Urban spatial structure in central Iran: introduction & analysis of sahe-ja

ABSTRACT

Modernization of Iranian cities during the 20th century has radically altered and, in some instances, completely destroyed parts of the historic fabric of cities. Two approaches have dominated efforts to address these impacts: development-driven and conservation-driven. Because both approaches originate outside the complex and fragile contexts of Iran’s historic fabric, their respective and collective outcomes have proven neither logical nor practical. Scholars have proposed a third, context-driven option, which urban planners and municipal officials try to restore and preserve urban fabric according to their structure while also maintaining quality of life for residents. Applying the context-driven approach to the spatial structure of the Ali-Gholi-Agha quarter in Isfahan reveals one such discrete element: a semipublic type of space called “sahe-ja.” By interrogating whether and to what extent sahe-ja serves as a determinative element in the quarter’s historic urban fabric, this paper demonstrates the logic and practicality of the context-driven approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Modernization
• historic fabric
• spatial structure
• Ali-Gholi-Agha quarter
• sahe-ja

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the support Dr. Saied Zarrinmehr in the preparation of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We acknowledge other common approaches that are explained interventions in historic fabric (such as “heritage conservation”, “urban regeneration”, and “sustainable urban regeneration”). But these approaches do not describe exactly what is happened in historic Iranian urban fabric. Therefore, we use development-driven, conservation-driven, and context-driven approaches, which specifically dedicated to Iranian urban historic fabric.

2. “Naṣer al-Din Shah, also spelled Naṣir al-Dan Shah, (born 17 July 1831, near Tabrīz, Iran – died 1 May 1896, Tehrān), Qājār shah of Iran (1848–96) who began his reign as a reformer but became increasingly conservative, failing to understand the accelerating need for change or for a response to the pressures brought by contact with the Western nations” (Encyclopedia of Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Naser-al-Din-Shah access 10/16/2019).

3. “Reza Shah Pahlavi, also spelled Riza Shah Pahlevi, original name Reza Khan, (born 15 March 1878, Alasht, Mazanderan province, Iran – died 26 July 1944, Johannesburg, South Africa), Iranian army officer who rose through army ranks to become shah of Iran (1925–41) and began the regeneration of his country” (Encyclopedia of Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Naser-al-Din-Shah access 10/16/2019).

4. “Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, (born 26 October 1919, Tehrān, Iran – died 27 July 1980, Cairo, Egypt), shah of Iran from 194 to 1979, who maintained a pro-Western foreign policy and fostered economic development in Iran” (Encyclopedia of Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Naser-al-Din-Shah access 10/16/2019).

5. In 2004, ICHO was merged with the Iran Touring and Tourism Organization and named ICHTO.

6. When the spatial elements of the historic fabric are studied merely in terms of the interaction between mass and void, other important elements contributing to the formation and evolution of fabric are dismissed, but in practice, this model of analysis has proven successful in many cases (Habibi 2003; Tavassoli 1997).

7. Hammam is a public bathhouse in central parts of Iran with two separate zones for men and women.

8. Caravanserai is a place adjacent to a traditional bazaar to load or unload cargo. Also travelers can stay there temporarily.

9. Madi is a traditional water channel that is separated from the Zayandeh-Rod River in Isfahan.

10. Perhaps sahe-ja (سحه جا) in Farsi language is formed by the combination of two different words: sahat [(ساحة) or (ساحت)] and ja (جا). The first word is a noun (Dehkhoda dictionary) and means a yard, home yard, and yard between houses. The second word is also a noun and means place.

11. Darband is a roofed transition space outside houses that provides semiprivate entering territory for several houses.

12. Hashti is a roofed transition space inside an Iranian traditional house that provides private entering for the house.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shahead Maghreby

Dr. Shahead Maghreby is a Ph.D. graduate in Urban Planning, at Art University of Isfahan. He was a visiting scholar at Texas A&M University for three years. His research interest includes the phenomenological debate in urban planning and architecture, placemaking, continuity and change in historic fabrics and urban regeneration projects.

Samira Hosseini Yazdi

Samira Hosseini Yazdi has a master of art degree in Architecture from Art University of Isfahan. Her research interest is environmental psychology, design process, and architectural interdisciplinary research.

Mahmoud Ghalehnoee

Dr. Mahmoud Ghalehnoee studied architecture at Iran University of Science and Technology. He obtained his Ph.D. in Urban Design in France (Paris Université Paris-Est). Academic staff and assistant professor at Art University of Isfahan (Urban Studies Department) since 2008. He is an associate professor since 2014.

Ghasem Motalebi

Dr. Ghasem Motalebi is an associate professor in University of Tehran. He obtained his his Ph.D. in University of New South Wales in Australia. He has expertise in environmental psychology, sustainable urban development and theories in built environment.

Stephen Caffey

Dr. Stephen Caffey”s current research includes eye movement studies to determine culture-based correlates of aesthetic perception; building information modeling software as a means of reconstructing defunct architectural forms; the rhetoric of the architectural capriccio in 18th-century history painting; the cognitive science of spatial affect and its applications to sustainability features in residential and commercial architectural design. Following a two-year Samuel H. Kress Foundation dissertation research fellowship at the Courtauld Institute, London, and a summer residency at the Terra Foundation for American Art in Giverny, earned PhD in art history from the University of Texas at Austin. Beyond current research, interests include the forms of and variables contributing to visual and spatial literacies and the roles of image, object and structure in the formation of modern imperial identities.