The Dilemma of Preservation or Change? In a Search for a Solution for the Survival of the Social Landscape of the Historical Texture in Semnan and Damghan Cities

The social landscape is created by collective life and shared interactions between the people themselves and their environment. The historical texture of the cities narrates the city’s identity and depicts its history, and the preservation of their social landscape is greatly important. Adoption of a suitable approach in terms of the social landscape in the historical texture of the cities depends on the creation of a balance between the preservation of the valuable works of the past in the environment and harmony between their different physical, semantic, and functional aspects and the needs of the citizens and contemporary urban society. Preservation of the social landscapes in the historical texture of cities such as Semnan and Damghan is faced with some challenges. Urban management has moved towards a protective and demonstrative approach, with some prioritization of the physical environment. In contrast, in some other cases, it has physically and functionally equipped the environment to allocate the space to contemporary society without sufficient understanding of the meaning of the space, context, and audience needs. The current article aimed to investigate the different aspects of the social landscape and how they evolved in the historical texture of Semnan and Damghan cities in a way that, through considering the effects of different factors, it would be possible to adopt a suitable approach to preserve such landscapes in the context of today’s urban life. The social landscape is a general and synergistic phenomenon of function, body, and meaning, and paying attention to the key role of people to preserve it over time is very important. A unilateral and environment improvement-oriented approach without considering the social and cultural aspects, the instability of social composition would lead to a drop in public participation and commitment and a decline in the social landscape. The necessity to pay attention to the basic prerequisites such as the validation of capabilities, the intrinsic meaning and inclusive nature of each space, the needs of the contemporary society, the supportive factors of individuals' presence, and the key role of people, allows for the realization of the social landscape as the product of the dynamic experience of the environment by the society and the collective asset with widespread ownership. Some forms of active protection and collective management through restoring the relationship with the places positively impact the survival of the social landscape. Planning a holistic, integrated, and multi-dimensional process to increase the citizens’ attachment to the place and observance of a balance between the preservation and manipulation of the landscape also help with the survival of the social landscape and continuous updating of the users’ relationship with the landscape and interpretation of it.