Knowledge Management as Means to Achieve a Sustainable Life-Style

The impact of human “life style” on natural system continues to grow and multiply in the last and current century. Our behavior patterns, social attitudes and customs are intertwined with our natural environment. What we do to day, not only involves changes to the existing ecosystems and destroys our environment, but also affects the habitat of the future generations. Old fashioned towns and rural neighborhoods, have many lessons that we can learn from, and make use to save the environment. These lessons focus on four principals, including: 1. To conserve energy, water and other natural resources. 2. To preserve the health of our environment 3. To strengthen our local economy 4. To emphasize on conventional and “local style” and promote a high quality of life. The village –like situation will allow residents to live with less emphasis on modern technology, and industrial products. Raw materials and crafts are used instead of the modern products. The Village of Stag –which has been a case study in our research-, is an old rural community in Khorasan Province in Iran with over 1000 years of history .The villagers have specific customs. People make almost all their product from raw materials. The rural houses are made from stone, clay, and lumber. The villagers insulate their roofs with special clay that is found near the village and it seems to contain some type of water proof greasy substance that works as an insulation and lasts at least for ten years. Some of the indigenes people who immigrated to other cities widely use this clay in modern buildings. In despite of cold winters in Stag, buildings do not need so much energy for heating. Rural buildings are characterized by thick walls, few small window and door openings and two main entrances located at to separate orientation. (For use in winter and summer). By studying our ancestor’s habits and traditions, we can modify our immoderate modern life style. Outline of the main article 1. Investigation of rural architecture in respect to natural environment characteristics and visual landscape. 2. Investigation of cultural and historical issues in Staj. 3. The use of handy crafts facilities and relevant tools instead of modern technology... 4. Influences of natural environment of Staj on life style and behavioral pattern