Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(12): 210-214, 2011

ISSN 1991-8178 

Urban design, Socialization, and quality of life

1
Saeid Rahmatabadi, 2Dr Jalal Salek Zamankhani and 3Dr. Sohrab Yazdani
1
Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Ajabshir Branch, Ajabshir, Iran.
2
Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran.
3
Department of General Study, Islamic Azad University, Ajabshir Branch, Ajabshir, Iran.

Abstract: Architecture as a discipline is essentially integrative: connecting past, present and future,
drawing on art, science and the social sciences, balancing qualitative with quantitative factors. Good
architecture and urban design contribute to making cities both functional and attractive to residents and
visitors. While architecture is about the design of buildings, urban design is about the relationships
between the buildings, the roads and spaces that they front, and the people who make use of them. The
outstanding building projects are those that are not only visually stimulating, but are also sensitive and
respectful of their surrounding developments and environment. A well-designed city takes into
consideration this important relationship between buildings and the beauty of the city as a whole.
Socialization is the process that prepares humans to function in social life. It should be re-iterated here
that socialization is culturally relative - people in different cultures are socialized differently. The
process of socializing or sociability in a city means acquiring the model of style life of that city. The
process of socializing includes every daily activities of citizens' life. People have mutual relationship in
this place and actualize it through presenting the municipal cultural and social activities and resolving
the needs of each other. The municipal cultural and social realm has to develop the way of acquiring
the necessary life skills gradually among the citizens. These patterns can be taught through an effective
and mutual relationship, this education should be presented to acquire the necessary abilities
considering the cultural values and norms of a society continually and constantly.

Keywords: Architecture, urban design ,Socialization, quality of life.

INTRODUCTION

The nature and conceptualizations of public space and public life have been always associated with
collective participation and socialization, in other words, with the capacity to live together among
strangers.Today these associations seem to have become challenged and problematic, and often end in
questioning whether public space still matters for our public life? This uncertainty has become somehow evident
in the rising scholarly interest in the last two decades debates on the future of our cities’ public life and public
spaces. However, most of the research produced has been extremely limited and narrow in its scope and often
taken disparate positions especially between academics and practitioners, above all it has been dominated by
narratives of profound loss and lament. Thus, it has failed to provide an understanding of the new context of
social change we are in at the moment. In this paper we define urban design, socialization of citizen and relation
between them.

Urban design:
The art of Creating and Shaping Cities and Towns:
Urban design describes the physical features that define the character or image of a street, neighborhood,
community, or the city as a whole. Urban design is the visual and sensory relationship between people and the
built environment. The built environment includes not only buildings and streets, but also the natural
environment such as shorelines, canyons, mesas, and parks as they shape and are incorporated into the urban
framework. Urban Design is a process to foster quality in the built and natural environment.
Urban design involves the arrangement and design of buildings, public spaces, transport systems, services,
and amenities. Urban design is the process of giving form, shape, and character to groups of buildings, to whole
neighborhoods, and the city. It is a framework that orders the elements into a network of streets, squares, and
blocks. Urban design blends architecture, landscape architecture, and city planning together to make urban areas
functional and attractive.
Urban design is about making connections between people and places, movement and urban form, nature
and the built fabric. Urban design draws together the many strands of place-making, environmental stewardship,
social equity and economic viability into the creation of places with distinct beauty and identity. Urban design is
derived from but transcends planning and transportation policy, architectural design, development economics,
engineering and landscape. It draws these and other strands together creating a vision for an area and then
deploying the resources and skills needed to bring the vision to life.
Corresponding Author: Saeid Rahmatabadi, Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Ajabshir Branch,
Ajabshir, Iran.
E-mail: [email protected]
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Urban design and city building are surely among the most auspicious endeavors of this or any age, giving
rise to a vision of life, art, artifact and culture that outlives its authors. It is the gift of its designers and makers to
the future. Urban design is essentially an ethical endeavor, inspired by the vision of public art and architecture
and reified by the science of construction." -Donald Watson.
Urban design involves place-making - the creation of a setting that imparts a sense of place to an area. This
process is achieved by establishing identifiable neighborhoods, unique architecture, aesthetically pleasing public
places and vistas, identifiable landmarks and focal points, and a human element established by compatible scales
of development and ongoing public stewardship. Other key elements of placemaking include: lively commercial
centers, mixed-use development with ground-floor retail uses, human-scale and context-sensitive design; safe
and attractive public areas; image-making; and decorative elements in the public realm.
Urban design practice areas range in scale from small public spaces or streets to neighborhoods, city-wide
systems, or whole regions. Good architecture and urban design contribute to making cities both functional and
attractive to residents and visitors. While architecture is about the design of buildings, urban design is about the
relationships between the buildings, the roads and spaces that they front, and the people who make use of them.
The outstanding building projects are those that are not only visually stimulating, but are also sensitive and
respectful of their surrounding developments and environment. A well-designed city takes into consideration
this important relationship between buildings and the beauty of the city as a whole.
In short, Urban Design is about.
Context of the surroundings, the socio-cultural and physical climate, which determines the building form,
scale and timing of developments Connectivity, which should be comfortable and convenient for both people
and vehicles: and Contribution to the streetscape, greenery, the public spaces and the community

