مجله منظر
پیاپی 22 (بهار 1392)

Garden is one of the things made by human being that has a crucial role in giving identity to the society and the materialization of social beliefs. The philosophy behind the creation of gardens may be to give life to one of manifestations of beauty. Considering that the Persian garden has a close connection to beauty, it may be necessary to realize the principles which contribute to the beauty of the Persian garden. This is what the present research has targeted. The research methodology will be interpreting the available texts regarding the Persian garden as well as studying the remaining gardens in Iran given that the main scope of study has been described as Persian (Iranian) gardens. The Persian garden is a manifestation of supreme values and concepts. Some have described the Persian garden as “a representation of heaven” (the Qur’anic heaven). The present research is not meant to deal with the representation of heaven in Persian gardens. Rather, it tries to address the roles of certain elements of the Persian garden as manifestations of heavenly symbols or spiritual values. It is general knowledge that all elements of nature create the image of supreme concepts in the minds of individuals, specifically Muslims and Iranians. Nonetheless, even though supreme concepts are associated with natural elements, studies have shown that the gardens in which the elements have been taken away from their natural forms are more efficient in creating the heaven effect. Overall, the main elements of Persian gardens, as investigated by researchers, are creating a sense of moral values and tranquility, establishing an association with history, simplicity, variety of plants, unique geometrical designs, symmetry, balance, accordance, boundary and beauty. What the present research established was to show that despite what holds true with numerous cases, beauty cannot be merely dependent on what is perceived through the common means of the material world. The Persian gardens - which vary over a wide range from traditional gardens to the landscape areas around castles and even those inside house yards – are no exception to this. Rather, they represent various manifestations of quality beauty which is related to the spiritual world and heavenly beauty which is related to the supreme aspect of life. Both of these stages of beauty that overlap each other have led to the creation of unique cases of Persian gardens across the history by relying on the genuine Persian culture as well as the monotheist ideologies. In conclusion, it is regrettable to see that all the beauties as visible in Persian gardens are not taken into consideration in the modern architecture of Iran and the country’s architecture is still mainly focused on foreign models.

Here existed Tehran and its gardens; there were many gardens in Tehran at the period of Ghajar dynasty which was designed by original pattern of Persian garden. North highland of old Tehran was full of Persian gardens built by noblesse of Ghajar; but those gardens destroyed due to city growth and development. One of these gardens is the Mostoufi garden in region 3 of the Great Tehran (Vank village of old Tehran). At the present time,this garden is named Vanak with an appropriate planting used as public green space. Mostoufi garden of Tehran was one of the largest gardens of the Ghajar dynasty in which the old buttonwood trees are only worthiness of garden.Due to garden demolition and performance and lack of suitable pattern of Persian garden in Tehran, authorities have decided to reproduce Vanak garden by presenting features of Persian garden and perform the original property of Iranian gardens at transnational scales. This paper recounts the history of Mostoufi garden, problems of design and construction; and influence of Persian garden property in various part of Vanak garden.

