Analyzing the Way of the Nomads’ Life and Its Effect on Their Habitat System along with the Migration Route and summer and Winter Camps Case study: Boyer-Ahmad Nomads

Nomadic life is a way of life with annual relocation in which a group of people moves with their cattle from winter tents to summer pastures and returns to their winter camps in the cold season. The most important characteristic of nomadic life is movement to meet the needs of their life style. This relocation requires certain conditions which overshadow all aspects of nomadic life such as architecture, culture, mood, and even physical characteristics. The nomadic way of life is based on the pattern of movement and settlement which means that the part of nomads’ lives, about two to three months, is being spent moving along the path and the rest, about four to five months, in the "summer" residence and ultimately about four to five months, in the "winter" residence. Thus, during this relocation, two different lifestyles are formed for the nomads, one along the migration route and the other during the settlement in the summer and winter camps. The settlement structure of the nomads in each of these two periods is subjected to different conditions.  The study of the physical-spatial system of the nomadic settlement in these two periods and the challenges related to them are the subjects of the present study. Accordingly, the main research questions can be posed as follows: -What are the most important challenges regarding the shape of nomadic settlements along the migration route and what the conditions of accommodation in summer and winter resorts are? - What are the main principles which form the spatial organization of nomadic settlements, the migration route and summer and winter camps? The research method is as follows: Four Boyer-Ahmad tribes were selected as random samples and their places of residence were visited in two winter and summer areas as well as along the migration route and ultimately, the research information was extracted and analyzed. The research is of qualitative type and based on a case study of nomadic lifestyle. Data collection was done in the form of direct observation as well as in-depth and semi-structured interviews with the residents of these tribes. The present study examines residential patterns in two contexts by considering the length of the migration route and summer and winter accommodation and the analysis is based on these two axes in the form of two separate observations. In each follow-up, introducing the way of nomads’ life in that case is accompanied with analyzing the system governing the spatial establishment and the shape of their habitat. Finally, the results showed that finding a suitable place to live for a few days on the Ilarah route is the most important challenge for nomads on the Koch route. Therefore, in that situation, applying the natural elements to create suitable conditions for multi-day accommodation is inevitable as the nomads use rocks and natural barriers to create more enclosure to ensure animal safety, consider proximity of water sources for livestock and family members, the existence of a suitable pasture for a few days' accommodation and the use of sunlight and good wind to provide comfort in the tent. However, in the settlement of nomads in summer and winter camps, the emphasis on different levels of territory is considered as one of the main factors in shaping the physical-spatial system of nomadic settlements. The issue of different levels of territory can be considered in both objective and subjective dimensions. In the objective dimension, territory includes the area owned by nomadic families and in the subjective dimension, levels of private, semi-public and public domain due to the spatial arrangement of blacklists in the camp residence are considered.