Factors Affecting the Association of the Concept of Identity in Architecture and Urbanization in Shiraz

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Fatemeh Panahi ¹
• Shahrzad Shahriari ²
• Alireza Danesh pour ²

¹ Master of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran.

² Assistant Professor of Architecture, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran

10.30495/jupm.2022.4416

Abstract

Today, attention to the concept of identity is felt in a worrying way in urban spaces. Ignoring the dimensions and identifying factors in today's cities has created environments without a coherent and legible personality, and as a result, the feeling of belonging and attachment to the body has decreased. The Iranian city has always had its unique identity, while now the lack of attention to its preservation and revitalization has caused irreparable damage to the values and patterns of traditional Iranian urbanism. The purpose of this study is to investigate and identify the influential components in the discussion of the association of the concept of identity in architecture and urbanism of Shiraz to prevent the factors that destroy urban identity. The research method used is descriptive-analytical and based on documentary library studies and field surveys, including a questionnaire. SPSS software and Friedman test were used to analyze the data. The results indicate that the types of components of physical identity in Shiraz are classified into three categories of artificial, natural and human factors. Among these, the artificial factors variable is the most evocative of identity in the architecture and urbanism of Shiraz. The variables of natural and human factors are in the second and third priority, respectively. Also, the criterion of "index buildings" with an average of 87.4 in the artificial component, the criterion of "Orangery (Narenjestan)" with an average of 3.35 in the natural component and the criterion of "expression of dialect and language" with an average of 12.3 in the human component had the most impact from the point of view of the respondents.
Extended abstract
Introduction:
The trend of urban developments tends towards the unification and destruction of cultural identities (national and local). A look at how to create physical identities in cities can be a step towards recognizing the root of the identity crisis in cities.
The identity of each period is determined by the characteristics and advantages of that period compared to the previous period. When it comes to the identity of the city, the distinction between cities is raised. What is worth considering are the commonalities and differences between cities. The identity traits of the city are based on the natural, artificial and human identity traits of the city. Therefore, what is imagined as an image in people's minds is due to the space organization of the city. Lack of knowledge and understanding of the structure and skeleton of cities, the spatial organization of cities and the lack of efforts to preserve and revive them has caused great damage to the values ​​hidden in cities and traditional urbanism patterns in Iran.
     The question of identity in our country has occupied the minds of people, managers, artists and architects for four decades. This question is often asked among the people of countries that had a prominent cultural and civilizational background in the past, but today feel that they have fallen behind the caravan of world civilization and have become more consumers of the products of other civilizations. The question of identity for several reasons, including the lack of appropriate intellectual frameworks, lack of executive guarantees, and the existence of a system and multiple stakeholders and influential factors. It has never achieved practical functions and objective solutions. On the other hand, uncertainty in the field of thought regarding the issue of identity has also led to confusion in architectural identity.
Therefore, identity is important because, a general and complex concept of human feelings about the environment is formed in a person, which is created by human adaptation and use of space, And it is one of the important concepts in improving the quality of human environments and forming the communication bases of users of the environment.
According to the research issue and preliminary studies, the research questions are:
1- Why and how has the concept of identity changed today?
2- What are the influential components in the association of the concept of identity in Shiraz architecture and urbanism?
Methodology:
 
        Due to the nature of the subject and objectives of the research, the type of research was applied and the approach to the descriptive-analytical research, based on library-documentary studies and field surveys. The method of data collection was documentary and surveying. In this research, a questionnaire containing 15 questions was prepared in order to examine the effective factors in associating the concept of identity in architecture and urbanism of Shiraz. The statistical population of citizens and tourists of Shiraz were in different urban areas and the sample size was estimated to be 384 based on Cochran's formula. In order to assess the validity, the items of the questionnaire were approved by a number of professors and experts in this field. Also, the reliability of the questionnaire, which was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, 0.79, shows the internal consistency of the questionnaire.
The collected data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 25.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA). Quantitative data were reported as mean and standard deviation, and qualitative data were reported as frequency and percentage. Friedman nonparametric test was used for analysis and p-values <0.05 was considered significant in all of the hypothesis tests.
Results:
       Finally, data on 384 people were examined. 52.5% of the participants were women and 47.5% were men. The distribution of respondents was the same in terms of age frequency. People with a bachelor's degree had the highest frequency with 308 people (80%) and people with a bachelor's degree had the highest frequency with 76 people (20%). Eighty percent of the participants (308) had a associate degree or less, and the rest of them were bachelor's degree or higher (76 subjects). According to the obtained data, artificial factors, natural factors and human factors are the most reminiscent of identity in architecture and urbanism in Shiraz, respectively.
In the category of artificial factors; Significant buildings (4.9), monuments (4.8) and religious buildings (3.9) had the highest ranks, respectively. In the category of natural factors due to the influence of oranges (3.6) and Qasr al-Dasht gardens (0.3); And in the category of human factors, the expression of dialect and language (3.1) can be mentioned.
Conclusion:
 
In the current study, after examining the components of urban identity, the variable of artificial factors is most associated with identity in architecture and urbanism in Shiraz. The variables of natural and human factors are in the second and third priority, respectively. Also, "Index buildings" with an average of 4.87 in the artificial component has the greatest impact from the respondents' point of view. Then "Orangeries (Narenjestans)" with an average of 3.35 have the greatest effect on the natural component. "Expression of dialect and language" with an average of 3.12 in the human component is the third factor associated with identity in the architecture and urbanism of Shiraz. "Expression of dialect and language", which is a subset of Shiraz's native history and culture, is very effective in associating the concept of identity in Shiraz architecture and urbanism.
Finally, the following suggestions are made, based on the findings of this study:

The use of new styles and materials in indigenous architecture in maintaining and perpetuating identity and association of memory.
Using artificial elements in order to join natural and index elements.
Creating a proper visual identity by observing the culture and traditions of the past in different urban layers.
Observing the proportions, balance, unity between the components, continuity and emphasis on the identity-building elements used.
Creating open spaces next to identity elements for more mental communication of people with them.

Keywords

• identity
• the concept of identity
• architecture
• urbanization
• Shiraz

20.1001.1.22285229.1401.13.48.1.8

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