An aesthetic look at the beauties of a city will lead to the understanding of its different aspects provided that a clear set of standards are taken into consideration and the flow of life inside the urban structures and the feelings that those structures create also receive an adequate attention. This will further uncover a new aspect of urban beauties in terms of the city landscape – what has so far been rarely brought into the spotlight. Tehran was gradually developed from the Qajar era through the course of the Pahlavid era. It started its life as a quiet city overlooked by mountains and through which rivers flew. Another key characteristic of the city were the old and quiet alleys. In fact، it was mostly due to these mere natural beauties that Tehran was chosen as the capital city of the country. However، it eventually started to become a populous and busy place. Nonetheless، Tehran is a vivid and colorful city regardless to the many flaws like a high population and difficulties to keep it clean that have already made life difficult there. Tehran has numerous sources of beauty most of which are natural like the mountains، trees and parks as well as elements of the old and the new landscapes. In fact، the city has an underlying systematic order in terms of elements of beauty. Also، the co-existence of beauties that belong to the old Tehran with those of the new Tehran has created a unique identity for the big city. Tehran in its old days had natural and symbolic beauties. However، the appearance of the city changed after it was expanded to host a larger dweller population. The emergence of developments which were the results of modernism also contributed to the change in Tehran’s appearance. Today، the appearance of Tehran is a combination of modernism which has been excessively imported into Iran as well as the elements of nature that have been prevalent from old times. Nevertheless، what is mostly significant with regards to the modern looks of Tehran are the elements that have been used for the purpose of promoting the city’s beauties. Examples of those elements include artificial lakes and waterfalls، new plantation projects، murals، etc. The present article has assessed all the positive and negative aspects of Tehran’s appearance and has eventually distinguished Iran’s capital city as beautiful، vivid and vibrant. Nevertheless، it has been acknowledged that some external and internal elements have overshadowed Tehran’s beauties. It may be difficult to notice the beauties of Tehran particularly now that the city is surrounded by many concerns and issues. Still، it is always possible to look at things from a different perspective.

Sustainability concept in tourism is one of the most important and the most challenging concepts of tourism development and has been proposed as a framework for understanding the economical – social development processes، and the management of natural resources and tourism، during the past few decades. Despite the great advantages of this industry، if it''s development not to attend the policies and environmental attitudes programs and not to emphasize sustainability of development، it will certainly cause many negative effects on the environment. So studying about sustainable recreation as an effective action on all development elements is required more than the past. Maharloo lake recreation region of Shiraz also needs to attention to the sustainability factors in its tourism section، as one of the prepared regions in attracting tourists، and one of the unique landscapes in salt production. This region with its ecotourism potential is welcoming tourists whom take refuge to the beaches to spend their leisure time out of Town، in different seasons، but unfortunately، a great part of it becomes an unused region، because of not considering the tourism sustainability principles in its tourism landscape، nowadays. Thus، after introducing region and reviewing Maharloo’s social – cultural، economical and environmental characteristics، and also its current problems، the landscaping solutions are presented، in order to achieve a correlated set of comprehensive policies for tourism sustainable development in Maharloo Lake، and upgrade landscaping features، in this article.

Description as an objective and inductive strategy is one of the fundamental research methods in landscape architecture studies. Descriptive research strategies produce new knowledge by systematically collecting and recording information that is readily available to the investigator and does not require complex analysis in order for it to be understood. Many historical precedents demonstrate how the foundation knowledge of the discipline has been built upon the work of careful and acute observers who prepared firsthand accounts and inventories of the rich diversity of landscape phenomena in the world. Despite its basic roll، it has less been employed in Iranian research designs in a clear way. The main aim of this paper is to point out its importance and critical rolls in landscape studies. Therefore، the descriptive strategy in Deming and Swaffield (2011) esseys are studied. In there opinoin، there are several types of research design based upon observational strategies that are particularly relevant to landscape architecture. This paper explain four types of descriptive research strategy widely applied within landscape architecture- observation، secondary description، descriptive social surveys، and complex description (including case studies). Besides، some examples have been mentioned for better understanding. In general، many sources used in descriptive research، including written documents، questioners، observation، interviews، photos and sketches. Multiple sources may also provide greater certainty and precision about particular phenomena through triangulation. As a descriptive strategy becomes more sophisticated، it becomes more dependent upon the combination، classification، and interpretation of different sources of data. The validity of these kinds of research depends on the rate of supporting various sources with each other، process of extraction data from sources and way of researchers’ induction based on classification، ranking and at the end interpretation.

