مجله منظر
پیاپی 58 (بهار 1401)

The ‘center’ is among the key concepts of ancient civilizations who believed in a celestial creator and the sky role in creating the universe. In Persian language, this phenomenon is called "core" or “nucleus”, which represents the existence element, similar to what we suppose for a fruit seed that generates a fruitful tree. The experimental sciences mostly focus on the nucleus as the center of creatures in driving the ability of fertility in the form of genes and other compounds, and emphasize the originality of the nucleus in developing the organisms. Considering the natural law governing the whole existence whose ‘being’, ‘survival’, ‘reproduction’ and ‘generation’ mostly depend on a centralized nucleus, there is a similar belief in the existence of the nucleus in the human products as the creator and supporting element. For instance, speaking the city concept, as one of the supreme man-made products, the center as the initial point of establishment and emergence of the city represents the same nucleus function. In the modern world, by presenting the city layers, the former ‘traditional’, ‘unified’ and ‘centralized’ organization, which was highly established based on the growth of the nucleus, generating the city as a whole, replaced by the newfound pattern. A modern city initially upraised from the proximity of the urban functional layers with no reliance on the establishment origin and inconsideration to the existential connections between the city components. While in organic cities, which represents a vital concept, the city emerges from the growth of the nucleus followed by creation of secondary organs under the potential of the nucleus and the new requirements of the urban life. The Iranian civilization, as the ancient living human civilization, in the light of Islamic culture has provided conditions for creating an outstanding model of a city. The Iranian model of city during the Islamic era raised up in condition where limited management abilities were available, compared to the current conditions. Since the development process governing the emergence and growth of the city was mostly based on the "vitalizing" character of the living space and also the organic growth of the nucleus as the indispensable element of the city, conditions were provided for generating the supreme cities. The significant character of the Iranian city during the Islamic era presents the existence of neighborhoods as sub-organization and minor totality in the city. Each of them, is enriched by a nucleus that is productive and at the same time an element for surviving the neighborhood. Perceiving the concept of the integrated unity of the neighborhood as a whole relies on the existence of characteristics that center of the neighborhood is among the significant one. The physical aspect of a neighborhood manifests a pluralistic character which lacks unity: the houses, roads and services dispersed among them. Receiving the sense of integrated unity and oneness out of this multiplicity space is arising from the interpretation and perception of observer. Once an observer be able to perceive unity out of this multiple elements, the neighborhood would be generated, otherwise, it is merely an extended urban area. The most significant feature that facilitates the emergence of the wholeness concept out of the diverse components of the neighborhood is the existence of a core or center. The center of the neighborhood is the common and interactive space of a community whose members are common in perceiving the concept of the neighborhood. The common concept of citizens of the environment relies on the center that generates the unique concept of neighborhood. Thereupon, the role of the ‘Neighborhood Center’ should be considered beyond a simple facility center or a location just for distributing access, as a vitalizing element. The whole entity which is perceived from the neighborhood is its unique existence, not its multiple diverse components. The existence of these components is prerequisite for the realization of the neighborhood. Therefore, the neighborhood should be addressed based on the two essential elements, the physical components and its unique entity. The former is arising from the regional elements and the latter is originating from the spatial organization and the communication state established between those elements. Perceiving the concept of organization and the components relations is a mind action that ends to the manifestation of ‘Landscape’; though a landscape is the mind interpretation of a tangible objectivity. The landscape is a generally perceived “existence". Among the ‘vitalizing’ elements of the neighborhood, the role of the ‘center’ is more significant than the others. Therefore, by devitalizing the center of the neighborhood, the existence of this entity and perceiving its unity by the residents will decline, while by empowering the center, the neighborhood develops stability and vitality.

Persian garden is a well-known gardening style in the world. This style is distinguished from its other counterparts due to its special features. Many experts believe the Persian garden has undergone changes during different periods of evolution. Presently, the spatial desirability of the Persian garden is not seen in urban parks. Numerous reasons such as westernization and imitation in the late Qajar period and the use of Western designers in the Pahlavi period have created urban parks that not only their appearance has nothing to do with this land’s past but also the basic principles of communication between man and nature in Iranian culture are ignored in them. Many of the Persian garden’s perks have remained constant in different periods of its development, which shows its mental and spiritual value among Iranians. In this article, with an overview of some historical gardens of Iran and contemporary parks in Tehran, it has been shown that the fear of using the features and elements of Persian gardens due to their strong geometry, has caused the obscurity of urban parks. The results of this study indicate that Persian gardens, contrary to the prevailing perception of having dry and rectangular geometry in whole and in part, have shown a high degree of flexibility throughout history and have changed according to function or time. Ignoring this feature or not updating the concepts of the Persian garden has led to less use of this style in the design of urban parks, which has had a significant impact on citizens' relationship with urban green spaces as a part of nature they respect.

Urban tourism is a type of tourism industry that has widely become successful. This type of tourism has not received much attention not only for the development of the economy but also as a carrier of the history and culture of different cities. The landscape approach to urban elements with attention to different dimensions, temporal-spatial, civilizational-historical and objective-mental dimensions, simultaneously in the city, can redefine various attractions in urban tourism. Regardless of the modernity of landscape knowledge, the landscape approach is one of the strategies that are used currently in several issues related to the city, since this approach has special and unique features due to the nature of the landscape. On the other hand, it creates a different perspective of the city and its elements. Public spaces are part of urban spaces that have received less attention in Iranian cities. Spaces such as baths, bazaars, mosques, zourkhanehs, coffee houses, etc. are among these spaces. The coffee house is an institution with a social function that has been established in Iran since the Safavid era and over time has played several roles in society. It has become one of the distinctive elements in the Iranian city over the last few hundred years. The coffee houses were established based on the needs of the people. In addition to a place to eat and drink and a place to spend time, it has become a place that had effective functions in other areas such as culture, literature, and art in the Iranian city. A descriptive analytics method and documentary studies were used to categorize the different functions of the coffee houses using the landscape approach. In light of the redefined connotation and identity of the coffee house, it seems this place can be considered as a tourist landscape with an irreplaceable attraction in Iranian urban tourism.

