Identifying the Structure of Shiraz Neighborhoods from Atabakan to Qajar Period

Neighborhoods are one of the most important elements in shaping the structure of Iranian cities. Many studies tried to represent the structure of historic cities focusing on the main physical elements (such as the Jama Masjid, the main bazaar, the capital, etc.) hence, the neighborhood has been considered only as a filling texture. Moreover, most of the researches that studied the neighborhoods as a separate issue, were limited to the generalizations and qualitative analysis of texts. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the patterns and structure of Shiraz’s historic neighborhoods accurately by using the non-physical elements. Shiraz has been chosen because it has credible evidence of the neighborhood since the eighth century AH. Therefore, the structure of neighborhoods by examining six urban elements, including the structure of passages, the role of streets, borders, uses, different living strata, and local names in three categories of “physical” factors, “social” factors, and “service” factors with descriptive and analytical methods were examined. The data are often library data collected by examining written documents (such as the travelogues and local history books) and historical illustrations (such as maps or pictures). The results show that “social” factors in neighborhoods are the most significant semantic attribute. It does not only have a mutual relationship with “physical” and “service” factors but also forms their basic foundations. The social role of neighborhoods in each historical period has led to selecting the location of the neighborhood, constructing the physical form, distributing the services, and giving symbolic names; this is a factor that causes the difference and cohesion of neighborhoods in the city at the same time. Finally, an attempt is made to describe the structure of Shiraz neighborhoods in the four periods of Atabakan, Zandieh, Safavid, and Qajar.