One of the landscape dynamics that has attracted significant interest، both from the scientific community and، more recently، from the broader population، is landscape fragmentation. Landscape fragmentation has come to the forefront since it impacts ecological systems and human activities. From landscape ecology to the theory of perception، multiple disciplines have dealt with the concept and measurement of landscape fragmentation and its impacts on habitats and societies. Landscape fragmentation، which is one of the most widespread landscape processes، has been studied in both conservation biology and landscape ecology disciplines. Quantitative indicators capable of measuring landscape patterns and changes are used to examine landscape fragmentation and assess the impact on the environment and biodiversity. In addition، qualitative indicators are used to measure the social dimension and perception of landscape fragmentation by humans (with little connection to ecological processes). The present study takes a pragmatic approach to integrate existing concepts and methodologies of landscape fragmentation assessment and examine the feasibility of creating a comprehensive indicator that combines the strengths of these different perspectives. In this article، we summarize and analyze the current assessments used to study landscape fragmentation. We report the strengths، limitations، successes and challenges of the quantitative and perceptive approaches and provide an insight into the possibilities and potential of combining these approaches into one assessment. Based on the existing literature and pioneering integrative approaches، we conclude that it is convenient and feasible to design an indicator of landscape fragmentation. This indicator would be informative of changes in the landscape pattern and meaningful for land planners and society as a whole. Such an indicator، however، should be constrained in scope to focus on people and our unique perception of scale، visual fragmentation، and human societal context and cultural background. A combination of both approaches would maximize the significance and utility of a landscape fragmentation indicator. Landscape ecology methodologies have proved to be useful in developing indicators of landscape patterns. There are difficulties، however، which are inherent in the measurement methods and the interpretation of the meaning that landscape fragmentation indices have for species living in the landscape. These limitations require researchers to be very concise regarding the targeted species، the elements considered to cause the fragmentation of their habitat and the scale at which this habitat should be studied. The exact definition of which elements are involved in landscape fragmentation and the degree to which they contribute to the perception and the discrimination of groups of people that share similar views and opinions regarding a given landscape fragmentation pattern are issues that can be addressed by disciplines studying landscape perception، preferences and interactions within communities. At present، when integrative approaches combining landscape ecology indices and visual indicators have proved to be achievable، studies of the viability of particular indicators that are informative for specific landscape processes are important. Our future research will focus on the development of a suitable indicator of landscape fragmentation، which takes into account the aforementioned requirements and limitations.

A city is composed of a wide variety of applications in which nature contributes a part. In different civilizations of the world، contribution of nature in the city depended on their prevalent ideology and the necessity of nature existence. Islamic culture considers nature a God’s indication of existence and in history of Islamic cities، nature has been an inspiring and beatifying element of the environment. However، in the modern era followed by imitation of modern cities، nature has lost its position in the city. In the era of postmodernism revision، development of urban green space has become a main principal; nevertheless، its quality lack in identity. Therefore، considering the qualitative aspects of nature and meaning of nature in beautifying city of Tehran has been the focus of urban management. All managers and professionals agree on the necessity of nature existence in the city and a sustainable relationship between nature and citizens. However، the increase of green space per capita in cities has become the standard practice in urban management of Iran. As a result new parks have been built to promote urban green space per capita of urban parks. In some cases this proceeding is in contradiction main purpose of nature expansion in the city. Every town has a normal capacity of sustainable development which should be contemplated in the first step. Tehran city also has natural potentials which offer the city specific characteristics. Regarding urban development programs with little attention to these potential with a quantitative approach and large expenditures، they have been trying to increase the green area in the city، while considering natural capacities at various scales and planning for revitalizing and increasing them with minimum expenses are sustainable solutions in development of nature in Tehran. In this regard، MANZAR Journal carried out a research on the role of natural capacities in the natural development of Tehran. In this case، various capacities of natural components of Tehran city at micro to macro scale with a similar case in other countries were studied with a functional approach and in a comparative way. The results of this research which have been concluded practically can increase the knowledge and improve urban management approach and will lead to understanding various capacities of natural components in giving meaning and purpose to urban development plans and decisions related to the nature in the city.

