Howard's and Safavid's Garden Citie's Principles (A Comparative Study)

Garden city idea as an important idea had emerged on 19 century. Creating sustainable complexes and having more relationship with natural environment were the main goals which had been defined for this idea. This idea was established in urbanism literature by Howards'' research about creating a balance between city and village living; whereas in east، Garden City as a pure idea has had a metaphysic meaning which is used to create earthy paradise since 16th century. Respect and reverence for water and trees is institutionalized in ancient civilizations of Iran. Iranian people respect trees and water، both separately and in composite forms as gardens، which have been a well-known cultural value both before and after Islam. The oldest Persian garden that have been discovered dates back to the Achaemenid Empire and the quadripartite gardens (charbagh) of Pasargadae. By studying about existent historic gardens، Persian Gardens are divided into different types. The way people use special physical and functional features could also be used as a scale of this division. In Persian Garden category، Garden City has been defined as a well-known model for designing particular gardens in city scale. According to this model، gardens have used sacred and soft spaces as a combination of hard and heavenly، for defining body structure and the development of the city textures. In advanced (pre- designed) samples، the entire city has been formed as a big garden; composed of a set of small gardens with many symbolic features، such as pavilions and water ponds، as seen in the Persian Charbagh Garden. During Safavid dynasty، Isfahan، as the largest Persian garden city، had been supported by a green major axis; which is the so called Charbagh that has been remained as a green heritage so far. Gardens and trees were the most important natural and architectural elements in Isfahan''s cityscape at that period. These elements usually have been considered as the traditional identity of the garden city; hence their sustainability had a key role in preserving the structures. Therefore، Designers manufactured particular urban infrastructures to provide useful irrigation system. They had to construct the channels that branched off from the central river of Isfahan (Zayandehrood) and made the water accessible all around the city. First section of this paper is about Safavid Garden City origin. This subject was studied from the politics and governance points of views. In the following، Howard''s Garden City origin has been studied. It has formed according to the special Utopias، which had relationships with that time''s believes. In addition، some principles of Safavid Garden City have been compared to Howard''s. The special study has been done about Intellectual origins which have influenced these Garden Cities creation. In conclusion، the comparison of Howard and Safavid Garden Cities shows that these ideas had been developed based on the worldview and vision of creative Iranians during Safavid dynasty and in 19th century. Moreover، the special methods of plantation، the quality of social relationships and economic similarities were the main differences between these two Garden Cities.