Religious Buildings Research Articles

Il sistema degli établissements publics a Venezia Un nuovo modello di rigenerazione urbana nel XIX secolo

In 19th century Italy and Europe the phenomenon of religious buildings as State-owned properties and their reuse as ‘public services’ assumed the characteristics of a real urban and cultural revolution. In the case of Venice, this phenomenon consisted in an effective project of ‘regeneration’ of an historical city. Thanks to the extensive use of archival sources, this article investigates Venice as a case study of a complex urban plan that occurred massive transformations, especially considering the suppressions of religious buildings undertaken between 1805 and 1808 in the lagoon area. The papers also offer an insight on the French plan of reuse of ‘emptied’ buildings for allocating there new services.

Petrographic-Mineralogical Characterization of Archaeological Materials from “Casa di Diana” Mithraeum Sited in the Open Museum of Ostia Antica

Mithraea, religious Roman buildings, are very common in Italian archeological sites. There are sixteen in Ostia Antica (Rome, Italy)The poor state of conservation, due to the intrinsic environmental conditions, characterized them: they consist of open-air museums and caves simultaneously. These places of worship are characterized by the presence of heterogeneous materials, such as wall building materials (bricks and mortars) and others used for furnishings and fittings. This increases the risk of accelerated damage because the materials ‘rheology is different. Here, a full petrographic-mineralogical characterization with polarized light microscopy (PLM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDS) and isotopic analysis (δ13C, δ18O) is carried out on materials like travertine, marble, pumice, ceramic, and wall-building materials in “Casa di Diana” Mithraeum (Ostia Antica). Their characterization gives provenance information as well as conservation and restoration purposes. The prevalence of siliciclastic or carbonate components discriminates between red and yellow bricks, as well as different textures and minerals in the aggregate of the red ones. The mortars are typically pozzolanic, and the aggregate is mostly made up of black and red pozzolanic clasts. In the altar, apse, and aedicule, which constitute the principal place of the Mithraeum, a variety of materials used for the ornamental purpose are represented by pumices, travertine, marble, and limestone. The altar material, catalogued as marble, resulted in being a limestone coated with a white pigment.

Death in worship places: Evaluating the roles of religious organisations and state governments in reducing the risks of religious disaster.

The numbers of accidents and disasters resulting in injury and death of the faithful in religious buildings in many parts of the world are on the increase in recent years. Interestingly, the citizens of the countries where most of the cases are reported are overtly religious and manifest their religiosity by attending religious activities in religious buildings. This, therefore, heightens the impact of a disaster, such as where there is a religious building collapse or a stampede. The attendant social, legal and economic effects of such disasters on religious organisations, religious faithful and society thus necessitate the study. This article critically examines the roles of religious organisations and state governments in reducing the risks of avoidable disasters in religious buildings. It evaluates the reports of two instances of church building collapses in Nigeria as case studies. This article observes that many religious organisations do not have effective risk and safety policies to reduce their exposure to religious disasters. It also observes that the state is ineffective in enforcing building standards. It argues that religious organisations and the state owe a legal duty to protect the lives and guarantee the safety of the faithful against the tragedy that may occur in worship places, and where this duty is breached, and a victim suffers harm, a right to damages will accrue. It concludes that although a religious organisation may not be able to stop all such disasters, having an effective disaster risk policy can assist in reducing the occurrence of avoidable mishaps in religious buildings.

A Study on the Spatial Characteristics of Jiarong Tibetan Settlements Based on the Theory of Pattern Language