Persian gardens reflect the special popularity of plants with Iranian people. The plants in the Persian gardens have always been native and in full harmony with their context and climate. This has contributed to the stability and continuity of Iranian gardens over time and across geographical regions and has created a sense of belonging to them. Much of the usefulness and stability of Iranian gardens can be attributed to these native plants that have therapeutic, healing, and semantic functions. These plants have a special place in Iranian culture. Unfortunately, today, inadequate knowledge of native plants that are compatible with the conditions of Iran has made these species extinct. Iranian parks and urban landscapes have been filled with foreign and non-original plants that are inconsistent with the climatic and cultural contexts of Iranian regions. Due to rapid and unpleasant changes in the present era, the native plants have been forgotten. The purpose of this study seeks to introduce and identify the characteristics of the musk rose, one of the original and native flowers planted in Iranian gardens and houses. The concern is that this flower has been overlooked for many years and no longer can be seen in parks and green spaces. Even knowledge of this flower is scanty. Information about this flower is limited to some travelogues. However, not much is available on the features of this flower, and only its name has been mentioned as one of the native flowers of Iran. The required data for this study were gathered through a bibliographical method, field studies, and interviews with residents of the cities and villages of Yazd and Kerman, and the head of botanical garden research. The results of these studies show the physical, semantic, and functional characteristics of this flower and confirm that this flower design has been used in some decorations. During the field research, data about this flower was found in the central regions of Iran.

Happiness is a broad and complex concept, which has numerous definitions in cognitive sciences. Such definitions have been developed based on human perceptions of this concept in different periods. Many studies have been carried out on the definition of happiness in different fields of study such as philosophy, economics, and especially social sciences. The present study attempts to identify the factors resulting in happiness in mixed-use urban centers based on social studies, which have been conducted in recent decades. Accordingly, urban spaces are described as important places for social relations. One of the reasons for the promotion and development of mixed-use urban centers is the formation of social interactions. Since the number of these centers has been considerably increasing in recent years, it seems necessary to pay attention to them as a place promoting people’s interaction and happiness. The main goal of the present research is to identify the features of mixed-used urban centers contributing to users’ interaction and happiness. The content analysis and observation method were used to investigate the relationship between happiness and social interaction. Further, the development of mixed-use urban centers was investigated by focusing on the case studies in Tehran and examining the fusion of diversity, density, and interactive space design in the form of the building types such as cinema complexes, playgrounds, various stores, restaurants, and food courts; as well as features such as vertical connection, voids, indoor/outdoor connection, security, and shared spaces. In conclusion, based on the happiness criteria set for spaces and by identifying the characteristics of mixed-use urban centers based on past studies, the study found that mixed-use centers play an important role in the improvement of happiness and social interactions for citizens.

Cities in today’s world have failed to meet the needs of certain groups despite the progress and development in their various dimensions. One of these groups is children, especially those who have autism spectrum disorder. Cities should be planned and designed in such a way as to allow the presence of this group of people. This paper examines examples of gamification in urban environments from many places throughout the world. Also, it summarizes the relationship between autism, gamification, and urban spaces by examining several examples of autism and offers suggestions for gamifying urban spaces for autistic children. This qualitative research employed the descriptive-analytical method to investigate the desirability of using the urban gamification approach for autistic children’s comfort and relaxation.  For this purpose, the data were collected from samples applied and previously implemented cases on this issue. The results are offered as suggestions for the gamification of urban places that are appropriate for autistic children so that the process of playing in the city can be implemented for autistic children while taking psychological, mental, and physical issues into account.

Urban landscape is a type of landscape presenting a new knowledge that has been a contemporary man’s new interpretation of space. It defines space, not as a physical entity but a phenomenon with intertwined objective-subjective aspects. According to this definition, whenever the organization of the landscape is a matter of concern, both aspects are expected to affect this relationship. Despite the effect of each aspect on one another, a review of the urban landscape literature on landscape organization - the evolution of the interactive landscape relationship - has been limited to a few actions or physical interventions which affect the objective aspect of the landscape. If the landscape is assumed to be the product of an interactive relationship between objectivity and subjectivity, theoretically speaking, this relationship might change by affecting the subjective aspect of the landscape.This research seeks to understand how the urban landscape can be transformed by a mental intervention rather than the physical one. It also attempts to provide a conceptual model that explains the mechanism of transforming the urban landscape by influencing the minds of citizens. This study seeks to develop a conceptual model using accepted concepts in the three domains; landscape knowledge, psychology, and media. This research employs logical reasoning to explain the relationship between logical propositions in these domains. Interpreting the data through the cultivation theory shows if conditioning messages are sent to change the urban landscape, and affect the feelings and behavior of the audience, it can also affect their attitude and mentality provided that they are constantly exposed to those messages. Theoretically speaking, as the result of the mentality change, one of the two interacting components of the landscape would be subject to change. Thus, some transformations are expected to occur in the urban landscape as a product of this interaction.