From Chaman to the Park-square; Sustainability Comparative Evaluation of places in the Center of Neighborhoods and Park-squares in Hamadan

Those squares of Hamedan city that are studied in this research are, in fact, historical sites that, as a result of urban developments, are located inside urban squares today. Nevertheless, they still retain their function as a social base for citizens. Although the middle island of these squares is now surrounded by cars, people are even more likely to use them. The present study seeks to explain the relationship between the green centers of old neighborhoods (Chaman) and contemporary park-squares as two types of symbolic green places in Hamedan with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The main questions are as follows:-What are the similarities in the causes of the durability of symbolic green spaces of the city of Hamadan (Chaman and park-square) and the reasons for their high presence in the same traffic hazards?
-What factors in each of the physical, functional, and semantic aspects have a greater impact on the durability of the place in comparison with Chaman and park-square?

Two stages of research were designed to get answers to the questions. The first stage involved studying the historical background of the lawns of Hamadan's neighborhoods and park-squares and examining its physical and functional dimensions, which was done using a qualitative method. In the second stage, by selecting four important park-squares of the city and four samples of standing Chamans in the old context of Hamadan as analytical samples, a descriptive-survey method was used to investigate the indicators of form, activity, and meaning so that the relationship between these two types of symbolic and generally green places is explored. In the second stage of the research, three executive subsections were defined. The first part was done qualitatively with observation and photography tools, the second quantitatively with the gating technique, and the third quantitatively with the questionnaire tool and gap analysis technique.

Field observation and examination of the samples yielded data regarding the internal and surrounding uses of lawns and park-squares, accessibility, geometry, color and material of floor and wall materials, space facilities such as furniture and parking, and also valuable single grains. Also, the area of lawns and the number and area of functional species in them (educational, gathering and recreation, shopping, worship) were obtained through field observation and comparison with the information of the General Department of Roads and Urban Development of Hamadan province. The investigation of the volume of pedestrian traffic shows that the most pedestrian traffic among the study park-squares is in Imam Square. After that, Avicenna Mausoleum Square, Baba Taher and Imam Zadeh Square are in the next ranks of pedestrian movements. Also, among the lawns, the most pedestrian traffic flows in the Kababian Chaman and the least traffic flows in the Mosala Chaman. Haji and Kolapa Chaman are in the middle of the traffic volume. Since the purpose of the research is to find similarities in the reasons for the durability of symbolic green places and also the reasons for their high presence, as well as to find the most effective factors in the durability of study places. Therefore, for comparative evaluation, questionnaire tool and gap analysis technique were used. Examining the average values of responses for parks shows that safety and sound comfort (1.93) is the least effective factor, and the variety of surrounding uses (4.22) is the most effective factor in the presence of citizens. On the other hand, the average values of the answers about lawns, the size, and dimensions of the space (2.28) are the last degree of importance and the age and historical backgrounds (4.2) are the priority among the durability indicators of the place. These results show that space activity is a more important factor in the choice of squares by citizens; while the meaning of space has played a more important role in the presence of study lawns.

The research results show that the similarities in the reasons for the durability of symbolic green places in Hamadan city and their high presence despite traffic hazards are mainly dependent on semantic factors. These meanings in lawns depend on the age and historical background, and in park-squares, on the elements of indicators, symbols and signs, and uniqueness, and in both of them, their importance and validity. Among the other similarities in the reasons for the presence of lawns and park-squares, which can be obtained by examining the high values of correlation coefficients, are the shape factors, including the materials and colors of the surfaces, and the size and dimensions of the space. The output values in the comparison between Chaman and Park-square show that the indicators of the shape of the space, including natural factors, visual landscape, and enclosure and independence, have created a greater gap in terms of influencing durability; In such a way that the first two indicators in the park-square and the third indicator in the lawns have more favorable conditions.

There is no funding support. Authors’ ContributionAuthors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none. Conflict of InterestAuthors declared no conflict of interest. Acknowledgments We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.