Some philosophical questions about assessing the nature of aesthetic have been proposed with divergent centralizations which try to stabilize landscape aesthetics conceptually by providing an appropriate framework. This article with an analytical-philosophical approach tries to search about this issue by studying the theories and achievements of most renowned scientist and philosophers in the field of aesthetics. The main question of this article is to find which/what nature is beautiful in people point of view? Responding this question requires such the science on aesthetic of nature. This question is solved by integrating these two models: The CONCEPTUAL-COGNITIVE Model and The NONCONCEPTUAL-IMAGINATIVE Model. In order to to have a right assessment on environment and to know which/what nature is beautiful، the hypothesis of this article is based on the hybrid model that asserts the integrated model is the answer. Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant are two of the most influential figures who have framed the issues and have pursued aesthetic inquiries of landscape and the environment in terms of polar opposites deeply rooted in the dichotomous positions in our mind: science and art، subjective-objective matters and cognition and emotion. Carlson choose a main role for cognitive، conceptual and science based of human experience in aesthetic but Berleant emphasized on imaginative، non-conceptual، non-science based aspects. The common position held by both Carlson and Berleant is that the aesthetics of nature is an important subject matter in the debate surrounding contemporary environmental issues، and that it must be developed conceptually and theoretically from an experiential point of view، helping us to escape from much misguided thought on the aesthetics of art as well as on the subject of landscape evaluation Eventually، it is emphasized that both philosophical positions on the aesthetic appreciation for nature attempt to make a logical connection between the value of nature and the value of art. Since these two aspects are intertwined with human experience and accepting that human experience is resulted from human and environment interaction، the quality of nature is considered objective- subjective. Clearly fuller account of aesthetic experience and value in the natural environment will emerge when natural and cultural knowledge is furnished by imagination، cognition، and emotion with both narrative and ambient dimensions. The combination of these two aspects will improve the spiritual and moral aspects of the human mind and lead to environmental sustainability.

Residential locating and urban life depends on natural context in Iranian cities. In some cities، natural axis plays a significant role. Therefore the focal points in these cities are the result of the confluence of power of nature and human order in different historical periods. These points are the center of territory which is the combination of city and nature. In addition، they have the highest capacity in qualitative development of city in its spatial organization. Confluence of different layers such as perceptual، functional، memorial، mental، geographical and also numerous elements of environment and landscape not only affects human environment and urban space but also can cause the qualitative development of city. Urban Landscape is the result of interaction between ecology of city (nature)، its history and residents’ perception. Hence it guarantees the meaning of the environment and sustainability of the place. In other words، urban landscape is confluence of the history and nature and it also affects the quality of urban spaces. Connection with environment in a continuous order of daily urban landscape would be possible by reviving the confluence of nature، history and urban activities in Tehran. In addition، meaningful and multilayered urban places would be created. This article debates the role and importance of interaction between nature and history of the city. Finally، it attempts to describe the main issue by analyzing Tajrish Area in Tehran as an example of interaction between nature and history.

Undoubtedly، the seven river valleys of Tehran city have been the most significant natural factors in the city structure throughout history; the factors which no longer play a part in city estimation. Although the river valleys، as the most important factors of urban ecological structure، play a role in creating a balanced relationship between city and nature space، they have not been considered as significant factors of Tehran master plan. Despite the fact that the last master plan largely refers to the potentials of the river valleys، the proper way of fulfillment has not been clarified in the organization program. This paper focuses on the facilities، opportunities، limitations، threats and strategies for planning and restoration of the natural environment as initial proposals aimed at improving the quality of life by reviewing the position of Tehran river valleys in municipal documents and actions taken in the case of Farahzad river valley in Tehran. This article will also focus on these two basic points: 1) natural potentials of river valleys including green space and water flow 2) human scale and construction of pedestrian path connected to river valleys. Considering these two facts and combining the natural potentials of river valleys with human needs can lead to favorable results in organization of the valleys.

