Recognition and Analyses of the Persian GardensElements with Respect to Ethical Principles

Among different natural elements, water and plants are the most important ones. They usually influence the other natural elements. If they are carefully taken into consideration at the time of environmental design, a more qualified sustainable living space could be developed which could result in an economic saving as well. Meanwhile, it is important to be familiar with the different conceptual, functional and esthetic aspects of the mentioned elements to be able to organize them in a better way. Herein, the wise combination of water and plants in the Persian gardens is a remarkable example of its kind which crystallizes a sustainable design with respect to the above aspects.This paper investigates the importance of water, trees and flowers –as the leading environmental factors- in Islamic documents in addition to some gnostics viewpoints. The position of these elements in the Persian gardens is discussed afterwards.The results show that the Persian garden has a wise,philosophical design concept in which the environmental factors such as water and plants are arranged, not only to provide people with their physical needs (Functional and Esthetic aspects), but also to prepare them with a metaphysical and intellectual space (Conceptual aspect).These qualities have made the Persian gardens survive over the centuries, while harnessing a great cooperative relationship with nature.