on the historical aspects of water with regards to contemporary engineering, architectural and urban design, the 2018 Yazd Conference had three goals:
– Sharing knowledge and experiences in the integration between water systems and urban structures.
– Identifying evolution paths and sustainable approaches towards improving relations between water and cities.
– Laying the ground for a future international research program, by a common language and a mutual understanding of the role of water in designing and managing cities and their regions.
L’Œil d’Or, 2020
The Central Iranian plateau is considered as a dehydrated zone with low precipitation. Most citie... more The Central Iranian plateau is considered as a dehydrated zone with low precipitation. Most cities in this arid region depend on groundwater, and the technique of qanat1 (e.g. Yazd and Tehran). However, on the rim of the central desert area the most innovative systems developed based on other water resources such as monsoons (e.g. Lar and Chabahar, on the border of Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman) or surface waters (e.g. Semnan and Isfahan, in the foot- hills of Alborz and Zagros mountains). The ancient Persians proved their abilities in developing the innovative hydraulic technics in this arid zone of the world.
In modern times, however, rapid socio-economic development has created a serious water crisis in the country. From the 20th century, tradi- tional water infrastructures were replaced by modern ones with no corre- spondence to urban structures and management. This paper focuses on the relations between water systems and urban settlements, providing an overview on the integration between water infrastructures and urban structures in the two cities of Semnân, with traditional water infrastructures, and Tehran, a modern city with modern hydraulic infrastructures replacing traditional ones.
Hydraulic systems & Urban structures by Ayda Alehashemi
The water in Iranian plateau and its environs have a main role in urban landscapes; complicate st... more The water in Iranian plateau and its environs have a main role in urban landscapes; complicate structures which shaped according to the hydraulic situations and played a multi-purpose role in the urban spatial structure. today with the new environmental and social concerns about modern infrastructures, rereading the historic semi-natural infrastructures and their multifaceted integration with urban structures, will contribute to redefine the dominant one-dimensional characteristic of water infrastructures in the modern era. One of the most considerable examples for the multi- dimensional integration between water infrastructure and urban structure was situated in Bukhara in Uzbekistan. A system, developed on current water, with a vital role in the urban landscape of Bukhara, which remains till now, in spite of more than 90 percent of destructions.
The main question that this paper tries to answer is not the formation of the system, although it’s important by itself, but the way this system resist through the centuries. How to promote this system from common semi-natural infrastructure to the landscape infrastructure with the most influential effect of the urban structure of Bukhara? For this purpose, the research focuses on the way the water system arises in integration with the urban structure of Bukhara in its started pointing in the 19th century and its expansion till the 20th century, and also it falls in start of the modern era in Bukhara in the early of 20th century.
The survey shows two important and related facts about water system of Bukhara: first, the water system of Bukhara made a tangible relation to the physical and social structure of the city in various scales (from public to private) which made the system as a key player in the urban landscape of Bukhara and promote it from a mere subsistent infrastructure to the landscape infrastructure with a symbolic role in Bukhara. Second, Although the functional role, was the necessity of the existence of the system and its relation to the urban life, but it’s not the mere requirement for its continuation through centuries. in fact, the subjective integration between the water system and its components with the city has the equivalent role as the objective integration between system and urban structure in the resistance and continues of system in common language more than ten centuries.
Urban Services to Ecosystems Green Infrastructure Benefits from the Landscape to the Urban Scale, 2021
Defining contemporary urban paradigms is the challenge of this time, especially when the urban dy... more Defining contemporary urban paradigms is the challenge of this time, especially when the urban dynamics are so fluid they spread uncontrollably in overextended and overpopulated territories. This is the case for megacities, metropolitan areas with more than 10 million inhabitants, which place the emphasis on how to manage energy consumption in such filled places. In this frame, the city of Tehran, the capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran, scene of political and cultural disputes, administrative and economic headquarter of the country, with its nearly 15 million residents and a daily traffic of more than 20 million people, is currently one of the most populous cities in the world and represents an interesting case study, in order to explore the urban dynamics in the use of public space, aiming to an environment protecting-oriented approach. Tehran’s urban landscape is a metaphor for its duplicity: on one side, to the north the majestic Alborz mountain range, from which seven water streams flow; on the other, to the south, the desert. The attempt of this paper is to make a historical, urban, and landscape analysis of this controversial city in order to understand how the water system of the city could enhance the public space design processes with a sustainable approach.
