An Analysis of the Position of Historical Passages in the Structure of Public Urban Spaces (Case Study: Dar-Khoungah Passage, Tehran)

The components of a traditional Iranian city include harmonious and cohesive structures arising from different concepts. The network of passages is one of the most significant communicative elements in these cities, which in addition to connecting different parts of the context, have contributed to the presence and various activities of the residents of the neighborhood and have had an important place in the public domain of the city. The exposure of the space organization and current life in these passages to the content and physical transformation of cities is a significant issue. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to scrutinize the position of historical passages in the structural system of public spaces of the city and to extract the factors affecting the position. To this end, this study examined to see how this element works in the public and collective domains of today’s cities. This research employed a qualitative approach and a descriptive and analytical method, and it examined the concept and characteristics of historical passages and the components of public space related to them through bibliographic and document studies. These components included access and movement, hierarchy, stillness, contrast and divergence, mobility and diversity, land-use intermixture, spatial flexibility, and continuity. This study used spatial physical analysis to examine the interaction of factors in the study area of Dar-Khoungah passage. The analysis was based on visual evidence and field observations. Due to the formation of the public space of Dar-Khoungah passage based on the organization system of neighborhood centers and the existence of evident characteristics such as historical buildings, spatial openings, old land-uses, and their arrangements, this study analyzed this passage from different perspectives such as urban space organization, part-whole relationship, joint communications, and component analysis and explained its effective qualities on the public space of the city.  Analysis of the data shows that these qualities include physical connection and semantic relation of the public space, identification of the public space, balancing the public space, and the function of physical elements of the passage in explaining the public space, which can be a basis for future development of the passage, promotion of activities, social interactions and solving its physical issues and problems.