A Pragmatic Approach to Placemaking in Iranian Historical Urban Areas (Case Study: Esther and Mordechai Bazaar in Hamadan)

It has been many years that historical textures in contemporary cities have been the focus of many urban planners from different perspectives and different positions, according to which they were the subjects of many interventions. There is quite a lot of criticism on these interventions, while complexities of such textures remain. The theory/practice divide in this field is wide and it poses a serious problem. However, planners believe that their practices are backed by certain theories which also directed them. It seems that all of these endeavors— both in theory and practice— try to create favorable utopian places as conceived by urban planners, professionals, and managers. In this paper, the divide of theory and practice are discussed, and next, based on a pragmatic perspective, a method of intervention in urban textures is introduced and assessed in a historical site in Hamadan. This study, besides introducing a conceptual inquiry and rearranging the pragmatic conception of utopia, provides a suitable context to present various scenarios and plans in response to the current uncertainty and complexity of historical textures. The results of the study show that a pragmatic approach can provide a source of intervention methods in historical textures of contemporary Iranian cities. Moreover, if paired with education and outreach, this approach can introduce purposeful placemaking interventions corresponding to the needs of society.