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Papers by Ayda Alehashemi
This article examines the traditional urban rural linkage in the city of Semnân and shows how this linkage was shaped in various aspects based on the traditional water infrastructure of the city. The paper focuses particularly on the socio-spatial connection between water infrastructure and urban-rural structure in Semnan before the mid- twentieth century. It successively outlines this traditional interconnection in three scales of territorial, urban and architectural organizations. It then puts into question the current situation of the traditional hydraulic system and its correlation with the modern development of the city.
The Results of the research shows that the traditional water infrastructure in Semnan had a leading role in Urban-Rural linkage, and spatial organization of the city on different scales until the mid-twentieth century. It shows the integration between hydraulic systems and rural and urban organizations was not limited to the physical aspects. But the hydraulic system governance and organization was in fact deeply integrated with a hierarchical societal system which formed the socio-spatial organization of the Semnan.
Asking how to protect the landscape of the orchards, the study reads the landscape of Qazvin orchards from the perspective of shaping hydraulic infrastructure in an interpretive historical research methodology. By relying on historical documents, images and maps, along with contemporary studies on Qazvin orchards and oral history, interviews with trustees and orchardists, this research tries to analyze the role of hydraulic infrastructure in the formation of components and processes shaping the Qazvin orchards landscape. Finally, this article considers the landscape of Qazvin orchards as a hydraulic landscape A landscape that has been affected by the management and exploitation of water resources at all scales, from local to micro. Thus, the protection and rehabilitation of the landscape of Qazvin Orchards depends on the protection and rehabilitation of its traditional water system as a fundamental component of the landscape.
L’étude soulève des questions qui interrogent le devenir des relations entre réseaux et territoires au XXIe siècle, en Iran comme dans de nombreux autres pays. Là où l’intégra- tion des systèmes hydrauliques et des structures urbaines traditionnelles permettait une distribution équilibrée des res- sources, grâce à un double ou triple réseau d’approvision- nement résilient aux crises hydriques les plus sévères, les provinces les plus fragiles sont de plus en plus dépendantes d’une gestion centralisée qui leur échappe, subissant les pé- nuries sans recours ni alternative. De ce point de vue, en privilégiant l’efficacité technique, les politiques de moder- nisation ont aggravé les inégalités socio-spatiales et fragilisé la cohésion entre villes et territoires. Si le cas de l’Iran est si singulier, ce n’est pas seulement pour des raisons environne- mentales, en particulier l’épuisement de ses aquifères et la perspective de crise hydrique permanente. C’est aussi parce que la rapidité et la brutalité de sa modernisation a entraîné des fractures et dépendances qui ne concernent pas les seuls réseaux hydrauliques, mais un vaste ensemble d’éléments immatériels qui font système avec le réseau et bouleversent son organisation sociale et ses pratiques culturelles de l’eau.
In the past decades, the proliferation of Qazvin has caused great damage to the identity and domain of traditional Qazvin gardens and has endangered the traditional Qazvin gardens. Factors such as urban development, population growth, rising land levels, social and economic changes, rising land prices, the construction of a landfill site and, of course, mismanagement of urban management have caused this devastation. Lack of consistent and contemporary implementation of the people's lives and lack of a comprehensive plan for defining a variety of functions for these parts of the city that caused the destruction, drying, alteration and dismantling of this green and vital infrastructure of Qazvin.
Mullah Khalila Park in the traditional garden garden of Qazvin is one of the few efforts that the Qazvin municipality aimed at reviving the traditional gardens and freshening them to the modern life of the citizens of Qazvin with the needs of their modern life. This park was opened in 2015 and now it is used by people of Qazvin on a daily basis. The present research tries to increase the level of continuity and loyalty of the park's design to the traditional Qazvin gardens, which today serve as a pilot example for live livelihoods. Qazvin gardens are considered, to be analyzed in traditional gardens' structures and patterns.
Books by Ayda Alehashemi
Focusing on the historical aspects of water with regards to contemporary engineering, architectural and urban design, the 2018 Yazd Conference had three goals:
– Sharing knowledge and experiences in the integration between water systems and urban structures.
– Identifying evolution paths and sustainable approaches towards improving relations between water and cities.
– Laying the ground for a future international research program, by a common language and a mutual understanding of the role of water in designing and managing cities and their regions.
In modern times, however, rapid socio-economic development has created a serious water crisis in the country. From the 20th century, tradi- tional water infrastructures were replaced by modern ones with no corre- spondence to urban structures and management. This paper focuses on the relations between water systems and urban settlements, providing an overview on the integration between water infrastructures and urban structures in the two cities of Semnân, with traditional water infrastructures, and Tehran, a modern city with modern hydraulic infrastructures replacing traditional ones.