Rivers are among the main factors in shaping the urban morphology، city’s identity continuity and environmental sustainability. Since the industrialization of the cities، natural features such as rivers were neglected and turned into contaminated places with no sign of life. In some cases، negative consequences were arisen due to inappropriate decisions made by the urban leaders for eliminating the pollution from the rivers by various methods such as covering the contaminated rivers in the city، which caused people forget these natural features which eventually lost their role in urban structures. However، whereas the importance of nature presence has been discovered in modern world، urban leaders are trying to make significant use of the natural sources and their social and environmental rehabilitation. Huangpu River in Shanghai is one of the most successful examples of these types of approaches toward the inner city rivers. The widespread contamination of the river which made it an uninhabitable location for any type of creature was the main problem. Therefore، urban management team implemented the purpose of its various projects (such as Hooton Park) toward the ecological rehabilitation of this river. KoungJian Yu، the project designer who is renowned for his ecological approaches، had a profound understanding of the condition of this river. Apart from solving various challenges of this site، he tried to create a sustainable landscape which reminds people of the Chinese culture and traditional agriculture. He has not forgotten the history of the site and has creates a combination of the tradition and modernity in a very pleasant way by the use of all the industrialized means in the site. Moreover، with these approaches he has also created a place for recreation and leisure activities for the people. Yu’s approaches in landscape projects have had a very significant role in rehabilitation of the city. His main focus is on sustainable development of the site and its surrounding environment. Indeed، he also pays a great deal of attention to the Chinese culture and landscape which causes him prosperity and success in his projects. In Hooton Park project، natural features of the ecosystem were maintained and the connection of human beings with their identity and history was made by the rehabilitation of the nature. This way of thinking and decision making which solves all the various types of issues in an urban environment are the main reasons for the success of this project and its being entitled as 2010 best project by the American Architecture Community.

Water presence has always been one of the significant factors in creating merriness and exhilaration in landscape design. In the past، due to the fundamental role of water in the structure and identity of the city، the presence of water has had a special effect in shaping the urban landscape and would participate at a variety of scales in city. Aqueducts are technological achievements in history and culture of this land in the arid cities of the plateau of Iran that had supplied the city''s water with the discovery، guidance and extraction of groundwater and has had a major role in shaping the landscape of the city. Tehran is one of cities that use this method in shaping water networks since it benefits from groundwater surface and a topographic location. Therefore the elements of this water network and streams that were subterranean crossing place of the aqueducts are always the key elements in shaping the landscape of Tehran. Tehran was provided with s structure based on its designers'' thoughts which supplied people’s requirements in the city. Following the master and development plans of western approaches، people’s requirements and presence of natural elements in the city were eventually ignored. Having destroyed the streams which were responsible for supplying water storages and reservoirs and turned them into dumping places، they were no longer considered as essential elements in city landscape. Aside from losing their functional role and people’s conceptual rupture from natural processes، they have lost their reminiscent and mental role. Paying attention to Tehran streams as one of the landscape elements of the city and using this element in urban design and landscape architecture at neighborhood scale can help making proper landscape in the context of neighborhood and provide freshness and vitality. In between attention to subterranean aqueducts as one of the main pillars in water supplies for non-potable usages، landscape and various facilities in Tehran needs to be studied، identified and organized which can be an effective in strengthening Tehran urban identity. Tehran streams as vital capillaries of city can strengthen the city’s identity with changing quality of urban spaces and can have an effective role in citizens’ perception of the City rather than offering a destructive role. Natural infrastructures can be an effective matter way in promoting citizens’ perception of the city and create a sense and identity of place. Sustainable way of developing nature presence in the city is investing on the potential and internal capabilities of the system. Tehran subterranean aqueducts as available natural vital vessels in the city were one of important and effective element in shaping the landscape of Tehran. The way of nature presence and influence recovery at least in Tehran city spaces is rehabilitation of the capillary of this natural flow or streams.