Architecture plays a crucial role in expressing identities. Cultural heritage as a sustainable process identifies the representation of architectural identity and its continuity. This study aims to create a model of the sustainable continuity of cultural heritage as an approach to studying architectural identity in Erbil. This study contributes to revealing a comprehensive model that includes the relationship between inherited and created sustainable elements related to cultural heritage that affects the continuity of architectural identity. The study combined visual analysis using graphical representation, the analysis of previous studies, field surveys, and questionnaire surveys as methods of data collection. The rationale behind selecting Erbil is related to its unique sustainable developments related to its cultural heritage through the ages, as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. This paper built two hypotheses. The first assumes that there is a significant correlation between elements that represent cultural heritage as a sustainable process and the continuity of architectural identity, and the second assumes that certain elements of cultural heritage have a greater effect on the continuity of architectural identity. The proposed model revealed a strong correlation between independent variables that represent cultural heritage frameworks such as the typo-morphology of house layouts and facades, sociocultural factors, and sustainable development factors and the dependent factor of the continuity of architectural identity in houses situated in Erbil. The regression analysis demonstrated that the most effective factor contributing to the continuity of the architectural identity of houses in Erbil is the physical characteristics related to the typo morphology of the house’s plan layout.

Related to their environmental contexts and available resources they are customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies. All forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies and ways of life of the cultures that produce them." (Oliver, 1997, p.ii) In another definition Oliver gives a description about the context of vernacular architecture: "Within the context of vernacular architecture it embraces what is known and what is inherited about the dwelling, building, or settlement. It includes the collective wisdom and experience of a society, and the norms that have become accepted by the group as being appropriate to its built environment." (Oliver, 1997, p.ii) In his book (House Form and Culture), Amos Rapoport makes a comparison between the buildings that belong to the grand design tradition and those of the folk tradition. (Rapoport, 1969,p.2) According to Rapoport, the monument- buildings of the grand design tradition- are built to impress either the populace with the power of the patron, or the peer group of designers and cognoscenti with the cleverness of the designer and good taste of the patron. The folk tradition, on the other hand, is the direct and unself-conscious translation into physical form of a culture, its needs and values as well as the desires, dreams, and passions of a people.•lt is the world view writ small, the "ideal" environment of a people expressed in buildings and settlements, with no designer, artist, or architect with an axe to grind (although to what extent the designer is really a form giver is a moot point). The folk tradition is much more closely related to the culture of themajority and life as it is really lived than is the grand design tradition, which represents the

Privacy is one of the socio-cultural factors that affect on the formation of vernacular houses forms as a space organization and forms of elevations. Dealing with privacy varies from one culture to another, and this explains the diversity of houses forms in detached geographic regions. Privacy affects on the vernacular forms through a set of sub-factors. The most effective sub-factor on the elevations of traditional houses forms in Erbil city is the privacy of view between public and private spaces. In the selected samples this relationship is a direct one. The sub-factor of view privacy affects on the elevation form through form of the element and the position of the element regarding the whole elevation. Privacy is an effective factor that affects on the formal language of elevations in the traditional vernacular houses within the culture of Erbil city.

Architecture plays a crucial role in expressing identities. This study aims to create a model of sustainable continuity of cultural heritage as an approach to study architectural identity in Erbil City. The study combined visual analysis using graphical representation, analysis of previous studies, field surveys, and questionnaire surveys as methods of data collection. The rationale behind selecting Erbil City is related to its unique sustainable developments related to its cultural heritage through the ages, as the oldest continiously inhabited city in the world. The proposed model revealed a strong correlation between independent variables that represent cultural heritage frameworks of (typo-morphology of house layouts and façade, sociocultural factors, sustainable development factors) and the (continuity of architectural identity in houses situated in Erbil city) as a dependent factors. The regression analysis demonstrated that the most effective factor contributing to the continuity of the architectural identity of houses in Erbil city is the physical characteristics related to the typo morphology of the house's plan layout. The study revealed a comprehensive model that includes the relation between inherited and created sustainable elelments related to cultural heritage that effects on the continuity of architectural identity.

Related to their environmental contexts and available resources they are customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies. All forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies and ways of life of the cultures that produce them." (Oliver, 1997, p.ii) In another definition Oliver gives a description about the context of vernacular architecture: "Within the context of vernacular architecture it embraces what is known and what is inherited about the dwelling, building, or settlement. It includes the collective wisdom and experience of a society, and the norms that have become accepted by the group as being appropriate to its built environment." (Oliver, 1997, p.ii) In his book (House Form and Culture), Amos Rapoport makes a comparison between the buildings that belong to the grand design tradition and those of the folk tradition. (Rapoport, 1969,p.2) According to Rapoport, the monument- buildings of the grand design tradition- are built to impress either the populace with the power of the patron, or the peer group of designers and cognoscenti with the cleverness of the designer and good taste of the patron. The folk tradition, on the other hand, is the direct and unself-conscious translation into physical form of a culture, its needs and values as well as the desires, dreams, and passions of a people.•lt is the world view writ small, the "ideal" environment of a people expressed in buildings and settlements, with no designer, artist, or architect with an axe to grind (although to what extent the designer is really a form giver is a moot point). The folk tradition is much more closely related to the culture of themajority and life as it is really lived than is the grand design tradition, which represents the