Spatial Structure Changes in Mohtasham Urban Area of Kashan

Today, Mohtasham urban area in Kashan does not benefit from a suitable condition and has lost its importance over the last decades. The vast majority of the local inhabitants of this historical area have left their homes and have been replaced by weak and underprivileged dwellers of the urban community. Moreover, historical buildings have been demolished or worn out structurally, and local markets fail to conduct profitable business anymore. The root cause of these problems seems to be the alterations made to the urban spatial structure, which is a corollary of contemporary urban development and also the status change of this historical urban area in today’s city. This research studies the effect of these alterations on Mohtasham urban area, and in particular, one of its most important passages- between the shrine of Mirneshaneh to the Mohtasham tomb. Using the Space Syntax method, this study performed topological analyses of Kashan in three different periods. Findings indicate that the developmental changes and the construction of new streets have not followed the spatial patterns and structure of the city so that despite an increase in the average measure of connectivity and the global integration of Kashan over the past 100 years as well as a decrease in the measure of depth in this city, the very newly-constructed streets have solely undergone these changes. The study of Mohtasham historical area shows that not only the measure of connection for historical passages of the mentioned area and its integration has not increased, it has also declined; and the closer we get to the central parts of this area, the decrease would be sharper. Also, the results of the study indicate that the central part of this area is located at a great depth. Such a change has disturbed the integrated and homogeneous structure of the urban area of Mohtasham, hence its isolation and the gradual destruction of the buildings. Most importantly, it has led to a decrement in the social status of the related neighborhoods.