The Role of Socio-Cultural Factors in (Trans)formation of Dwellings: A Reference Palette for Theories, Methods, Tools and Techniques

Abstract

Understanding the role of socio-cultural factors in dwellings has become important in the current trends of urbanization and modernization. This can be explored through primary studies and from previous studies done by researchers. When pursuing a primary study also, understanding the studies done by previous researchers becomes a necessity. Hence, this research paper would be beneficial for the researchers to do analysis of the previous studies. A methodology model was developed for the analysis of secondary data involving socio-culture and dwellings. Previous researches were identified and selected based on certain inclusion and exclusion criteria for this paper. The limitations were the time frame chosen for selection of literature from January 2010 to May 2021 and the search websites chosen were Google Scholar and EBSCO websites. The methodology comprised of five stages. The first stage identified and selected the previous researches for the study, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The second stage listed the theories, methods, tools and techniques from the books of pioneers. The third stage comprised of two parts; the first part checked the applicability of the theory stated by the pioneer Amos Rapoport that, the socio-cultural factors were the main factors in the formation of dwellings on to the transformation of different aspects of dwellings. The second part applied the listed theories, methods, tools and techniques from second stage, on the selected previous researches and categorized accordingly. The fourth stage categorized the reasons for the theory of Amos Rapoport being proved true at certain instances or false at certain other instances. The lacunas in the focus of the research topic discussed in the selected secondary data were also identified for further exploration. The fifth stage identified the different avenues available for researchers and also formulated a reference palette of the theories, methods, tools and techniques. This paper would be an additional secondary data for researches in the discipline of architecture, socio-cultural studies and anthropology. It would create an awareness to the architects, designers, urban planners and policy makers on the importance of the role of socio-cultural factors when designing dwellings and framing policies for the future developments.