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The geography of agriculture in Kurdistan

This is an address of a study on traditional typologies and building homestead in Kurdistan, which were done by (Habitat) united nations / center for human settlements / rehabilitation program – north Iraq.

The study is don in with cooperation with the architectural and engineering department in Erbil, Suleymanya and Dohuk universities, the study talks about survey of homestead typological analysis in villages, which was implemented from may 2001 to September 2001 to provide a set of relevant information on geographical location, climate, plot distribution, historical, social and traditional structure, services, facilities, and economy. As well as to provide a set of residential information on dwelling dimensions, orientation, technical details and building materials.

Organization analysis was integrated with the graphical representation of furniture distribution to get a comprehensive image of rural domestic habits, life style and household management schemes.
The study including other factors related to homestead like environment, climate and socio economical pattern were also taken into consideration as the type of soil, fertility of land, cattle breeding; farming practices and vegetation encourage settlement development

Mountain area settlements
Settlement pattern design
The contour lines dictate the mountain settlements pattern: therefore the housing construction has been adjusted according the land layout.
The drawing of the settlements section shows how the houses were disposed along the ground steps design. Each house could exploit the roof of the house built on the level below as a courtyard. The result was a “terrace” design.The primary outcome of the analysis indicates clearly that settlements in mountain areas assume the aggregated pattern. The factors, which generate the housing distribution in aggregated groups, are correlated to the geographical elements and to proper land use. The villages grow along the mountainside attempting to use all the adequate and available space.
Obviously the housing aggregation was also a strategy to facilitate the defense of the

Villages:
In the past it guaranteed the protection from eventual attacks conducted by other communities or countries.
Moreover the mountain versants not exposed to wind effects and oriented towards the sun have been chosen in order to facilitate the housing thermal comfort.
The houses main elevation, were oriented towards the south in order to have sunlight all day long and to keep the temperature in the dwelling as warm as possible during the rigid winter.
It is worth noting that the aggregated settlements pattern assumes an almost defined design due to the importance placed on the center of worship as the focal point for community meeting.
This creates a semicircular design in the house aggregations: the settlement became a ort of amphitheatre developed around the mosque and follows the mountain layout.

House plots and design

As a consequence of the aggregated settlement pattern, the availability of space

Around the dwelling was limited:
The plots assumed irregular shape and followed the ground layout.
The plots are not fenced and the open spaces are used mainly to facilitate human and animal movements in the settlement itself.
The yard in front of each dwelling facilitated the community

Social contacts:
It emphasizes how in the mountain settlement the houses were used mainly for sleeping and cooking while all the other activities take place in the common spaces.
For instance the laundry activity take place at the village water trough, the common prayer in the mosque and for baking of bread in the public oven.
The social attitude was based on sharing spaces to benefit the community.

Water
One of the most important factors that dictated the settlement development is the water source location and its characteristics.
In the mountain area the water is mainly supplied through:
- natural springs
- rivers or streams
The natural spring generally is a trough built in the center of the village. Its accessibility facilitated the human activities and supported the animals keeping.
In some other cases the settlement spread out along a river or a stream. The water presence ensures not only the domestic use but also the land fertility and as a consequence the economical activities.
It is also important to note that the housing location and pattern designed to avoid landslides and to facilitate drainage in case the water source overflows during an extensive rain period.& School.. Health center Graveyard Shop Houses Mosque Water source

Plain area settlements
Settlement pattern design
In the valley area and in the plain area the settlement followed a scattered pattern. The areas are completely flat without any relevant land depressions or subsistence therefore in the absence of natural constraints the housing building process was not influenced by topographical layout. Even though the settlement pattern was scattered it kept a building construction methodology related to cultural and traditional factors.

The worship center:
The mosque remains the settlement’s focal point and the scattered location of the dwellings continued to have a logical centralized design.

House plots and design

The plot dimensions in the plain areas are definitely larger than the mountain dwellings as a consequence of space availability. The distance between the plots generally is larger and each plot is fenced.
The communities therefore developed a stronger sense of self-sufficiency and each family became a micro community.

All the activities take place inside the plot:
Domestic, recreational and livestock. Therefore the families did not develop an attitude for common activities: except from the praying and shopping of essential food products (in the markets), all the other activities take place in the homestead.

Water
In plain areas the water sources are seldom rivers or steams, the water is mainly pumped from ground wells. In a few cases, natural springs provide the water sources
Generally the houses have a water tap in the courtyard connected to the village well.
This affects the social living aspect of the village community: the trough is a meeting place especially for women. The water collection introduces a social ritual of meeting opportunities (in mountain areas).
As a consequence the family in the plain areas is more self-sustainable and autonomous.

The homestead in mountain areas was built mainly according to the families’domestic activities and sources of income.
As it was already mentioned, normally, the plot is small and without any fence, the area around the dwelling is open and almost all activities take place outdoor The dwelling in general consists of two rooms with one small window and one door each. Due to the tiny dimensions the space indoor is multipurpose, it is a common place used by all the family Taking in to consideration that families are often large (8/9 family members minimum.

cooking, resting and sleeping cooking, resting, sleeping and entertaining take place indoor only during the winter season, in the summer season those are all indoor activities.
Personal hygiene takes place in common spaces (mosque for men) or in the natural water source (river/steam for women). A bathroom or indoor shower does not exist inside the dwelling.
Obviously this situation causes a lot of health problems and difficulties in arranging the hygiene activities, especially during the winter season.

- Gardening
Even if the climate is rigid, particularly in wintertime, it is easy to find a small area in front of the dwelling such as a garden. The family normally plants vegetables in order to satisfy domestic needs.

- Animal keeping
Generally there is shear living between the family life and animal keeping: the main reason is the lack of space. The other reason is to preserve the heat formerly produced by indoor animal keeping. Therefore often the animals are kept in stables attached to the living room. It should be noted that sometimes the animals have a separate room in a lower level than the dwelling, using the peculiar layout of the ground.
Housing design in Plain area
In the plain area the total plot surface is bigger than in the mountain area. Generally a fence made with different materials, such as straw, wood, iron surrounds the plot and protects the homestead from external contacts.
The family’s life is structured in a sort of microcosm: the plot dimensions are sufficient to satisfy the daily domestic needs and functions. The exchanges and the sharing of activities with the village community is limited.

- Veranda
The veranda is a multipurpose space used during the summer season for entertaining guests and for resting during the hottest part of the day. It is a meeting place for the family: women usually do the baking and children play or sleep. During the wintertime it is need for storage and/or farming tools or food products.

- Sleeping
During summertime, the families like to sleep outside to exploit the fresh night air. Therefore, as it was already mentioned, they use the yard space arranging beds or clay platforms. But more often the sleeping activity takes place on the house roof: infect, as it is a quite wide and flat surface, suites perfectly to be used as a “bedroom”.

- Animal keeping
The animals are kept and feed in the yard itself: small cages for chickens are made with mud; long mangers are allocated in the center of the yard to feed the geese and small mud construction handmade for bees. However the animals are separated from the human dwelling with no overlapping of functions. In fact the goats and sheep live in mud stables with a fenced yard. Sometimes even the entrance for animals is different from that of the homestead main entrance.

- Bread baking
Generally women do the baking in mud ovens: small constructions with a circular shape where special metal plates are placed to bake the bread. Sometimes they are contained in small houses with enough space to store the flower to protect it from the humidity.

For more information visit this address site:
www.unhabitat.org