A study of the impact of urban land uses on the identity of the Islamic City (Case study: District 1 of Yazd City)

The cities of Iran are considered Islamic in terms of temporal and social factors as well as sociocultural variables. Cities are divided into different categories only in terms of physical dimensions and identity-laden factors of Islamic cities (land uses, constructional and architectural manifestations, urban activities, dynamic feature, urban landscape and so forth) and it is not difficult to find a variety of urban tissues and neighborhoods with respect to the Islamic identity of the city. This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to investigate the effects of urban uses (religious, commercial, cultural, services) on the identity of Islamic city, particularly District 1 of Yazd city. It is because in the area under study, the historical parts of the cit, due to negligence or perhaps lack of some modern and new cores caused by improper and weak planning and design and ignorance of the long-standing and traditional identity of the city, have witnessed the deterioration of urban identity followed by the formation of districts and areas devoid of any cultural, social, and physical identity.
The data collection instruments were GIS software, field observations, interviews, and questionnaires and the data were analyzed by statistical tests and network analysis method.
The results of this study reveal a significant difference between the effects of land use features on the identity of Islamic city in District 1 of Yazd. The greatest influence was exerted by religious uses in concrete dimension and the lowest influence was imposed by cultural uses in the abstract dimension in the study area.