10.57647/j.ccd.2025.0803.16

Drawing a Scientific Map of Aesthetics Studies in Iranian Architecture and Urban Design Products from 2011 to 2021

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  • Saba Hosseininasab*1,
  • Sajad Aeini2,
  • Ali Bonyadi Naeini3,
  1. Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Environmental Design, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
  2. Department of Art & architecture, Ma.c., Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
  3. Department of Management, School of Management, Economics and Progress Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2024-07-30

Revised: 2025-01-17

Accepted: 2025-03-03

Published in Issue 2023-09-30

Copyright (c) 2025 Saba Hosseininasab, Sajad Aeini, Ali Bonyadi Naeini (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Hosseininasab, S., Aeini, S., & Bonyadi Naeini, A. (2023). Drawing a Scientific Map of Aesthetics Studies in Iranian Architecture and Urban Design Products from 2011 to 2021. Creative City Design, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.57647/j.ccd.2025.0803.16
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Abstract

Aims: The concept of beauty is an essential aspect of architecture that has received significant attention from researchers and professionals in the field. However, the lack of a comprehensive understanding of this concept may lead to an incomplete understanding of beauty among researchers, architects, and clients. This deficiency can have far-reaching consequences, affecting management, policy-making, and even architectural education. Therefore, we focused on the educational aspect of the problem because we believe that identifying scientific similarities in this field will enable architects and urban planners to find a common language to talk about beauty more practically. The crucial step in compensating for this lack is to examine what architects and urban planners know about beauty and which definitions of aesthetics are studied in current scientific products. Scientometrics evaluations provide practical techniques for finding solutions to the mentioned questions. Hence, this study aims to draw a scientific map of aesthetics studies in architecture and urban design products in Iran from 2011 to 2021. This map will enable us to acquire a more precise picture of the way researchers and actors in the field of architecture and urban design think about beauty and its priorities.

Methodology: The study employed a mixed research method, with a focus on content analysis extracted from a systematic review that drew a scientific map based on a focus on beauty. Content analysis was accomplished in five steps: data gathering, categorizing, coding, analyzing, and interpretation by researchers. The evaluation of published studies by Iranian researchers in Scopus and Web of Science in the field of architecture and urban planning between 2011 and 2021 formed the basis of the study. We used the Prisma checklist to select 36 items between 358 studies. The software for data analysis used in this research was MAXQDA, UCINET and Excel.

 Finding: The findings of the study revealed that most research has focused on the visual features of architectural and urban forms, with the aesthetics of residential facades and urban walls being the most studied. The co-word network analysis revealed that concepts such as sustainability, design, and visual features have led to the formation of the main framework in aesthetic studies.

Conclusion: the development of aesthetic research with attention to non-visual perceptions such as tactile and auditory perception in the environment, along with attention to the values ​​existing in the cultural context of Iran, can compensate for the existing shortcomings in this area.

Keywords

  • Aesthetics,
  • Architecture,
  • Urban Planning,
  • Beauty,
  • Scientometrics
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