Identification of Factors Affecting the Identity-Possessing of Building Facades in Historical Pathways(Case Study: Ghamat Bayat Street, Zanjan, Iran)1

Considering the importance of the identity of urban facades and despite the elaborations made on this concept in theoretical and management communities, observations indicate that deviation from desirable facades is still large in practice. Emphasizing the necessity of defining identities for facades in historical neighborhoods, the present research seeks to identify the factors affecting the improved identity of the street landscape and view. In this work, Ghamat Bayat Street, a newly constructed pathway in the central historical context of Zanjan, Iran was considered as a case study. This is an applied research where data collection was performed through library studies coupled with filed observations and surveys. The research method is a mix of qualitative and quantitative procedures (i.e., mixed analytics), where quantitative data analysis was performed in SPSS software. Statistical population of the research was composed of residents of Zeynabieh Neighborhood of Zanjan, who made up a population of 578 individuals, of whom 230 individuals were selected to form a statistical sample. Upon extracting the components of identity in facades along the urban pathways out of theoretical foundations, the research variables were classified under three classes of “physical”, “visual”, and “semantic” indices. Investigation of these variables along the studied street showed that, from the Zeynabieh Neighborhood residents’ point of view, the visual (score: 3.610) and semantic (score: 2.592) indices impose the largest and smallest contributions to improved quality of landscape in this street, respectively. Focusing on the components, the highest and lowest impacts on the identity of facades were found to be those of “balance and symmetry” and “unity/plurality” components with average scores of 3.73 and 2.86, respectively. Findings of this research indicate the necessity of paying attention to the three primary dimensions of identity simultaneously. It was further figured out that, in the design and organization of street landscapes in historical contexts, one must consider the existing physical basis and consistency of different parts, avoid visual disturbance of walls, increase readability of spatial organization and social interactions across public areas by formulating communal activities, identify local distinctions between the considered street and the neighboring pathways followed by emphasizing and reinforcing these distinctions, so as to realize the objectives of this research. Moreover, implementation of traditional construction methods by means of locally available construction materials tends to establish a physical association between the street and the precious surrounding urban context, harmonizing the new constructions with the old ones, which ends up representing the urban identity along the considered street.