This article selects three typical Jiarong Tibetan traditional settlements as the research objects, using the technical means of on-site surveying, mapping and drone photography to conduct field trips to the three settlements, and use this as a research basis to analyze the spatial layout characteristics of traditional Jiarong Tibetan villages in the region, and summarize their pattern language. The study found: 1)Although differences in geographic environment lead to slightly different types of pattern language in the same Tibetan village, but they are also similar to each other. 2)The Jiarong Tibetan traditional settlement has always adhered to the basic concept of "follow nature and adapt to local conditions" to develop in an orderly manner, conform to the terrain, and often present a spatial sequence of "religious space-connecting space-living space". 3)Jiarong Tibetan traditional settlements are characterized by a religious building as the core, and the surrounding buildings are distributed in a centripetal manner. 4)Jiarong Tibetan traditional settlements always follow the grammatical principles of locality and order in their development and expansion, the design and layout of spatial elements are mostly guided by traditional geomantic and religious views.5)The spatial layout schematic language system of Tibetan traditional settlements has a positive effect on the inheritance and protection of the same type of villages. The spatial universality of vocabulary, syntax and grammar is conducive to the effective protection and sustainable development of traditional Tibetan village landscapes.

Religious Tourism in Khmelnytskyi Region

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of religious tourism in Khmelnytskyi region. It is noted that religious tourism is realized in two formats: sightseeing and pilgrimage. It is stated that under modern conditions of Khmelnytskyi region there is a powerful layer of various religious monuments. Among these are, pagan «places of power», settlements-sanctuaries, temples, sacrificial wells, rock temples, dolmens, stone monumentalism. Christianity is widely represented: churches, cathedrals, churches, monasteries, churches, chapels. The Jewish sacred heritage is the follows; synagogues and necropolises became widespread in the region. Remains are considered interesting tourist locations elements of Muslim mosques and minarets. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of architectural forms, styles, purpose of religious buildings: stone churches, churches, defensive synagogues, wooden temples, rotunda churches; built in neo-Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Late Baroque, Classical, Greek, «pseudo-Russian», local styles; regimental churches, castle temples. Some examples of the historical past and present of sacred buildings are given. Emphasis is placed on the insufficiently-studied locations of religious tourism, they are «kissing ponds» — wells, springs, streams, lakes, many of which are in Khmelnytskyi region. Interesting tourist locations can be settlements that have given impetus to the development of various cultural phenomena related to religion. Sacred monuments destroyed during the Soviet period can have a powerful potential. Their identification, restoration, popularization will provide a solid basis for a broad understanding of the history of the region, the restoration of lost cultural strata and national memory.

Urban Landscape: Essay of Definition of an Algerian Vernacular Style among Students in Architecture

This research is carried out with Algerian architecture students in a didactic framework which aims to demonstrate the process of defining architectural bias in the Algerian and, by extension, Mediterranean urban landscape. Many Algerian cities no longer have their character despite regional, climatic and socio-cultural particularities. The old urban fabrics are gradually transformed into precarious housing zones, concerned by a policy of resorption which disintegrates them, annihilating any historical anchoring in a style that one could qualify as Mediterranean or Algerian. It is in this environment of physical and intellectual impoverishment that we tried to understand the cognitive process that leads students to refer to this or that criterion as part of the expressionist vocabulary of Algerian architecture. Using an anchored theorizing approach, we have built up a corpus within the design learning workshop, thus resulting in a framework of formalization criteria of an architectural, spatial, colourimetric or sometimes functional order. Thus, some admit the local expression only for cultural or religious buildings while others do not conceive of an Algerian style without the presence of symbolic and often stylized or modernized artefacts, such as the trellis or the arcade. Attitudes are far from uniform and consensual.

NEW STONE RELIEFS-ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS OF THE 
 14th – 18th CENTURIES FROM KUBACHI WITH ORNAMENT 
 AND ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS

