Eighth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

For centuries Iran’s urban environments comprised integrated and homogeneous fabrics. By the beginning of twenty century, urban conditions shifted, with numerous changes imposed by modernization generating unprecedented spatial problems. In response to these problems, various Urban Regeneration (UR) initiatives were implemented. Over the ensuing decades, three main strategies for UR emerged: development-oriented, conservation-oriented, and context-oriented. The first and second strategies formed according to ideas imported from outside of the context. Attitudes toward the resulting interventions suggest that strategies were unsuccessful. Therefore, some scholars offer the context-oriented strategy, which acknowledges the complexities of the site beyond historical prospects and antecedents. This paper uses the Jamȃleh quarter, in the historic district of Isfahan, as a case study. The quarter suffered from numerous spatial problems associated with modernization as well as damage to the urban fabric caused by the 1989 bombings associated with the Iran-Iraq War. To rectify the situation, the context-oriented strategy was implemented. This paper cross-references analyses of the resulting spatial interventions with in-depth interviews of the quarter’s inhabitants. The results indicate that, despite the many spatial benefits associated with the context-oriented strategy, some spatial problems in the quarter persist due to the exclusion of some important social aspects. This paper 1) interrogates whether and to what extent the context-oriented strategy promotes the improvement of the spatial structure of the quarter at the expense of inhabitants’ full satisfaction, and 2) proposes modification of the strategy to include socio-spatial aspects to improve prospects for its success in future UR initiatives.