General Urban Design Goals:

♦ Provide a built environment that respects natural environment and climate.
♦ Improve the quality of life through safe and secure neighborhoods and public places.
♦ Use pattern and scale of development to provide visual diversity, choice of lifestyle and social interaction.
♦ Foster the continuation of districts, communities, and neighborhoods as distinguishable Subareas within the
city.
♦ Create activity centers as places where people gather and interact.
♦ Maintain historic resources as important landmarks that maintain the city’s historic identity.
♦ Utilize landscape as an important aesthetic and unifying element.

Socialization:
Elements of Socialization:
Socialization is a fundamental sociological concept, comprising a number of elements. While not every
sociologist will agree which elements are the most important, or even how to define some of the elements of
socialization, the elements outlined below should help clarify what is meant by socialization.

Socialization: Becoming Who We Are:

The structural-functionalist perspective points out that the fundamental task of any society is to reproduce
itself—to create members whose behaviors, desires, and goals correspond to those that the particular society
deems appropriate and desirable.Through the powerful and ubiquitous process of socialization, the needs of
society become the needs of the individual. Socialization is a process of learning. To socialize someone is to
train that person to behave appropriately. It is the means by which people acquire a vast array of social skills,
such as driving a car, converting fractions into decimals, speaking the language correctly, or using a fork instead
of a knife to eat peas. But socialization is also the way we learn how to perceive our world; how to interact with
others; what it means to be male or female; how, when, why, and with whom to be sexual; what we should and
shouldn’t do to and for others under certain circumstances; what our society defines as moral and immoral; and
so on. Although socialization occurs throughout our lives, the basic, formative instruction of life occurs early
on. Young children must be taught the fundamental values, knowledge, and beliefs of their culture. Some of the
socialization that occurs during childhood—often called anticipatory socialization—is the primary means by
which young individuals acquire the values and orientations found in the statuses they will likely enter in the
future (Merton, 1957). Household chores, a childhood job, sports, dance lessons, dating, and many other types
of experiences give youngsters an opportunity to rehearse for the kinds of roles that await them in adulthood.

Goals of Socialization:
Arnett, in presenting a new theoretical understanding of socialization (see below), outlined what he believes
to be the three goals of socialization:
1. impulse control and the development of a conscience

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2. role preparation and performance, including occupational roles, gender roles, and roles in institutions such
as marriage and parenthood
3. the cultivation of sources of meaning, or what is important, valued, and to be lived for
In short, socialization is the process that prepares humans to function in social life. It should be re-iterated here
that socialization is culturally relative - people in different cultures are socialized differently. This distinction
does not and should not inherently force an evaluative judgement. Socialization, because it is the adoption of
culture, is going to be different in every culture. Socialization, as both process or an outcome, is not better or
worse in any particular culture.
It should also be noted that, while socialization is a key sociological process in the development of
individuals who can function in human society, not every aspect of human behavior is learned. For instance,
there is evidence that most children have innate empathy for individuals who are willfully injured and consider
it wrong. Thus, some aspects of human behavior that one might believe are learned, like empathy and morals,
may, in fact, be biologically determined. To what extent human behavior is biologically determined vs. learned
is still an open question in the study of human behavior.

