Analyzing the factors affecting the promotion of the vitality of public spaces by emphasizing the role of urban arts from the perspective of citizens;Case study: Cultural walkway of Rasht municipality

An essential condition for urban communities is the he high level of quality and vitality of urban spaces, in a way that it allows people to enjoy social interactions. In fact, the vitality of urban spaces develops the social health of citizens. Urban art as a representative of art arising from the interior, context, and texture of any community and its people tries to merge art with the present life of people and insert aesthetics into the context of their lives. This kind of art tries to raise the attraction of urban life. As an influential and precious means, urban art has an important role in the quality of public spaces. The artistic elements that exist in urban spaces can be effective in the presence or absence of citizens in urban spaces. In fact, to determine the quality of a place, urban art should be consistent with that place and defined for that context. Unfortunately, despite having enough knowledge about the profits and advantages of the existence of urban arts in urban spaces, such works aren’t seen in our country and there is lack of interaction with users of urban spaces with them. In the present project, to study the role of urban arts in improving the vitality of public spaces, the central sidewalk of Rasht was chosen as a case study.

The present study mainly aims to investigate the role of cultural and artistic factors in the vitality of public spaces with a case study of Rasht Municipality sidewalk from the citizens’ point of view. To do this, 22 factors in the field of urban arts were identified based on the study of theoretical foundations and research background. Then, based on these factors, the research questionnaire was designed. In this questionnaire, the respondents were asked to estimate the status of these factors in the cultural sidewalk complex of Rasht in the form of Likert scale (1 = very inappropriate, 2 = inappropriate, 3 = moderate, 4 = appropriate, 5 = very appropriate).In the present study, the statistical population was the citizens who were on the sidewalk of Rasht Municipality. To determine the sample size of the study Cochran formula was applied. Since there was no exact statistical information about the statistical population of the study, the size of the population was considered to be unlimited. In Cochran formula, the sample size with the rise of population size will be a maximum of 384. Overall, 400 questionnaires were distributed among the citizens who were on the cultural sidewalk of Rasht Municipality. Then, among the collected questionnaires, 374 of them were complete and accurate which their information was entered SPSS software.In the present study, in order to measure and analyze the data, the statistical tests in SPSS software were applied. In the descriptive findings section, using one sample t-test, the status of urban arts factors in the study area was evaluated. To determine the most effective factors in the vitality of the cultural sidewalk of Rasht Municipality, exploratory factor analysis was applied.

22 factors were studied in the present study, out of which, the factor of night lighting art gained first place with an average score of 3.36. The creative design of sculptures and decorative volumes gained the second place with an average score of 3.26. Factors of historical monuments, painting, and arrangement of decorative elements of buildings, the beauty of the facades of buildings, and waterfront design with average scores of 3.18, 3.09, 3.06 and 2.93 gained third to sixth places, respectively. Based on the results of the present study, the status of eight factors such as traditional plays, theater and street plays, artistic elements, and murals with an average score of less than 1.8 was very inappropriate. Six other factors were placed in inappropriate status. In this regard, factors such as street music, festivals and public carnivals, and beauty in environmental advertising and special and unique buildings can be mentioned. Eventually, only three elements including creative design of sculptures and decorative volumes, waterfront design, and the art of night lighting were placed in an appropriate status.The results of factor analysis indicated that the 22 studied factors were summarized in three factors. The first factor with seven subsets including artistic elements, historical monuments, and creative design of green spaces, painting and arrangement of decorative elements of buildings, creative design of sculptures and decorative volumes, waterfront design and special and unique buildings with a percentage of variance 38.18% has the greatest effect on the vitality of Rasht Municipality sidewalks. These indicators mainly refer to physical elements in the study area. Hence, they are introduced as "artistic elements". Having a percentage of variance of 38.18%, the second factor with three subsets including traditional plays, street theater, street music and festivals and public carnivals with a percentage of variance of 38.18% is considered as the second effective factor on the vitality of the sidewalk of Rasht Municipality. These factors are related to the activities done in the study area. Hence, they are introduced as "artistic and theatrical activities". Eventually, the third factor gains the third place with four subsets including visual and artistic attractions in space, digital paintings and visual arts, mosaics and fresco and murals with a percentage of variance of 15.22%. The third group of factors that is derived from factor analysis refers to graphic arts. Hence, they are introduced as "environmental graphics". Overall, it can be said that out of 22 studied factors, 15 main factors in the field of achievement of urban arts on the sidewalk of Rasht Municipality were identified.

Collective and public arenas in the city are considered as a platform for the achievement of urban arts. The spaces that promote vitality are both movement and pause, and in fact urban life can be shown in these spaces. In order to be influential in developing the quality and vitality of that environment, urban art must be defined and demonstrated based on the context and place in which it is formed. In the cultural sidewalk of Rasht, the attractiveness of the studied sidewalk can be increased by designing special and unique buildings, creative design of green space, designing artistic elements and, in fact, by focusing on artistic elements. This attraction makes more use of space and increases the tourism potential and vitality of this space. On the other hand, performing artistic activities such as traditional and indigenous plays, organizing music and street theaters, and celebrating public festivals and carnivals, become a platform for human and social activities and enhance the vitality of the space.