Form-morphological Analysis of the Historical Core in Khorramabad Using Agraph and Spacemate Techniques

Rapid unplanned urban sprawling has crated incoherent form of structures in urban neighborhoods. Creating physical-spatial balance, which has a great influence on the visual image of the city, needs a comprehensive perception of the context to intervene based on that. "Darb-e-Babataher" neighborhood located in the historic core of Khorramabad, adjacent to historical monuments such as Falak-ol-Aflak Castle, ancient bazar and many other cultural heritage sites, suffers from losing its valuable historical qualities, which is mainly caused by lack of form-morphological considerations in the urban context. This neighborhood have faced with some historical texture issues such as being fine-grained, compactness, lack of legibility and impermeability. Form-morphological studies are of great help to overcome these problems and depict a brighter future for urban designers and planners to implement urban plans. This research aims at a comprehensive analysis of urban form-morphology, seeking a conceptual-analytical model based on the later theories by the thinkers in two fields: urban form and "urban morphology, which provide a basis for comprehensive evaluation of the potentials of the studied case. The thinkers that are mentioned in "urban form" field include Lynch (1958, 1981), Conzen (1960), Leslie (1972), Handy (1996), Moudon (1997), Maller (1998), Cuthbert & Anderson (2002), Bramely, Glen & Karryn (2005), Alberti (2005), Thomas (2011), Oliveira (2016), Kropf (1993, 1996, 2017); meanwhile in "urban morphology" field they include: Conzen (1960), Levy (1999), Moudon (1998), Dovey and Ristic (2016), Pafka and Dovey (2017), Kropf (1996, 2017), and Oliveira (2018). This analytical model presents two dimensions and seven components as well as ten analytical indexes, which are recognized based on the coincidence of the components. These Ten indexes include: orientation and pattern of building establishment, proportion and area of the lots, segment relative to the main street, ground space of lots, floor space index, open space ratio, layers or building height, permeability, the degree of integration and the relationship of the nodes and the network of public spaces. This research is a practical survey according to its purpose, and the method of the research is a mixed one (both quantitative and qualitative). Qualitative method has been used with content analysis technique and the quantitative method is based on Agraph and Spacemate techniques. So, after clear definition of the concepts of "urban form" and "urban morphology", their dimensions, components, ten indicators are identified. Finally, after identifying analytical techniques and evaluating the indexes, these results are achieved: the neighborhood consist of compact low-rise blocks which has various built areas, few open spaces and interconnected fabric; undesirable connection of the urban spaces has caused impermeable and low value of spatial integration of the urban fabric. So "Darb-e-Babataher" neighborhood can be divided into four morphological regions, which have the special characters with the same results in evaluating Indexes. In each morphological region, implication polices are suggested such as: preserving historical species in lots, buildings and urban space, renovation of buildings, considering a regulation that limits the building density in the historical zones, widening streets with respect to original structure of texture, improvement and enhancing public land use as the important motivation development factor in achieving facilities and amenities in public places for inhabitants and tourists.