Investigating Cross-Cultural Differences in the Privacy Regulation and Perception of Crowding (Northern and Kurdish Women in Iran)

Subject Areas : Urban Design

Fatemeh Mohammad Niay Gharaei ¹

1 - Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Art and Architecture, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2013-08-11 Accepted : 2013-10-07 Published : 2013-12-01

Keywords: Privacy, Crowding, Culture, Iranian women,

Abstract :

This study investigated cross-cultural differences in the privacy regulation and perception of crowding amongtwo Iranian sub-cultures (Kurdish and Northern women).The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether Northern andKurdish women differed in their desired and achieved levels of privacy in parks. The second purpose of this study was to investigatethe relationships between the desired and the achieved levels of privacy and the experience of crowding. The final purpose was todescribe the cultural differences in the experience of crowding between Northern and Kurdish women. The research methodologywas designed on interview and questionnaire. A random size of 600 Kurdish and Northern women was selected in Sanandaj andRasht cities. Moreover, to examine the survey Chi-Square Test, Independent Sample Test and Analysis of variance were conducted.The results show that Kurdish women desired more privacy in public spaces than Northern women. Regardless of culture, women’sdesired and achieved privacy levels have associations with the level of perceived crowding in public spaces. These findings assistenvironmental designers to present strategies for achieving privacy in relation to Iranian sub-cultures.