Hydraulic systems & Urban structures by Ayda Alehashemi
The main question that this paper tries to answer is not the formation of the system, although it’s important by itself, but the way this system resist through the centuries. How to promote this system from common semi-natural infrastructure to the landscape infrastructure with the most influential effect of the urban structure of Bukhara? For this purpose, the research focuses on the way the water system arises in integration with the urban structure of Bukhara in its started pointing in the 19th century and its expansion till the 20th century, and also it falls in start of the modern era in Bukhara in the early of 20th century.
The survey shows two important and related facts about water system of Bukhara: first, the water system of Bukhara made a tangible relation to the physical and social structure of the city in various scales (from public to private) which made the system as a key player in the urban landscape of Bukhara and promote it from a mere subsistent infrastructure to the landscape infrastructure with a symbolic role in Bukhara. Second, Although the functional role, was the necessity of the existence of the system and its relation to the urban life, but it’s not the mere requirement for its continuation through centuries. in fact, the subjective integration between the water system and its components with the city has the equivalent role as the objective integration between system and urban structure in the resistance and continues of system in common language more than ten centuries.
This article examines the traditional urban rural linkage in the city of Semnân and shows how this linkage was shaped in various aspects based on the traditional water infrastructure of the city. The paper focuses particularly on the socio-spatial connection between water infrastructure and urban-rural structure in Semnan before the mid- twentieth century. It successively outlines this traditional interconnection in three scales of territorial, urban and architectural organizations. It then puts into question the current situation of the traditional hydraulic system and its correlation with the modern development of the city.
The Results of the research shows that the traditional water infrastructure in Semnan had a leading role in Urban-Rural linkage, and spatial organization of the city on different scales until the mid-twentieth century. It shows the integration between hydraulic systems and rural and urban organizations was not limited to the physical aspects. But the hydraulic system governance and organization was in fact deeply integrated with a hierarchical societal system which formed the socio-spatial organization of the Semnan.
Asking how to protect the landscape of the orchards, the study reads the landscape of Qazvin orchards from the perspective of shaping hydraulic infrastructure in an interpretive historical research methodology. By relying on historical documents, images and maps, along with contemporary studies on Qazvin orchards and oral history, interviews with trustees and orchardists, this research tries to analyze the role of hydraulic infrastructure in the formation of components and processes shaping the Qazvin orchards landscape. Finally, this article considers the landscape of Qazvin orchards as a hydraulic landscape A landscape that has been affected by the management and exploitation of water resources at all scales, from local to micro. Thus, the protection and rehabilitation of the landscape of Qazvin Orchards depends on the protection and rehabilitation of its traditional water system as a fundamental component of the landscape.
L’étude soulève des questions qui interrogent le devenir des relations entre réseaux et territoires au XXIe siècle, en Iran comme dans de nombreux autres pays. Là où l’intégra- tion des systèmes hydrauliques et des structures urbaines traditionnelles permettait une distribution équilibrée des res- sources, grâce à un double ou triple réseau d’approvision- nement résilient aux crises hydriques les plus sévères, les provinces les plus fragiles sont de plus en plus dépendantes d’une gestion centralisée qui leur échappe, subissant les pé- nuries sans recours ni alternative. De ce point de vue, en privilégiant l’efficacité technique, les politiques de moder- nisation ont aggravé les inégalités socio-spatiales et fragilisé la cohésion entre villes et territoires. Si le cas de l’Iran est si singulier, ce n’est pas seulement pour des raisons environne- mentales, en particulier l’épuisement de ses aquifères et la perspective de crise hydrique permanente. C’est aussi parce que la rapidité et la brutalité de sa modernisation a entraîné des fractures et dépendances qui ne concernent pas les seuls réseaux hydrauliques, mais un vaste ensemble d’éléments immatériels qui font système avec le réseau et bouleversent son organisation sociale et ses pratiques culturelles de l’eau.
In the past decades, the proliferation of Qazvin has caused great damage to the identity and domain of traditional Qazvin gardens and has endangered the traditional Qazvin gardens. Factors such as urban development, population growth, rising land levels, social and economic changes, rising land prices, the construction of a landfill site and, of course, mismanagement of urban management have caused this devastation. Lack of consistent and contemporary implementation of the people's lives and lack of a comprehensive plan for defining a variety of functions for these parts of the city that caused the destruction, drying, alteration and dismantling of this green and vital infrastructure of Qazvin.
Mullah Khalila Park in the traditional garden garden of Qazvin is one of the few efforts that the Qazvin municipality aimed at reviving the traditional gardens and freshening them to the modern life of the citizens of Qazvin with the needs of their modern life. This park was opened in 2015 and now it is used by people of Qazvin on a daily basis. The present research tries to increase the level of continuity and loyalty of the park's design to the traditional Qazvin gardens, which today serve as a pilot example for live livelihoods. Qazvin gardens are considered, to be analyzed in traditional gardens' structures and patterns.
