Phenomenological Explanation of the Characteristics of Place Based on Human Lived ExperiencesCase Study: Shohada Square, Mashhad

From the phenomenological point of view, the life-world of every human is a place he lives in. Place and human not only are against each other, but also they are sincerely acquainted and reflect each other. So place considers as a "everyday life phenomenon" that human lived experiences are formed in it. As the lived experiences are formed directly without voluntary thinking, they are the reliable source for achieving the desired features of the place. The purpose of this study was to explain the characteristics of the place based on the lived experiences of its users. This research seeks to answer the question that based on lived experiences, what are the characteristics of a space to become a place in the heart of the city?In this research, Shohada square of Mashhad has been chosen as a case study. To answer the question of the research, we have used Moustakas phenomenological research method. This Study composed of two parts: theoretical and field researches. The theoretical part includes the available information about phenomenology of place. The field part is taken from open and semi-structured interviews with sixty participants. After providing textural and structural descriptions and combining them together, six basic characteristics of the place was achieved: Introversion, Centrality, Enclosure, Density and Objectivity.