Assessing the Influence of Urban Qualities on Social Capital in Historical Fabric (Case study: Jolfa district in Isfahan)

For improving the quality of urban life in historical fabrics، social values embedded within the fabrics are more important than the physical restoration. Nowadays، the physical restoration of historical fabrics done in our country has not realized the defined goals and perspectives in many cases. Although such restorations can be a part of the process of improving the visual qualities of the environment، the most important element triggering the sustainable social life and improvement of urban life in historical fabrics as a basic factor of retaining the fabrics، is considering the social dimensions in restoration and revitalization of historical fabrics. Social capital is one of the main factors in sociology and social sciences which has recently been applied as a conceptual tool in improving the environmental qualities. Since the promotion of social functions underlying the historical fabric can be used as a strategy to maintain، revitalize and restore the fabric، the aim of this study is to find a logical relationship between the level of social capital and environmental qualities in order to offer an urban approach of social capital and apply it as a functional tool in urban design and especially in retaining and revitalizing historical fabrics. In order to achieve the research goal، the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique has been applied to quantify and assess the ultimate results of the urban qualities. The results of this study show the existence of a direct relationship between qualities of walkability and sociability and social capital as well as a dual relationship between the quality of permeability and social capital. The comparison of each pair of the above-mentioned factors also indicates that the relationships between the urban qualities and social capital are nonlinear. This is because of the influence of many other factors on social capital and the complexity of the relations between them.