Spaces & Flows: Ninth International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies

Abstract

What emerges from what has already been discussed is that in the earliest cities there is strong evidence of attempts to create ordered environments by religion. While some of this ordering may have been for practical reasons such as improving health (sewer systems) or for safety, much of it was tired to the religious impulse—an attempt to grasp the meaning of life and the universe and having a sustainable city. The design and environmental aspects are inseparably related to each other. This relationship changes considerably within main design approaches in the last decades. Even the interconnections between environmental problems are now better known, we still lack exact information on how the issues are linked, on what degree they interact, and what are the most effective measures. These problems are very complex and their interactions are hard to define, such as, climate changes, freshwater scarcity, deforestation, fresh water pollution and population growth. For more than 5000 years, people benefited from environmental elements of the earth in its built settings. Local temperature, wind directions, earth materials, and land structure have been major influences since the beginning and a huge variety in application can be found. The results show that some of old urban elements have potentials to be developed as elements for supporting environmental.This study reveals some connections between religion and sustainable design of urban structures in the past and considers utilizing them for future design.