Focusing on the historical aspects of water with regards to contemporary engineering, architectural and urban design, the 2018 Yazd Conference had three goals:
– Sharing knowledge and experiences in the integration between water systems and urban structures.
– Identifying evolution paths and sustainable approaches towards improving relations between water and cities.
– Laying the ground for a future international research program, by a common language and a mutual understanding of the role of water in designing and managing cities and their regions.
In modern times, however, rapid socio-economic development has created a serious water crisis in the country. From the 20th century, tradi- tional water infrastructures were replaced by modern ones with no corre- spondence to urban structures and management. This paper focuses on the relations between water systems and urban settlements, providing an overview on the integration between water infrastructures and urban structures in the two cities of Semnân, with traditional water infrastructures, and Tehran, a modern city with modern hydraulic infrastructures replacing traditional ones.
The main question that this paper tries to answer is not the formation of the system, although it’s important by itself, but the way this system resist through the centuries. How to promote this system from common semi-natural infrastructure to the landscape infrastructure with the most influential effect of the urban structure of Bukhara? For this purpose, the research focuses on the way the water system arises in integration with the urban structure of Bukhara in its started pointing in the 19th century and its expansion till the 20th century, and also it falls in start of the modern era in Bukhara in the early of 20th century.
The survey shows two important and related facts about water system of Bukhara: first, the water system of Bukhara made a tangible relation to the physical and social structure of the city in various scales (from public to private) which made the system as a key player in the urban landscape of Bukhara and promote it from a mere subsistent infrastructure to the landscape infrastructure with a symbolic role in Bukhara. Second, Although the functional role, was the necessity of the existence of the system and its relation to the urban life, but it’s not the mere requirement for its continuation through centuries. in fact, the subjective integration between the water system and its components with the city has the equivalent role as the objective integration between system and urban structure in the resistance and continues of system in common language more than ten centuries.
The Kan river, the main river of Tehran, is still vulnerable to flood disturbance even though its infrastructures have been improved to control the flood. Rigid and one-dimensional approaches to flood control not only has failed to control flooding but also destroyed the ecological and structural infrastructures of rivers. This paper seeks to investigate how the environmental resilience approach can affect flood management in urban rivers. It mainly focuses on the role of resilience thinking and its potential contribution to the regularization of the Kan river in response to flood disturbance. To this purpose, in this paper, four successful projects in the world were examined to extract the principles and strategies of resilience in the face of the river flooding. Planning and strategies were proposed based on these principles and guidelines for this chaotic river. Time, trial, threshold, learning, and diversity as the principles and cut and fill as well as wetlands as the strategies were extracted from the projects to address the disturbance of the river. As a variety of disciplines play a key role in flood control, the necessity for multidisciplinary integrated approach and planning is much felt. The integration of principles and strategies, planning, and organization of the landscape lead to a comprehensive and multidisciplinary program. In other words, the Kan river planning management requires a multidisciplinary approach which addresses landscape and ecological issues. This comprehensive and multidisciplinary planning based on flood resilience can serve as a model for other urban rivers that are vulnerable to flood disturbance.
Since the end of the last century, the influence of water networks on the Iranian urban morphology gains the attention of scholars. However, the various facets of the correlation between water networks and urban structures still remain obscure.
By looking into the integration between urban structures and water systems during the medieval era in the cities from Iranian plateau including; Semnān, Bukhara and Isfahan (with the water systems based on surface water with perennial or peninsular rivers); Nāein and Yazd (with the water systems based on underground water (Qanat); and Lār (with the water system based on monsoons), this paper puts into question the common language based on which these water systems, with various characteristics, have been transformed into the main urban infrastructure in the Iranian Cities.
To accomplish this objective, the article first outlines the main characteristic of urban structures in Iranian cities during the medieval era. Then, by following up the obscure and obvious relationship between water networks and urban structures, this paper counts down the different aspects of integration between the water system and urban structures.
The mutual relationship between the urban structures and the water systems in Iranian cities shows the multi-functionality of these systems in various scales: First the objective aspects of this relation in which the water system integrates with the spatial and morphological structures of the city. This integration between water networks and urban spatial structure affects the urban landscape and the common perception of these cities. Second; the subjective aspects of the relation in which the water system and its management system integrates deeply with the social-cultural structure of the city and neighborhoods, and in some cases with the religious beliefs and regulations. The article also highlights the pivotal role of resiliency in both, system management and planning or designing the physical components of water systems in this multidimensional relation between water system and urban structures.