Formation, strengthening and Memory Stability in Urban Spaces, Case-based example of Shiraz Chamran Street

Every-day life of city residents includes a range of communication and social interactions. The size, density, and configuration of urban physical environment affect the psychological and social experiences and behaviors of urban dwellers. Citizen's familiarity with the location of residences is a result of education and experience, thus having different sense of place among people living in different cities is a result of different experience too. This paper aims to address the relationship between the accumulation of memories and perceptions on quality, image and vitality to the citizens. From this, managers, planners, urban designers and policy makers can be effective in improving the communication of citizens with their residence environment through participation of space users in formulating future development visions. As a geographical community, public space has a certain location in the urban structure. As a social community, public space is a meeting place for different purposes. Central to the notion of public space are its claims to be democratic and accessible. The meaning of places is defined through their identity and more specifically through the harnessing of the traditions, memories and historicity held of them. Social interaction connects public space to physical security. Many public realms in the city are time-dependent in their nature. During the daytime, market squares, parks and streets might be magnetic and inclusive urban areas, but during the nighttime they may turn into urban areas of fear. The urban landscape is something that we see, but it is also something that is produced by stories. There are many aesthetic, economic, emotional and nostalgic ties to the urban environment. Many meanings of signs and symbols are part of our history and identity. Human behaviour in urban space is influenced by subjective knowledge of the environment. It is possible to transfer this knowledge using such kinds of materials as novels, diaries, biographies, poems, photographs, paintings and films. These sources of material help to understand the deep, subjective and complex relationships between individuals, groups, places and landscapes. In this study, the Chamran Street in Shiraz was selected as the study area. Then the environmental factors affecting users in the form of memories were collected and analyzed. The reason of choosing Chamran was due to its importance in current and future urban identity of Shiraz, its dynamism, diversity of functions and activities, and its role on increasing urban vitality.The resultsindicated thatactivity and meaning are two more important factors those physical elements, so more attention is required to pay on these two via improving social-recreational activities. Any effort to improve physical environment should be accomplished with enriching diverse activities and empowering urban image and legibility for users. This would lead to enriching identity, collective memories, and livability.