37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 313SOCIO-CULTURAL ASPECTS AND THETRANSFORMATION OF HOUSE FORM IN SUDAN .CASESTUDY KHARTOUM NORTHMuna M. EltahirAssistant Professor, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudanmmeltahir@yahoo.comKey words: House form, culture, social participation, Khartoum, SudanAbstractCulture, which is a result of the mindsets of people inhabiting different regions of the world,refers to the pattern of human activities and the symbols, which give significance to theseactivities. The members of a community share culture and the natural environment, whichgreatly affects the lifestyle of the people of that region, affects it, Culture transfer from onegeneration to another through arts literature, costumes, customs and traditions of acommunity. Religion also serves as the symbolic means of transfer of cultural values betweengenerations.As regard to Sudanese culture, it blends the behaviors, practices, and beliefs of about 578tribes, communicating in 145 different languages, in a region microcosmic of Africa withgeographic extremes varying from sandy desert to tropical forests. In a study carried out bythe researcher in an old village that is different in its culture than that of the other Sudanesepeople, which the city stretched its arms to embrace it. The researcher found out that culture isunique and people's cultural behavior is governing their lifestyle thus shaping their houseform, neighborhood and street pattern.This paper highlights the transformation of house form as a result of people's culture andbehavior, how house form is transformed in Al-Gireif specially, from a nuclear family houseto an extended family house creating a kind of incremental house occupied by a familycomposed of different generations that pursue participation in different aspects of their life,studying how this kind of house form affect their sustainability, education, and other aspectsthat shape their future.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 175