An Analysis of the Influence of Land Use on the Identity of Neighborhood (Case Study: Telgerd Neighborhood of Mashhad City)

Today, the lack of identical elements in an area has led to the extinction of social interactions between the citizens which has caused the dwindling of the sense of attachment to urban environment. These elements can be divided into physical, functional and semantic factors. Due to this classification, the following study attempts to measure the effects of the land use on the identity of an area sited in the 4th zone of the municipality of Mashhad.
Telgerd neighborhood of Mashhad is known as one of the old neighborhoods in the city used to have lots of agricultural lands. This neighborhood was an actual village, but during the city development it has entered the city range. In the past, this area was known as broom-making center in which even the structure of the area was primarily full of broom-weaving workshops and the villagers used to run them and they fulfilled the urban needs. But today this structure has changed because of the Afghan refugees and that the workshops, which were the symbol and ID of the village, are now fluctuated and face problems. Given the broom-weavers’ issues and concerns in Telgerd neighborhood, which is the owners of one of the most important cities famous for its handicrafts, contains 50 or more broom-weaving workshops are of those tips needed to be more concentrated on, to use the maximum capacity of this area to boom as much as possible.

Identity is a kind of individuation which causes the identification of a person from another person, a group from another group or a culture from another culture. The identity and the character of the city begins to have meaning when the city's specific indexes emerge and appeare. According to Amos Rapoport (1981) man stabilizes his identity by dwelling. The identification process is an inductive process between the existence and its data within each object's mind although it has individual essence. Having special activities in an area is a strong potential probability for its identification. The existence of a specific application for a neighborhood in a way that it would be known to the inhabitants of the city can help the individualization of the neighborhood.

The research method used in the study is descriptive-analytical. To gather the necessary data, library documents were used. In addition, other forms of collecting data include field realization (field study), interviews with inhabitable inhabitants of Telgerd (either too old or illiterate), and a questionnaire. Samples were chosen randomly including 377 people; the sample size was calculated through the G-power software. The reliability of the questionnaire was approved by Cronbach’s alpha (0.835).
The EXCEL software is used for forming the data bank, the SPSS for analyzing the statistical data, and the G.I.S for the site data. For studying the land use influence analysis on the identity of Telgerd neighborhood due to the identical components, urban index spaces, old neighborhood, present indexes, linear and spot and also single monuments and the use of Telgerd neighborhood can all be used.

To explore the effects of land use on the identity of Telgerd neighborhood, evaluation research/study parameters did question from the residents. First, memorable and identity places in the area were studied, which the broom-weaving workshops shared the most percentage from the neighborhood to itself.
Moreover, the memorable 22 Bahman Hospital built by donors in 1998 has 14.9% of the share, whereas Javad-Al-Aemmeh Mosque built by donors shares the 18.3% of the whole percentage. According to the interviews in the past, there were more than 150 active broom-weaving workshops in the area but nowadays financial pressures and lack of skills in youngsters have caused the workshops to change the profession, and most of them are run by Afghan refugees. According to the analysis about 65 percent of the residents question the closure of the broom-weaving workshops. For ranking the identity use of the Telgerd neighborhood, Friedman’s (2017) test has been used. Statistic calculations show huge differences between the uses/functions and the rankings in which the lowest rate refers to Imam Khomeini Sports Complex and Golshoor Park, while the highest rate refers to broom-weaving workshops and the Javad-Al-Aaemmeh Mosque. Telgerd’s residents' sense of attachment due to the Kendall’s (2017) test primarily refers to priceless broom-weaving workshops (0.906) and  Javad-Al-Aemmeh Mosque (0.892), both of which are two of the most important practical sites in the Telgerd neighborhood; therefore, it is natural that the highest sense of attachment would refer to the broom-weaving workshops.

As the identity of a neighborhood is formed in quantization and needs time to be consoled, it also changes during time; therefore, the identity-forming of a place depends on both time and place. In every place, identity is visualized and time is a reminder of the memories. Cities and urban spaces have had their own specific identity, but nowadays are not anything but a set and collection of buildings and streets. Neighborhoods are the most fundamental elements of Urbanism and also a middle-circle between the city and the citizens. The primal interaction of citizens and the city occurs with the inhabitants and details/parts of an area, that is, the recognition of the details of an area is both meaningful and necessary for the citizens. Due to the differences between the residential uses and the non-residential uses, the non-residential uses can easily display themselves within the texture and introduce themselves to the environment. In addition, gathering some broom-weaving workshops would lead to node in the surface of the neighborhood and helps the details/parts of the neighborhood be distinct. Attending to some of the reasons for the closure of the workshops, including financial problems, decreasing taxes for the broom-weaving workshops, tourists attraction for visit, can help with the protection and durability of these activities. Protecting the relevant skills for these activities is also in direct relationship with the durability of these workshops. From the aspect of meaning, the main structures of Telgerd neighborhood were broom-weavers and farmers in the past; thus, naming the alleys and the streets the title of these professions can increase the inhabitant’s sense of attachment. Paying attention to the physical characteristics of the workshops in order to repair and beautify the proportion of their identity results in a higher quality and personality in the neighborhood.