MODULE 02a PL 413: FUNDAMENTALS OF URBAN DESIGN AND COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE

Socio-cultural

is of, relating to, or involving a combination of social and cultural factors. Sociocultural factors are customs, lifestyles and values that characterize a society or group.

Cultural aspect

includes concepts of beauty, education, language, law and politics, religion, social organizations, technology and material culture, values and attitude,

Society, Culture, and System.

The term "socio-cultural system" involves three concepts: ___, ___, and ___.

SOCIETY

the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. Social factors in society include reference groups, family, role and status in society, time and available resources.

CULTURE

is the learned behaviors that are shared by the members of a society, together with the material products of such behaviors. These Cultural aspects include concept of beauty, education, language, law and politics, religion, social organizations, technology, values and attitudes.

SYSTEM

is a collection of parts which interact with each other to function as a whole. (Kauffman, 1980)

Human-centered design (HCD)

is a design and management framework that develops solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process.

Human-centered design

an approach to interactive systems development that aims to make systems usable and useful by focusing on the users, their needs and requirements, and by applying human factors/ergonomics, usability knowledge, and techniques. This approach enhances effectiveness and efficiency, improves human well-being, user satisfaction, accessibility and sustainability; and counteracts possible adverse effects of use on human health, safety and performance.

EMPATHISE, DEFINE, IDEATE, PROTOTYPE, and TEST

FIVE HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN PROCESS

EMPATHISE

is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathy building in the context of design thinking entails gaining a deep understanding of those you are designing for using a range of market research methods (e.g. ethnography). In other words, you are actively stepping into the shoes of another, to understand their lives, and to solve a particular problem from their perspective. During this step, you consider the full spectrum (extremes and mainstreams) of people who will likely be impacted by your design solution.

Alfred Adler

“Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another. “ - World Renowned Philosopher and Psychiatrist

DEFINE

Creating a design challenge is a way to define the focus of your project. Your design challenge will guide all activities completed during the design thinking process. Scoping your design challenge and getting the right frame is difficult at first but your frame will evolve over-time as you make your way through the design process; it is more important to just get started than it is to “get it right.”

IDEATE

is a creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas. In this step of the human-centered design process you will generate as many ideas as possible by brainstorming with your team, sharing insights, and expanding your solution space. Careful attention to effective procedures for group ideation will provide a solid basis for team-based innovation. Brainstorming is the most frequently practiced form of ideation. During the brainstorming process group members exchange ideas in order to come up with novel, creative solutions for problems, and to generate ideas for future innovations.

Brainstorming

is a great way to generate a lot of ideas that you would not be able to generate by just sitting down with a pen and paper. _____ allows you to leverage the collective thinking of the group, by engaging with each other, listening, and building on each other’s ideas. Conducting a ______ creates a distinct segment of time where you intentionally turn up the generative part of your brain and turn down the evaluative part.

PROTOTYPE

is an incredibly effective way to make ideas tangible, to learn through making, and to quickly get key feedback from the people you are designing for. ______ are meant only to convey an idea—not to be perfect—so you can quickly move through a variety of iterations, building on what you have learned from the people you are designing for, and continually refining your solution.

Prototyping

is such a powerful tool because you are organising your ideas and concepts around the needs of the end user. _____ provides an opportunity to determine what lands correctly and what is still missing. It is a way to depict how the experience might play out over time and to gather feedback around that. The main goal of prototyping is to bring tangibility to these intangible experiences.

TEST

you have learnt and built. Now it is time to test. Soliciting feedback on your prototypes helps keep the people you are designing for at the centre of your project, and ensures your solution is something they will willingly embrace. In this step, you can use different ways of soliciting feedback to identify what works, what does not, what can be improved, and how

Feedback Capture Grid

is a structured way of organising feedback that is gathered from your testing sessions. The grid consists of four quadrants: likes, criticisms, questions, and ideas. You can use the grid as a way to capture feedback from your users systematically, or after the test, when you need help organising the various feedback you have gathered.

