Spatial Aspects Affecting the Vitality of an Iranian Traditional Bazaar: The Case of Qazvin Bazaar

Date

2022-12

Author

Khastou, Maryam

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Traditional bazaars are among the important, specific public spaces in Iranian cities that have always been lively throughout history. The main purposes of this study are to analyze the physical-spatial aspects which affect the vitality of a bazaar and to realize the relationship between vitality and spatial qualities in that public space type. Accordingly, the research hypothesis is: “variety of activities” is the most effective spatial quality in the vitality of Qazvin traditional bazaar. The spatial qualities used in this research are selected in relevance to internally defined indicators of vitality in the case of Iranian traditional bazaar. They include accessibility, permeability, walking comfort, security, variety of activities and sensory desirability. The case study is the bazaar of Qazvin, one of the oldest traditional gathering spaces in the city; a remnant of the Safavid era. The research method has been applied both quantitatively and qualitatively. On the one hand, in a field observation (space syntax method), the main bazaar route was divided into 7 zones (each zone 50 meters in length), then the number of people was recorded and averaged (in six days); on the other hand, the six spatial mentioned qualities were analyzed by relevant measures in the sub-routes of every zone. The Pearson correlation coefficient test was used for a more precise analysis of the relationship between variables. Results of the test showed that the most significant relationship of vitality is with accessibility and then, with walking comfort. Vitality in a traditional bazaar, a public space with particular physical and social conditions, is almost different from other public spaces, but in general, there is a significant positive relationship between vitality and the total spatial qualities scores. Therefore, it can be concluded that by increasing the intensity of the spatial qualities in a bazaar, the number of people and thus vitality will also increase. Furthermore, most of the people believed that variety of activities is the most effective factor in attracting people to the bazaar. However, in practice (as found in the first phase), the quality of variety was in the fourth rank (with no significant relationship the same as other qualities, i.e., permeability, security and sensory desirability), and the research hypothesis was not proven. Consequently, variety of activities may be a significant quality in attracting people to the bazaar area but does not count for the vitality in sub-areas, whereas accessibility and walking comfort were found to be the most effective spatial qualities.

Subject Keywords

Iranian traditional bazaar, Vitality, Lively urban public space, Spatial qualities, Qazvin

URI

http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/articles/metujfa2022208.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/102814

Collections

Department of Architecture, Article