What is The Importance of The Process of Socialization in Our Life?:

The importance of socialization in our life can hardly be exaggerated. The following description makes it
very clear.
1. Socialization converts man, the biological being into man, the social being.
Man is not born social; He becomes social by virtue of the process of socialization. Various instances like-
that of Kaspar Hauser, Anna, the wolf children of India and others have made it very clear that only through
constant training the newborn child becomes social in nature.
2. Socialization contributes to the development of personality.
Personality is a product of society. In the absence of groups or society, no man can develop a personality of
his own. But socialization is a process through which the personality of the new born child is shaped and
molded. Through the process, the child learns an approved way of social life. At the same time, it also provides
enough scope for the individual to develop his individuality.
3. Helps to became disciplined.
Socialization is social .learning. Social learning is essentially the learning of rules of social behavior. It is
the values, ideals, aims and objectives of life and the means of attaining them. Socialization disciplines an
individual and helps him to live according to the social expectations.
4. Helps to enact different roles.
Every individual has to enact different roles in his life. Every role is woven around norms and is associated
with different attitudes. The process of socialization assists an individual not only to learn the norms associated
with roles but also to develop appropriate attitudes to enact those roles.
5. Provides the knowledge of skills.
Socialization is a way of training the newborn individual in certain skills, which are required to lead a
normal social life. These skills help the individual to play economic, professional, educational, religious and
political roles in his latter life. In primitive societies for, example, imparting skills to the younger generation in
specific occupations was an important aspect of socialization.
6. Helps to develop right aspiration in life.
Every individual may have his own aspirations; ambitions and desires in life. All these aspirations may not
always be in consonance with the social interests. Some of them even be opposed to the communal interests. But
through the process of socialization an individual learns to develop those aspirations. Which are complementary
to the interests of society. Socialization helps him to direct or channelize his whole energy for the realization of
those aspirations.
7. Contributes to the stability of the social order.
It is through the process of socialization that every new generation is trained acceding to the Cultural goals,
ideals, and expectations of a society. It assures the cultural continuity of the society. At the same time, it
provides enough scope for variety and new achievements. Every new generation need not start its social life a
fresh. It can conveniently rely on the earlier generation and follow in cultural traditions. In this regard,
socialization contributes to the stability of the social order.
8. Helps to reduce social distance.
Socialization reduces social distance arid brings people together if proper attention is given to it. By giving
proper training and guidance to the children during their early years, it is possible to reduce the social distance
between people of different castes, races, regions, religions and professions.
9. Provides scope for building the bright future
Socialization is one of the powerful instruments of changing the destiny of mankind. It is through the
process of socialization that a society can produce a generation of its expectations can be altered significantly

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the improvement of socialization offers one of the greatest possibilities for the future alteration of human nature
and human society.

Relation Between Urban Design and Socialization:

The process of socializing or sociability in a city means acquiring the model of style life of that city.
Administrators of the municipal cultural and social realm can reinforce the suitable models of citizens' social
behavior and learning by cultural and social planning to improve the culture of urbanization. This process
should be done considering the basic needs of the zones and neighborhoods.
The process of socializing includes every daily activities of citizens' life. People have mutual relationship in
this place and actualize it through presenting the municipal cultural and social activities and resolving the
needs of each other. So the municipal cultural and social realm have to present the special cultural identity of
that city directly or indirectly to develop cultural evolution.
From the other viewpoint, socializing is a state that all of the society members have to learn the urban life
style and get ready to be known as formal citizens of the society. This style is habits, costumes and the way of
living in the city that the adminitrators of the city have to teach it to the citizens in the form of acquisitive
patterns of behavior.
The municipal cultural and social realm has to develop the way of acquiring the necessary life skills
gradually among the citizens. These patterns can be taught through an effective and mutual relationship, this
education should be presented to acquire the necessary abilities considering the cultural values and norms of a
society continually and constantly.
The family as the central core of urban society that has an important role in educating the individuals for
adjusting to current urban life style can have an effective reflection in promotion of citizenship cultural
improvement in establishing such processes. Administrators of cultural and social realm of the city can move
toward the development of socializing by presenting cultural and social programs for families especially for
women, children, teenagers, youths and the aged.
The school as the second social institution in promotion of citizenship improvement culture is a very
effective element. The municipal office cooperating with education office can play a very effective role in
development of citizenship education and improvement of the amount of citizenship culture. From the view
point of sports, the development of urban health, promotion of religious culture development and so on, is one
of the aspects of cultural and social activities that the municipal and education offices can do cooperating with
each other.
Mass media can play an important role in socializing the citizens by devoting the educational cultural and
social programs, producing series and fiction movies, presenting cultural and social messages and also attractive
and interesting contents about solving the urban problems.
Mosques are one of the essential institutions that can effect on acculturation and socializing of citizens.
Mosques as social and cultural institutions can have an effective function in solving the problems and
citizenship educations in all quarters. The citizens in all quarters can be encouraged in the process of social
learning by giving the necessary education.
The cultural institutions in the city are one of the essential institutions in citizens' socializing, however they
have different functions and they can present an important role in development of urban sociability cooperating
with the municipal cultural and social realm.
The municipal executive administrations in cultural and social realm with considering the aspect of
socializing should pay attention to behavioral system and the patterns of mutual relationship among citizens in
the form of teaching of social norms .These patterns can be presented in a descriptive and directly/indirectly
way and can help to solve and improve the urban culture. For example presenting the patterns of (traffic dos and
don’ts and the right culture of driving) can help in learning the urban discipline very much by institutionalizing
the patterns of urban behavior in citizens’ minds.
These behavioral patterns should present in the form of habits and the traditional and Islamic ways that are
accepted by the society along with reinforcement of social costumes that observing them is necessary in the city
.Urban laws that are the other aspects of these behavioral patterns can be effective in institutionalizing and
teaching the citizens.
Social values in the city as the element of social system of the city have the effective function in a desirable
way in supervising the citizens and directing them toward a transcendental life. These elements should be
promoted through assessment, rated and classified in the positive and correct form like (teaching books and
reading them, respecting to observing the citizenship rights, observing urban laws, the form of contact and
interaction with each other, respecting to the citizens, paying attention to beautifying of urban furniture, using
the land space in the best way and so on) are parts of the value system of the city. Administrators in the cultural
and social realm of the municipal management should promote the norm system of common values of citizens
considering the sources and value criterions of the society like scarcity and basic needs and develop the social

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consensus and preserving and respecting to them in the way of conceptualization and in the form of identified
along with public feelings and judgment.

Conclusion:
The process of socializing or sociability in a city means acquiring the model of style life of that city.
Administrators of the municipal cultural and social realm can reinforce the suitable models of citizens' social
behavior and learning by cultural and social planning to improve the culture of urbanization. This process
should be done considering the basic needs of the zones and neighborhoods.
From the other viewpoint, socializing is a state that all of the society members have to learn the urban life
style and get ready to be known as formal citizens of the society. This style is habits, costumes and the way of
living in the city that the administrators of the city have to teach it to the citizens in the form of acquisitive
patterns of behavior. The municipal cultural and social realm has to develop the way of acquiring the necessary
life skills gradually among the citizens. These patterns can be taught through an effective and mutual
relationship, this education should be presented to acquire the necessary abilities considering the cultural values
and norms of a society continually and constantly. In fact, having a Sociable citizen urbanization and urban
design much easier and more economical in terms of economic.

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7)www.ura.gov.sg/aude/

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