The paper describes stone reliefs of the architectural decor of the 14th – 18th centuries with floral ornaments and Arabic inscriptions, discovered by the author in different years of the 20th – 21st centuries in the villages of Kubachi and Shiri, which are currently stored in museum collections. This paper is a continuation of a previous study of the stone reliefs from the village of Kubachi. The author provides the description of 20 reliefs, of which one (№ 12) is stored in the State Hermitage, seven others (№ 13–18, 20) – in the National Museum of the Republic of Dagestan (NMRD); eleven reliefs (№ 1–11) were revealed by us in Kubachi, and one relief (№19) – in the village of Shiri. The Kubachi reliefs are inserted in the structure of various residential or cult buildings (mosques) of the upper, middle and lower livings districts of the village. The reliefs had been obtained from the ruins of old buildings and installed into walls of new ones during their construction for decorative purpose. The integrity of the reliefs varies: some remained in a satisfactory condition, some have defects (break-offs, splits, etc.), others are incomplete, i.e. in fragments. Most of the reliefs considered in the article were drawn with estampage prints, which were then transferred to A1 paper sheets with the use of ink.
 The restoration of the broken-off details of the decoration of the reliefs № 7 and 16 was carried out by us. The Arabic inscriptions of some reliefs (№ 13–14), which are kept in the National Museum of the Republic of Dagestan, have not been translated into Russian due to the difficulty of reading or poor integrity. Many reliefs of the 14th – 18th centuries with floral ornaments and Arabic inscriptions, found in the masonry of the walls of some residential and religious buildings, especially the quarter mosque in the lowest part of Kubachi, are still not included in the article. The location of the reliefs in the upper parts (third floor) of buildings erected on a very steep slope makes it impossible to photograph them properly.
 The dating of some reliefs (№ 1–4, etc.) is preliminary. It can be further clarified on the basis of analogies after the publication of unpublished reliefs preserved in the village of Kubachi and those stored in museums – the State Hermitage and NMRD.
 Accurate dating of medieval art monuments in Kubachi without dates is one of the challenges in studying them.
 Description of the reliefs revealed in Kubachi is given in the order of recording them at different times and in different districts of the old part of the village.

Musul'mane Yuzhnogo Urala v konce XIX v. (po materialam knigi etnografa S. G. Rybakova «Muzyka i pesni ural'skih musul'man, s ocherkom ih byta», Sankt-Peterburg, 1897

The article examines the religious aspects of the life of the Muslims of the Southern Urals at the end of the 19th century based on the book by S. G. Rybakov “Music and songs of the Ural Muslims, with an outline of their life” (St. Petersburg, 1897), which, along with extensive material on musical folklore, contains significant material about Muslim rituals, holidays, the education system, the level of religiosity, religious buildings of Muslims and other information. The conclusion is formulated, according to which it is necessary to further study the heritage of S. G. Rybakov, including such areas as the history of Islam and Orthodoxy in the Southern Urals.

Визитация Римско-католического Кафедрального собора Св. Апостолов Петра и Павла в Каменце-Подольском 1860 (?) года

This publication presents the 19th-century deed of general visitation in one of the most unique religious buildings in Central and Eastern Europe, namely Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Kamianets-Podilskyi – the world's only Catholic cathedral with a minaret adjacent to it, which in turn is a characteristic element of Muslim mosques. The presented documents date back probably to 1866, although the inspector himself records it as 1860. In terms of its content, this deed can be divided into three parts. The first one presents a brief historical outline of the cathedral and a description of its interior and furnishings. The second part contains a detailed inventory list. The last part of the document includes a description of the parish property, a list of priests, organists and sacristans, members of the Cathedral Chapter and the order of services.

LIGHTING IN THE INTERIOR DESIGN OF RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS IN GALICIA (THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND THE FIRST THIRD OF THE 20th CENTURIES)

