The place of branding in the developments of historical Iranian-Islamic cities Case study: Tabriz Dar-ol-saltaneh during Qajar period

Urban branding is a well- meaning concept with at the same time as the globalization approach and has increased competitiveness between cities at national and international levels. Place branding is a strategic tool and method about sharing a competitive advantage and the city index to be on the path to future development. The most important principle in urban branding is to highlight the historical values, natural beauties, cultural, economic and social infrastructure of cities. Conscious branding gives cities a new identity. In the modern age of globalization of symbols and places, cities make efforts to describe their distinctive feature. In addition to the factors of urban economy and development of urban infrastructure, factors such as: quality of life of citizens, urban aesthetics and planning for local development are among the development criteria. Brand City is a placeholder image and package that emphasizes the unique features of the city; So that the city can be ahead of other competitors in the competition. but this does not seem to be a new phenomenon, and historical cities in Iran have always tried to traditionally use the capacity of the titles to advance their own goals.

The hypothesis in this study is: "assigning titles to ancient Iranian cities in previous periods has had a similar effect and effect, such as the concept of place branding in the urban structure". The method of the research, the historical-interpretive research method and the information gathering tool were library, documentary and based on content analysis and historical texts. For a closer examination of the subject, the city of Tabriz with the title of Dar-ol-saltaneh's in the Qajar period was selected which this title turned Tabriz city to a place for crown prince and Tabriz got a better political position after Tehran.

Tabriz political Importance along with the Spatial-Geographical Importance of the city, due to the East-West trade route, Dar-ol-saltaneh of Tabriz, was turned the gateway to the arrival of modernity and communication with the overseas. In order to evaluate the research hypothesis, at first studied the place branding, the components and the criteria for evaluating its effects in the city and in the following, a case study has been reviewed and evaluated. A case study analysis was in the form of place branding components, it should be extracted from the theoretical framework of the research. The components of location branding in the present research model include four axes: Imagery, Identity and Related Issues, Environmental Qualities, especially Urban Qualities, and finally Socio-Cultural Issues. The imagery component focuses on information and advertising around the site in question. The identity component in the urban context address issues arising from the context and affecting identity. In this component, special emphasis is given to the particular distinction that exists in place and which forms part of the identity of the people and the identity of the place. The component of environmental quality, especially urban quality, studies the physical characteristics and physical elements that influence the structure of the city. Finally, the component examines socio-cultural issues, cultural and social contexts, special events and events, and seeks to promote and present them as an important and influential component.

It is imperative to point out that all of these components do not require at first; urban branding is a time-consuming process that begins with a set of capacities and potentials in the context of the study, and over time other values and components are added to it. The results of the research show that in the historical cities of Iran, got a title has the similar effects to the Iranian cities with the place branding effect and and show the validity of the research hypothesis. Increasing the environmental qualities, especially urban qualities in the city of Tabriz, establishing socio-cultural issues and the manifestation of these developments in the late Qajar, improving the quality of mental image of individuals and identity in the Qajar period and finally desirable illustrations of the Qajar city of Tabriz in documents Foreign and Iranian are among the important events and developments. In other words; Dar Al-Saltanah brand in the Qajar period in the city of Tabriz caused significant changes and changes that the environmental qualities, socio-cultural issues, identity and imagery in this city grew and developed.