Analyzing Evolution of the Quality of Life Approach in Architecture & Urbanism

Subject Areas : architecture

Reza Sameh ¹ , Gholam-Reza Akrami ²

1 - Ph.D. in Architecture, Faculty of Architecture & Urban Development, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.
2 - Ph.D. in Architecture, College of Fine Arts, Faculty of Architecture, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2013-04-08 Accepted : 2013-10-07 Published : 2016-05-21

Keywords:

Abstract :

«Quality of life« is an important concept and most thinkers in the past have been considered it. Although somephilosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Descartes, Habermas, Rawls and others have talked about thequality of human life, but this concept as a matter of scientific research can be found only in social, economic,health and psychological studies since 1930s and in architecture and urban studies since 1960s.The «Quality of life« approach arose in the wake of criticism of the early twentieth century events and continued untilthe recent century, with a specific nature in each period. The main origins of them are appearance of «Standard ofLiving« term; change the «Standard« to «Quality« and the «Quality of Life Movement«. These phrases exemplifycontinued attempts to represent human reality and welfare in objective terms and to rationalize collective decisionmaking; but the passage from one to the other shows a shift in public discourse from individual life to communityand even to global subjects.In fact, this shift from standard to quality denotes a widening of our perspective on human being and life, a moreholistic and comprehensive approach to architecture and urban planning. So the phrase «Quality of Life« givesvoice to our concern with the nonmaterial dimension of wellbeing, beyond the basic needs of the individual.The purpose of this article is to understand the different approaches of this concept in any time and paying attentionto the evolution of that in the contemporary era to solve the problems ahead efficiently. Also, it determines thedimensions and the nature of the takes to be undertaken.This article explores what the evolution of Quality of Life approach tells us about architecture and urbanism andabout built environment in general since 1930s. Therefore, the strategy in this article is the study of history,issues and factors affecting the appearance of «Quality of Life« approach and explanation its evolution in thecontemporary architecture and urbanism. Also the method is explaining past events, analyze, and explore therelationship between them to recognize the nature of this approach.To this end, the paper contains four main parts: The first part is an introduction of the «quality of life« concept andits development process. The second part, as a literature review, is devoted for viewing the architectural and urbanquality of life factors in the appearance of this thought. The third part will discuss the evolution of «Quality of Life«concept in the modern period and in the fourth part as a result we will face with the status of this approach at theend of this century and the further developments.Regarding the evolution of the «quality of life« thought in the second half of the last century until now, the future of thisapproach in architecture and urbanism can be pursued in the globalization studies. With more surveys in this field, thisidea can be seen in the environmental different aspects and can be applied in the implementation of this idea.... Keywords: Quality, Quality of Life, Standard of Living, Architecture, Urbanism

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