The purpose of the article is to analyse the typology, design features and carved decor of the wooden lamps in the interiors of the religious buildings in Galicia. The research methodology is based on the general principles of scientific work: consistency, authenticity, historicism, logic. The author of the article applies a comparative and typological method to analyse the design features of the lamps. And the methods of hermeneutics and semiotics were used to analyse ornamental and compositional systems of decoration. The scientific novelty of the work is the introduction of the unknown artefacts of church art into the scientific circulation. The author collected these data himself during his scientific expeditions to museums or directly in churches — both in Ukraine and abroad. Conclusions. The study of the design features and decor of the analysed lamps has shown that table lamps, as a rule, are smaller than candelabras (stavnyk), although sometimes according to the principle of composition, they are the same as candelabras, as, for example, the candelabra from the Kryvorivnia Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The study has confirmed that the lamps harmoniously fit into the design of the church interior, complementing the ensemble. For example, in the church in the village of Duliby or Pozdiach. In fact, the design ensembles of these religious sites are made in the same style. The author of the article provides an analysis of the image design solution and the nature of the decor of specific samples of the lamps, and argues that the development of the lamp art (as well as other elements of church equipment) occurs in two directions: imitation of historical styles in line with eclectic versions and the use of ornamental and compositional structures of traditional folk art. The features of a successful combination of these trends in the image solution of the spider chandelier from Galicia, which is kept in the collection-exposition of the National Museum in Lviv, have been demonstrated. The study has shown the original use of Hutsul folk carving traditions in the decoration of the spider chandelier from the Church of St. George in the village of Duliby, made by the famous master Vasyl Turchyniak: he used traditional geometric ornaments with ancient symbols. The significance of the © Roman Odrekhivskyi, 2021 The article was received by the editorial office: 11.08.2020 study lies in the possibility of using the processed material in the restoration of the old and construction of the new churches.

Iconostases of Galicia: History and Features of Design

The meaning of sacral art in the spiritual culture of Ukrainian people is scarcely explored. Analytic review of iconostases in Galicia during 19th and the first half of the 20th cnturies as a phenomenon of Ukrainian artistic culture may be used during the restoration of ancient religious buildings, as well as in construction of new ones. The aim of the research is a historical comparison as well as artistic and culturological analysis. A series of iconostases have been introduced into scientific circulation. The meaning of carved décor in Galician Ukrainians’ sacral culture has been outlined. The formation of iconostasis design in the sacred environment of Galicia is investigated. The dominant and accentuating role of the iconostasis in the design of the church interior is established. The artistic carving played an important role in the history and artistic features of the iconostasis. The artistic and figurative solution of iconostases was conducted with the imitation of historical styles and used imitation of the ornamental and compositional structures of traditional folk art. Consequently, a national style emerged that became an original phenomenon of world art. Prospects for further studies are in increasing the number of studied iconostases, in investigating the symbolism of carved décor and its meaning in the sacral culture of the Ukrainians. Furthermore, the traditions of the design of religious buildings may be applied in modern construction

Assessment of the Acoustic Performance of Historical Structures That Shed Light on Today's Technologies: Fatih Pasha (Kurşunlu) Mosque - Diyarbakır

Today's technologies are produced using new construction methods and new materials and using different techniques. While the time dimension of the parametric design, which is defined as the fourth dimension, is sometimes an hour, day or year, sometimes this is seen as a bridge between the past and the present of the structures that have survived in a large date range. For this reason, the support of new building materials and techniques from time to time with methods that have the technical data of the period obtained as a result of our historical heritage and long experience can provide us with new perspectives. The architectural features and construction techniques of historical mosques contain important data on the acoustic performance of religious buildings. Our heritage knowledge must be blended with new knowledge and technologies. Within the scope of the study, the details and systems that were effective in providing acoustic performance parameters in the architecture of Fatih Pasha (Kurşunlu) Mosque, which was the first Ottoman period work of the city located in Diyarbakır Suriçi area, were examined. Among the objective parameters of the sound, Reverberation Time (RT), Early Decay Time (EDT), Clarity (C80), and Definition (D50) metrics were measured. The obtained data were compared with reference values and analyzed. As a result of the data and analysis obtained in the literature reviews, it was determined that the acoustic values of the mosque were in harmony with the reference values. When the measurement data were compared with the obtained international publications, it has been observed that the sound pressure value ranges depending on the frequency of acceptable indoor acoustics standards. The importance of restoration works in harmony with materials such as basalt, brick, limestone, lime mortar and plaster which are the original materials of the building was highlighted in terms of acoustics.

The Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Zambian Church History

Using the representations of the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the media, this article retrieves the Cathedral’s role in public life in Zambian church history in order to tease out its significance in post-independence Zambia. In drawing on a case study and social capital theory, the article shows that the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, as a pre-independence religious building, was represented as a national house of worship, a heritage site and a political shrine. By this, it was a national worship space that played a role in hosting functions of varied nature, and a symbol of religious heritage. As a political shrine, the Cathedral was a space for guiding the nation and fostering reconciliation in the critical political moments of the country. These representations not only revealed the dynamics of the church’s role, but also closely aligned to the Cathedral’s social capital in public life through the intersection of the church and state relations in post-independence Zambia. The article argues that the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, although not a popular aspect of Zambian contemporary church history, was a religious, material cultural site and a space that allowed the church to contribute to post-independence church history in the country.

Documentation of heritage religious buildings using Virtual Reality techniques

The research focuses on the architectural of religious buildings with architectural value and its role in preserving heritage values. Every architectural detail had told us a story which is collected as the identity of the city. Fragility of these buildings and its artifacts, natural disasters, climate change, visitors' impact and lack of information usually lead to the inaccessibility of these buildings. But, due to the historical and touristic value of the religious buildings, the process became necessary to benefit both visitors and researchers by availability and ease of access of information. The traditional methods are not compatible anymore with the era's needs. Therefore, the concept of digital documentation using virtual reality techniques provides the creativity in and offers immersive navigation and virtual reconstruction of extra details and information about the buildings. In this paper, we will discuss the concept of using virtual reality in architectural through the comparative analytical methodology supported with some examples which implements the experience of three-dimensional and photorealistic modeling and visualization of religious buildings to finally have a successful and effective method and testing the ability of restoring the mental image and the associated values of these buildings.

The religious situation in Buryatia in the late 1980s and early 1990s

Based on archival data the paper describes the religious situation in the Buryat ASSR, then the Buryat SSR and the Republic of Buryatia during the change of socio-political development of the national state in the late 1980s early last decade of the XX century. The authors say that this problem has not received serious analysis in the framework of scientific publications. Therefore, the research was based on archival documents of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SA RF) and the State Archive of the Republic of Buryatia (SARB). The purpose of the study is to characterize the religious situation in the border area of the local territory in a difficult transition period of national history. The research methodology is based on the fundamental principles of historical science, the principles of historicism and objectivity, which allowed us to consider a rather complex component of the life of society religion, without bias, in its historical development. The result of the study was the identification of features of religious processes in Buryatia during the period under review. The authors provide quantitative indicators for registered religious associations and religious buildings. The religious situation is assessed against the background of the General situation in the RSFSR (Russian Federation), with statistics for the Republic and the country. It is noted that the trends of religious processes in Buryatia, at the time under review, were similar to the national ones. This is a sharp surge in religiosity, against the background of the resolution of religious freedom, on the one hand, and, in the context of the socio-economic crisis, on the other. It is said that in Buryatia, in addition to traditional religious teachings for the region, new ones appeared, among which, there were the teachings of totalitarian sects. It describes the difficulties that arose in connection with the change in the attitude of the authorities to religions. It is noted that further work with sources is necessary, which will allow us to recreate the most complete picture of the religious situation in Buryatia during the difficult transition period of the late 1980s early 1990s.

Vlasenica od 1991. do 2013. godine: Promjene u etničkoj strukturi stanovništva pod utjecajem rata protiv Republike Bosne i Hercegovine

