Danial Monsefi Parapari - Ph.D. Candidate, Faculty of Spatial Planning, Department of Urban Design and Land Use Planning,Technical University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
Tara Jalali - Master of Science, Reconstruction after Disaster Department, Architecture and Urban Design Faculty,Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

In this paper the notion of power in built form is discussed. The departure point is the ideas of Prof. Kim Dovey. He discusses how and where power is exercised in society,especially through the built environment. The authors put these ideas to test, in the context of Iranian traditional and modern architecture and urbanism. Cases of modern andtraditional residential architecture are compared, using JASS. The results clearly demonstrate that although the lifestyles and architectural norms have extremely changed over the past century, the essence of Iranian dwellings is still the same. The connectionbetween public and private sections of the house is still the same, which has its roots deep in the Iranian culture. Moreover, the exercise of power and its hierarchy in old cities (Bam) and Persian Gardens (Shazdeh Garden) are examined. In the citadel of Bam, theruler‟s residence is located at the heart of the city, and is the highest building, in order to create direct visual access to the entire city. The same principle happens in ShazdehGarden as well. The residence is located on high grounds, both for the visual accessibility and manipulation of the visitors

Power, Architecture, Urbanism, Coercion, Manipulation, Built Form