Study on Place Attachment in Religious-Historical Buildings (Case study: Jameh Mosque of Isfahan)

Place attachment is at a higher level compared to sense of place. It results in the higher quality places and which people consider themselves part of and show respect to. Place attachment is the outcome of three factors: Individuals, Others and Environment. This sense includes the individual's perception of the environment, social variables such as symbols, signs and building body. It has different levels which are “Satisfaction”, “Preference”, “Recognition”, “Symbolism”, “Attachment”, “Interest”, and “Commitment”. Jameh mosque of Isfahan is chosen as a specific case for studying place attachment in religious-historical buildings. This mosque is a masterpiece in Iran`s architecture. It has changed in the different eras but people still use it as a suitable place for worship. The methodology in this research is descriptive survey and different factors of place attachment are studied by using a questionnaire. The results show that Symbolism ranks first and Recognition has the lowest rank amongst the factors. Also, Preference is not an effective factor but a significant different can be observed regarding this factor amongst men and women's answer. Symbolism is realized as the most important factor among the educated and professional class.