Study and Evaluation of Sense of Place in Organic Neighborhoods and Planned Neighborhoods (Case Study: Sagharisazan and Guilan Blvd. Neighborhoods in Rasht)

The main goal of this research is to evaluate the elements which affect the sense of place and to exam­ine its differences in organic and planned contexts through case study in Sagharisazan neighborhood (as an organic neighborhood) and Guilan Blvd. as a planned one. Theoretical bases of this research are derived from ideas of phenomenologist architect Christian Norberg–Schulz, concerning place phenomenon and place sense. In Schulz’s point of view, place phenomenon is a holistic, qualitative and multi-dimensional concept, and also the concept of sense of place is something more than alge­braic sum of its components, and structure of place as a bio-space is affected by boundary/ threshold, concentration/enclosure, insideness/outsideness, identification and orientation. Methodology of this paper is descriptive, based on deductive reasoning, using synthetic strategy (qualitative-quantitative) with more focus on qualitative strategy. The proposition of the research is that the perception of sense of place in neighborhoods with organic and traditional growth is stronger than neighborhoods with planned growth. This proposition was analyzed and finally confirmed using profound interviews ac­companied by open questions from 46 purposefully selected samples, triangulation method, the ob­servations in diverse times and also comparing the findings of the two neighborhoods. This has been done through studying, interpreting and analyzing by the researcher and evaluating the opinions of the people who use those neighborhoods, and also by preparing some open questions and deep interview together with 22 pre-designed questions (the average time of interviews was 40 minutes). Finally, the interviewees’ opinions reached an agreement. In selecting the samples, all classes of people using the environment were attended. Samples for Sagharisazan neighborhood includes 24 persons and in Gui­lan Blvd. 22 persons. Most interviews were recorded and continued until repeated and similar answers were faced with. Data classification was done based on subjects and models. Then, research results were provided to 60% of interviews, confirmed by them and some issues were corrected. The valid­ity criteria for research results are: (1) interpreting the research results based on reaching joint ideas, i.e. inter-subjective agreement (in such a way that the depth and quality of results may be touched by other people and daily life) and (2) Approving and verifying the research results by interviewees, experts and specialist. In research methodology, observing the basic principles of phenomenology and qualitative research and inductive reasoning were also considered. In present paper, classification is done via statistical community method. Since, in this research the emphasis is on qualitative strategy, the high number of samples in neighborhood is not the main point, rather trying to select samples in a selective and purposeful way is more important. Sample collection continued until some final results and common points were reached. The analysis of the findings shows that the newly built and planned Guilan Blvd. neighborhood is in a weaker stance than its older counterpart - i.e. Sagharisazan; the causes of this issue are: monotonousness of environment, standardization of context, decline of native identity, lack of rich human communications, lack of collective life sense, immigrant attractiveness, being newly built, lack of common memories, lack of familiarity with environment in Guilan Blvd., and also change of taste and people’s view of life which ultimately has lead to incomplete develop­ment of inhabitation concept in Guilan Blvd.