Architect Travis Price

According to ________, "We are made from nature in nature. We miss the rhythms. We miss the hot, cold. The lack of isolation by fossil fuels, the human being needs that, just like it needs smell and tasts.” (Gray, 2014)

Community Architecture

can be simply defined as, "architecture carried out with the active participation of the end-users". (Wates, Handbook 184) But a lot of people do a lot of complaining about the architecture profession; particularly its alleged preoccupation with making artistic statements rather than, the charge goes, serving people. The issue at hand is not simply the "modern box" aesthetic. The problem is also that, these structures lack an authentic connection to nature and the very cultures in which they exist. This, in turn, leaves people feeling disconnected, isolated and longing for true connections to each other and to their communities. (Benfield, 2013) While the problem is complex, the solution is simple: We must bring nature back into architecture.

religion, attitudes, economic status, class, language, politics and law.

Sociocultural perspective refers to a point of view that is built upon the idea that society and culture are major factors influencing personal development. There are many sociocultural factors referring to man; some examples are (enumerate 7). These factors can affect quality of life, business and health, but as future architects we will be focusing to what planning and designing architecturally a community should be.

GEOGRAPHY AND ECOLOGY

ANTHROPOLOGY

CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS IN COMMUNITY DESIGNS

GEOGRAPHY

The study of the physical feature of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries.

ECOLOGY

The study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, Overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history. Ecology is a branch of biology, and it is not synonymous with environmentalism.

1. AVAILABILITY OF LOCAL MATERIALS

2. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

3. DISASTER PRONE AREAS

4. DIVERSE LAND

HOW ECOLOGY INFLUENCE THE DESIGN

AVAILABILITY OF LOCAL MATERIALS

Most designers design with available materials. It is not common for people to design with materials which are not available or which are difficult to obtain. This is especially true in commercial architecture which is almost always subject to time and cost pressures.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Major current environmental issues may include climate change, pollution, environmental degradation, and resource depletion etc. The conservation movement lobbies for protection of endangered species and protection of any ecologically valuable natural areas, genetically modified foods and global warming.

DISASTER PRONE AREAS

The word sustainable is defined as using a resource so that it is not depleted or permanently damaged. Sustainability is one of the most significant concepts of this decade influencing the design community planning and architecture.

DIVERSE LAND

Architects design on many places. And each of these places have unique terrain.

ANTHROPOLOGY

The study of humans, past and present. To understand the full sweep and complexity of cultures across all of human history, draws and builds upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences. A central concern of anthropologists is the application of knowledge to the solution of human problems.

VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

is an architectural style that is designed based on local needs, availability of construction materials and reflecting local traditions. At least originally, vernacular architecture did not use formally-schooled architects, but relied on the design skills and tradition of local builders

1. CLIMATIC CONDITION

2. CULTURE

FACTORS AFFECTING VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

CLIMATIC CONDITION

Climatic influences on vernacular architecture are substantial and can be extremely complex. The manmade elements interact with the natural microclimate to determine the factors affecting comfort in the built environment: light, heat, wind, and humidity.

CULTURE

The way of life of people, and the way they use their shelters. These are great influence on architecture especially on building forms. The size of family units, who shares which spaces, how food is prepared and eaten, how people ifferact and many other cultural considerations will affect the layout and size of dwellings.

Sociocultural perspective

refers to a point of view that is built upon the idea that society and culture are major factors influencing personal development.

religion, attitudes, economic status, class, language, politics and law

There are many sociocultural factors referring to man; some examples are (enumerate 7). These factors can affect quality of life, business and health, but as future architects you will be focusing to what planning and designing architecturally a community should be.

1. Ethno-linguistic characteristics

2. Social structure

3. Inheritance systems, including land tenure;

4. Religious beliefs and practices;

5. Other cultural beliefs and practices

6. Individual and group attitudes to any aspect of life History

SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS/BASIS

1. Sufficient Data for Analysis, you will be able to gather great information that would help support during the analyzing phase.

2. Adaptation, so for that the community will be able to consider the development from the other neighbors and they will not have the feeling of being alienated.

3. Distinguish, any area or community will be noticed according to ambiance, people, architectural character, and etc.

PROS OF HAVING SOCIOCULTURAL BASIS OF DESIGN

Ideal/ Practical aspect because of modernity, as the generation goes by, the activities of man become more realistic, ideal or practical.

CONS OF HAVING SOCIOCULTURAL BASIS OF DESIGN

1. Distinctive built form

2. Access and movement

3. High quality public realm

4. Sustainable urban environment

5. Adaptable growth

6. Cohesive community

URBAN DESIGN AND COMMUNITY PLANNING GOALS