Design Strategies for the Vicinity of Historic Sites: The Case of Designing in the Landscape Protection Area of Ardeshir and Dokhtar Castles

As dynamic and live systems, heritage spaces and historic sites should be receptive to changes and growth in order to adapt to contemporary society and demands. The main issue in this respect is how the new structures and spaces coexist with their surrounding historic and heritage sites.The historic site of Ardeshir and Dokhtar Castles are among Kerman’s significant archaeological and historical sites. However, the site’s generalist and vague protection codes and the definition of multiple preservation areas have not only failed to protect the site against new developments, but also caused an insecure, unfavourable urban and social environment resulting in many preservation challenges. In response, this article explores the design strategies to revitalise the environment and to create a suitable and efficient urban space around these historic monuments.The method is based on comparative studies of existing local site protection regulations against their national and international counterparts. As a result, the protection strategies of the site have been redefined, with design strategies extracted from analysing international preservation projects with almost similar goals. Finally, the design strategies for the preservation area of Ardeshir and Dokhtar Castles have been presented to contribute in sustainable preservation.On top of responding to the requirements of Ardeshir and Dokhtar Castles, these strategies can be adopted for designing in the vicinity of the other historic sites with similar protection goals, as well as in other pre-design-stage studies.