Before the aggression, Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, Yugoslavs and Others lived together in Vlasenica. According to the 1991 census, there were 33,942 inhabitants in Vlasenica: 18,727 Bosniaks (55.17%), 14,359 Serbs (42.30%), 39 Croats (0.11%), 340 Yugoslavs (1.00%) and 477 Others (1.24%). At the same time, in the town of Vlasenica lived 7,909 inhabitants: 4,800 Bosniaks (60.69%), 2,743 Serbs (34.68), 26 Croats (0.33%), 242 Yugoslavs (3.06%) and 98 Others. 1.24%). The population of the Municipality lived in the town of Vlasenica and 90 other settlements. Vlasenica, as a strategically important city in the plans and goals of the aggressors, has been the target of attacks since 1991. Aggression and war crimes against Bosniaks were planned, prepared and organized against this Bosnian town. Camps for Bosniaks were organized in Vlasenica, civilians were killed and then “buried” in mass graves, mass and systematic rapes and other forms of sexual violence were committed, the Bosniak elite was targeted and persecuted, civilians were expelled and deported en masse, and cultural goods and property and demolished religious buildings. After the war, he began returning to Vlasenica. However, this area has long been an area of precarious living for Bosniak returnees. Thus, on July 11, 2001, a 16-year-old girl, Meliha Durić, was killed in Vlasenica. This crime has not been solved. In the Bosnian entity of RS, the Bosnian language is denied. Teaching in the Bosnian language is prohibited, and the language is called the non-existent Bosniak language. This discriminates against students who want their language to be called Bosnian. The situation with employment in public administration is not good. Returnees are mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, but there is a problem with the placement of surplus products. In 2013, a census was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the first census after the war and aggression. In the municipality of Vlasenica, a significant part of which belonged to the municipality of Milici, there were 11,467 inhabitants: 3,763 Bosniaks, 7,589 Serbs, 31 Croats, 22 persons who did not declare their ethnicity, 15 Others, 14 without answers. The town of Vlasenica had 6,715 inhabitants, which is 1,194 fewer than in 1991. There were 967 or 3,633 fewer Bosniaks than in 1991. There were 5,679 or 2,936 more Serbs than in 1991. The municipality of Vlasenica had, in the total population, 33.82% Bosniaks, which is 21.35% less than in 1991, and 66.18% Serbs, which is 23.88% more than in 1991. In the town of Vlasenica, there were 14.40% Bosniaks and 84.50% Serbs in the total population. There were 46.29% less Bosniaks and 49.89% more Serbs. The population of Vlasenica lived in 36 settlements of the municipality, which is 55 settlements less than in 1991. The causes of such changes in the ethnic structure of the population of Vlasenica can be traced to the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ethnic cleansing and genocide against Bosniaks. Certainly, other causes of the decrease in the number of Bosniaks in Vlasenica should not be neglected, such as the security situation, economic situation, education, road and other infrastructure, etc. The formation of the municipality of Milići significantly affected the reduction of the population of Vlasenica. Milići has 11,441 inhabitants: Serbs 7,180 or 62.76%, Bosniaks 4,199 or 36.70% of the total population. The population of Milić lives in 51 settlements.

The Influence of External Environmental Conditions on Properties of Ceramic Building Materials with Waste Material Additives.

In this paper, we analyze the state of conservation of ceramic building materials (clay masonry units) containing a large share of waste materials in the form of ash and slag from coal combustion and sawdust from wood processing, operated for several decades in facing walls of religious buildings, in external environment conditions. For the purpose of this analysis, comparative tests were carried out on the samples of ceramic materials cut out from facing walls and samples extracted from the same ceramic materials; they were stored in laboratory conditions for the entire time. The following were investigated: initial water absorption, capillary rise, and porosity structure determined with mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). The research has shown, among other things, that the ceramic materials exploited in the external environment are characterized by an almost twofold increase in the initial rate of water absorption and by a different size of dominant pores and a pore size distribution in comparison with ceramic materials stored in laboratory conditions. The results, obtained for ceramic building materials (clay masonry units) containing the above-mentioned waste materials in their composition, constitute a novelty. They fill a gap in the literature by establishing how decades-long operation in natural conditions affected the capillary properties and the porosity structure of the ceramics under investigation. Based on the obtained research results, conclusions of cognitive and practical significance have been formulated that relate to the possibility of the exploitation of facing walls made of investigated ceramic materials.

