“Co-creation of innovation in re-planning and designing optimal housing models in targeted neighborhoods urban regeneration”

“Creating innovative ideas in the field of planning and designing affordable housing with the participation of 150 experts in the field of urban housing studies in the metropolitan city of Mashhad.”

This operational for research was conducted in collaboration with 150 experts in the field of urban housing studies, residents as end-users, experts in architecture and urban planning, urban sociology and economics, and social actors in low-income urban neighborhoods. In this research, various perspectives on the housing subsystem from different dimensions were discussed and debated, including:

  • Programs and policies of public institutions, municipalities, and government
  • Creativity and innovation in housing
  • Financial and economic evaluation of minimum housing projects
  • Architectural patterns of affordable housing
  • Experiences of supportive housing design in Iran
  • Identity and culture
  • Housing economy
  • Smart housing
  • Experiences of the UK and the US in addressing low-income housing issues

These online workshop-based conversational events were aimed at social co-creation and were held with the participation of all stakeholders in the form of ideation teams at the Mashhad Innovation Factory. In this co-creation process, the necessary platform for discussion, interaction with professionals, communication with local residents, and exchange of ideas and opinions among participants were provided through collective conversations, and event mentors with expertise in civil engineering, sociology, urban economics, urban planning, urban design, architecture, and social facilitation guided the teams in the process of ideation, planning, and design.

Findings and Results:

  • This excerpt appears to be a summary of a research study on housing sub-systems, based on the analysis of online and in-person conversations among presenters, participants, and mentors, and the combination of the final ideas presented. The study categorizes the final ideas into four main dimensions:

Management policy dimension:

  • Redefining housing construction regulations in small spaces
  • Co-living and shared living concepts

Technology and construction dimension:

  • Prefabricated housing technology
  • Green housing construction pattern (utilizing renewable energy with cost-effective methods)

Architectural patterns dimension:

  • Redesigning the interior spaces of small housing units
  • Family-oriented housing

Creativity and innovation dimension:

  • Agricultural housing
  • Collective housing pattern (collective parking and pedestrian paths at elevated levels)

 

The research findings suggest that each team has focused on one of these housing sub-system dimensions based on the specific conditions of their target neighborhood in Mashhad. The proposed optimal housing pattern presented at the end of the study is a combination of these dimensions, which is tailored to the income levels of the residents in urban areas of Mashhad and provides functional spaces based on the residents’ behavioral patterns. The structural design incorporates lightweight and environmentally friendly structures with the potential for expansion and the use of renewable energies such as solar energy. In addition to living spaces, some of the exterior walls, roofs, and courtyards are designed as spaces with the potential for cultivating products.