A Typological Exploration of Pathways in Historic Urban Fabric of the Iranian CitiesCase Study: Historic Urban Fabric of Shiraz (Iran)

Historical pathways have been a network of interconnected routes that shaped the form, scale and the spatial distinctiveness of the public domain in old cities. The diversity of form and physical characteristics of pathways could lead to a typological approach in which various criteria like the design aspect, emerging form, physical diversity, texture and material, specific and iconic features and spatial proportions are taken into consideration. The organic nature of historic urban fabrics reveals the diversity of the pathways as the most eminent and most present factor to show off the differentiation between the districts and as such, each pathway could develop an exclusive image for each area or subsection of the historic city. This article seeks to prepare a typology of historic pathways for the olden Shiraz. To accomplish this mission a group of twenty characteristic pathways with a variety of dispersion has been chosen. Using the analytical criteria derived from the field study and former investigations, these pathways have been thoroughly analyzed to make a list and furthermore the typology. Results show that despite the common basis of all pathways as the components of an interconnected network throughout the old city, the characteristics of each pathway stemmed from the cultural context, location, function and its specified role, had ended with the formation of a very diverse list of pathways considering design aspects making the spatial diversity and continuity become tangible. This diversity perfectly demonstrates the vast capacity of the old city to create a multiplex integrity of distinguished linear features, the pathways, as a dynamic urban network.