Mosque design strategy for energy and water saving

Abstract The built environment plays an essential role as a climate change agent. Natural resource exploitation, energy consumptions, and waste management need to be built for more environment-friendly. The Mosque is a religious building built in every space on earth since a quarter of the world population is Muslim. This situation brought an urgency for making Mosques more sustainable and friendly to the natural environment. Carrying these facts, this study aimed to suggest a design strategy for making a sustainable mosque. Through a collaboration of passive design strategy, present technologies work of literature, and a study case, this study shortlisted primary design strategies in (1) building layouts, (2) lighting strategy, (3) HVAC strategy, (4) water conservation strategy, and (5) IT strategy. By keeping these major design strategies, Mosques can be made more environmentally sustainable. Several design recommendations are suggested in each major design strategy that may bring help for making sustainable Mosque on every space on this earth.

Using Decision Support System to Enable Crowd Identify Neighborhood Issues and Its Solutions for Policy Makers: An Online Experiment at Kabul Municipal Level

Planning a city is a systematic process that includes time, space, and groups of people who must communicate. However, due to security problems in such war-ravaged countries as Afghanistan, the traditional forms of public participation in the planning process are untenable. In particular, due to gathering space difficulties and culture issues in Afghanistan, women and religious minorities are restricted from joining male-dominated powerholders’ face-to-face meetings which are nearly always held in fixed places called masjids (religious buildings). Furthermore, conducting such discussions with human facilitation biases the generation of citizen decisions that stimulates an atmosphere of confrontation, causing another decision problem for urban policy-making institutions. Therefore, it is critical to find approaches that not only securely revolutionize participative processes but also provide meaningful and equal public consultation to support interactions among stakeholders to solve their shared problems together. Toward this end, we propose a joint research program, namely, crowd-based communicative and deliberative e-planning (CCDP), a blended approach, which is a mixture of using an artificial-intelligence-led technology, decision-support system called D-Agree and experimental participatory planning in Kabul, Afghanistan. For the sake of real-world implementation, Nagoya Institute of Technology (Japan) and Kabul Municipality (Afghanistan) have formed a novel developed and developing world partnership by using our proposed methodology as an emerging-deliberation mechanism to reframe public participation in urban planning processes. In the proposed program, Kabul municipality agreed to use our methodology when Kabul city needs to make a plan with people. This digital field study presents the first practical example of using online decision support systems in the context of the neighborhood functions of Gozars, which are Kabul’s social and spatial urban units. The main objective was to harness the wisdom of the crowd to innovative suggestions for helping policymakers making strategic development plans for Gozars using open call ideas, and for responding to equal participation and consultation needs, specifically for women and minorities. This article presents valuable insights into the benefits of this combined approach as blended experience for societies and cities that are suffering long-term distress. This initiative has influenced other local Afghan governments, including the cities of Kandahar and Herat as well as the country’s central government’s ministry of urban planning and land, which has officially expressed its intention to collaborate with us.

СОВЕРШЕНСТВОВАНИЕ СИСТЕМ КЛИМАТИЧЕСКОГО ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ КОМФОРТНЫХ УСЛОВИЙ И СОХРАННОСТИ ИСТОРИКО-КУЛЬТУРНОГО НАСЛЕДИЯ В ПРАВОСЛАВНЫХ КУЛЬТОВЫХ СООРУЖЕНИЯХ

A special feature of Orthodox religious buildings is the presence in the worship hall of works of architecture, artistic murals, icons, frescoes, iconostases of historical and cultural value. The specificity of religious buildings: churches, temples and cathedrals is also year-round services and gatherings of a large number of parishioners and staff, reaching several thousand people. It is known that several dozen candlesticks with burning candles are installed in the halls of worship, and hundreds of kilograms of candles are burned throughout the year. Heat, moisture, and carbon dioxide, which emit harmful substances from people, and when candles are burned - soot, smoke, moisture, heat, carbon dioxide settle on the inner surfaces of the worship hall on the elements of design and decoration. As a result, the expensive decoration of the hall darkens over the years from smoke, moisture and other hazards - heat, moisture, carbon dioxide negatively affect the comfort conditions and well-being of parishioners and staff. To ensure the preservation of historical and cultural values and comfortable conditions, high requirements are imposed on the climatic parameters of the internal Orthodox religious buildings in the worship hall: churches, temples and cathedrals.