Beyti, H., Gharehbaglou, M., Karimipour, E. (2025). 'Environmental Affordances Affecting Self-Awareness in Selected Residential Complexes of Mashhad', , 11(4), pp. 71-91. doi: 10.22067/jgusd.2023.79983.1272
Beyti, H., Gharehbaglou, M., Karimipour, E. Environmental Affordances Affecting Self-Awareness in Selected Residential Complexes of Mashhad. , 2025; 11(4): 71-91. doi: 10.22067/jgusd.2023.79983.1272
Environmental Affordances Affecting Self-Awareness in Selected Residential Complexes of Mashhad
1Associate Professor. Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Tabriz Islamic Art University (TIAU)
2Faculty member of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tabriz University of Islamic Arts
3PH.D student of Islamic Architecture Engineering/ Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tabriz University of Islamic Arts
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
A good life emerges from living and reflecting on one’s own existence. It can therefore be regarded as an educational process aimed at discovering oneself moment by moment, identifying weaknesses, learning from mistakes, and comprehending the quality of experiences in various situations to perform better in the future. If a prescription were to be written for improving the quality of human life, it should be based on self-awareness, which involves familiarity with oneself and one’s surroundings. One of the primary sources of self-awareness is the environment. The living environment possesses the capacity to utilize a set of environmental affordances to meet the criteria for self-awareness. In this respect, housing closely tied to the evolving nature of human life and particularly residential complexes, due to the necessity of understanding the thought processes and perception of an integrated whole, gain significance because of their high socializing potential. Given that Mashhad, as Iran’s second-largest metropolis, has experienced recent developments that have disrupted the spatial structure of its neighborhoods, ruined the physical identity and continuous social fabric of its residents, and diminished face-to-face interactions, this city has been chosen as the case study. This study aimed to explore the scientific relationship between the residential environment and self-awareness. The residential complex, as the physical framework of collective life, highlights the social dimension of housing. Understanding the concept of an integrated whole necessitates self-awareness, encompassing self-evaluation, predicting how others perceive an individual, and acting based on shared beliefs and values. This study tried to answer the following questions: What is the relationship between the environment and self-awareness? What environmental affordances of a residential complex can influence self-awareness?
Method
This study, as a scientific approach, aimed to explore the relationship between residential complex environments and self-awareness through a combination of fundamental and exploratory research. It employed a mixed-method approach (qualitative and quantitative). The qualitative research included a descriptive-analytical review of the literature, followed by exploratory interviews conducted using snowball sampling among experts (university faculty members and housing specialists) until theoretical saturation was reached with 33 participants. The content analysis of the interviews was performed in two levels. At the first level, multiple physical, functional, and symbolic affordances were identified. At the second level, which involved abstracting concepts from the first level, shared themes connecting the findings across all interviews were categorized into specific dimensions. Subsequently, the quantitative research was conducted in four stages: 1) Developing and distributing questionnaires, 2) Assessing data reliability, 3) Evaluating the external model, 4) Empirically testing the operational research model. Given its results, implications, and subject matter, this study is applied research.
Results
The results clearly demonstrate that self-awareness originates from three sources: the self, the physical environment, and the social environment. It exists in two types: internal (involving the self and the physical environment) and external (involving the self and the social environment). The integration of the physical and social environments forms five levels of self-awareness. Their significance in residential complexes, in order of importance, includes: 1) Permanence level, 2) Meta level, 3) Differentiation level, 4) Identification level, 5) Situation level. The most influential environmental affordances corresponding to these levels are as follows: Permanence level: Mystical transition; Meta level: Continuity of scenarios; Differentiation level: Functional organization; Identification level: Identity acceptance; and Situation level: Presence of nature. Among these, physical affordances were found to have the greatest influence on achieving levels of self-awareness, while other affordances alone were insufficient to meet the self-awareness levels within residential complexes.
Discussion and Conclusion
What distinguishes this research from previous studies, which considered increased self-awareness as inversely related to environmental engagement, is its focus on the environment’s potential to enhance self-awareness. This study confirms that the sources of self-awareness (self, physical environment, and social environment) are intertwined with the environment, rather than opposing it. Another distinguishing aspect is its deviation from prior research, which emphasized the influence of the environment on beliefs, tendencies, and lifestyle choices. Instead, this study investigates self-awareness in the environment using mirror pattern theory. This theory has been applied in other contexts, such as Keromnes et al. (2019) offering a novel perspective on body perception, and Xiong (2020) using it for poster design to illustrate child development. However, the present study employs this theory to define levels of self-awareness within the environment, aligns them with environmental affordances, and determines their relative importance. It is noteworthy that this research specifically focuses on residential complexes. Therefore, the importance of self-awareness levels and the corresponding influential environmental affordances might differ in other housing typologies, making them topics for future research. The varying impact of the environmental affordance of “depth of observation” on different self-awareness levels also warrants further study. Additionally, two excluded items, “providing specific functionality in outdoor spaces” at the situation level and “participatory design” at the identification level, due to internal inconsistencies, are potential areas for further exploration in future research.
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