Adaptation of Housing Design to Cultural Changes in Syria
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Adaptation of Housing Design to Culture Change in Syria: Concepts and Practices in the City of Lattakia Reem Hekmat Ismail Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Heriot-Watt University School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society May 2015 The copyright in this thesis is owned by the author. Any quotation from the thesis or use of any of the information contained in it must acknowledge this thesis as the source of the quotation or information. ABSTRACT Rapid cultural change in contemporary life is affecting housing use and design in Syria, with these becoming more ‘out of line’. This study investigates the nature of cultural change and its impact on housing use in general as a way to explore to what extent it is affecting the appropriateness of housing design in Syria. The study is theoretically based on a social constructionist approach due to the complexity and multidimensionality of the study, especially in understanding how people interpret their housing use and cultural identity. The academic literature review focuses on the links between culture and housing design and reviews the changing nature of these in Syria in the face of modernization, westernization and globalization. Based on a case study approach, the research focuses on one of the cities in Syria most affected by such changes (the coastal tourist city of Lattakia). The research investigates the contextual nature of cultural issues in relation to built environment in the city, drawing on qualitative research methods at both macro and micro levels considering the holistic yet individual implications of the subject of study. Empirical investigations were conducted with appropriate samples of representative households in two formal ‘generically designed’ housing areas - i.e. those not designed for a specific client and not self-designed/built, but designed by either government or private sector architects for a general population. The first housing area was developed by the state with subsidised housing (Youth Housing), which represents a lower middle class group. The second area was the university area (Tishreen University Area), which represents a middle class group with houses designed speculatively by the private sector. In these two areas, research methods included: 39 household interviews using face-to-face questionnaires, photographic documentation, analysis of documented licensed housing design plans, and direct observation. Semi-structured interviews with 11 actors involved in generic housing design (academic architects, professional architects and developers) were also conducted. Two key housing use/design issues were chosen to be investigated as key cultural indicators in housing and also very changeable in the pre-war Syrian context: concepts ii and practices of privacy in the home (family privacy, intra-family privacy, and women’s privacy) and trends in food preparation and consumption. The study provides detailed social and cultural information on actual house use and residents’ aspirations on a number of implications arising from these factors, as yet unavailable for Syria. One outcome of this research is to recommend design approaches more attuned to current cultural change through a deeper understanding of inhabitants’ actual social patterns and needs - through e.g. guidelines for bigger kitchens with dining space, which reflects the change in food preparation and consumption, increasing the number of bedrooms to provide more intra-family privacy, and providing study/work space in the dwellings. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank all academic staff of the school of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, who provided guidance and support and everyone who helped and supported me to complete this work. A very special thanks and appreciation to my primary supervisor Prof. Paul Jenkins, who encouraged, supported and advised me all the way while I was searching. I am very grateful to my current primary supervisor Dr. Harry Smith who strongly encouraged me to complete and finish my thesis to get to see my works and efforts blooming, and to James Morgan, whose feedback on my draft was extremely valuable and supportive. I appreciate all efforts and support from the key informants Ryad Motawij and George kounsellie and all other interviewees who participated in this research and the households who were very welcoming and very helpful, giving me the access to their own house and private domain for the sake of conducting this research. The Faculty of Architecture in Aleppo University, Syria has granted me a great opportunity having this scholarship which is much appreciated. Academic staff of Aleppo University continued to support me with documents I needed in spite of the critical situation because of the crisis. I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to my mother Bahrieh who, despite the difficulty bearing my absence from her and home, encouraged me to travel and involve in this long journey to achieve my goal. My great and supportive brothers: Majdi and his family, Osama and Mouthana, and my sister Ruba, all helped me to overcome the difficulties I faced and the sadness and homesickness I felt being far from them. My greatest thank is to my father, who had taught me that the journey to the aim is much more valuable than the goal itself, may his soul rest in peace. I much appreciate all my colleagues and friends who were beside me when I needed. iv v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background and justification of the research ........................................................ 1 1.2 Need for this study ................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Research Aim ........................................................................................................ 4 1.4 Research Objectives .............................................................................................. 5 1.5 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 6 1.6 Methodology of this research ................................................................................ 6 1.7 Summary of conducted empirical work .............................................................. 11 1.8 Thesis structure ................................................................................................... 11 1.9 Challenges and limitations to the study ............................................................... 13 Chapter 2: Literature review on culture and housing ......................................... 14 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Concepts of culture and their relation with housing............................................ 14 2.2.1 Definition of Culture ...................................................................................................... 15 2.2.2 Cultural change .............................................................................................................. 16 2.2.3 Culture and its relation with housing ............................................................................. 21 2.3 Houses and housing ............................................................................................. 23 2.3.1 Houses and housing: example of Great Britain .............................................................. 23 2.3.2 Types of housing according to who is involved in their design ..................................... 27 2.3.3 Traditional vernacular building, popular building, and erudite architecture .................. 27 2.3.4 Modern vernacular building in the context of informal and formal settlement ............. 28 2.4 Architecture as a medium of culture ................................................................... 31 2.5 Architecture and proactive role of the architect/ designer in culture change ...... 36 2.6 Architectural understanding and knowledge of culture ...................................... 41 2.7 Home and house .................................................................................................. 42 2.8 Concept of home and methodological approaches for analyzing the home ........ 44 2.8.1 Concept of home ............................................................................................................ 44 2.8.2 Home and domestic material cultures ............................................................................ 49 2.9 Cultural aspects most relevant to housing use .................................................... 50 vi 2.10 Privacy: a conceptual discussion ......................................................................... 52 2.10.1 Concept of privacy ......................................................................................................... 52 2.10.2 Privacy and culture ......................................................................................................... 54 2.10.3 Change in conceptions of privacy .................................................................................. 54 2.11 Food preparation/ consumption ........................................................................... 56 2.11.1 Food and culture ............................................................................................................. 56 2.11.2 Foodways as cultural practices vis-a-vis