نشریه مطالعات شهری
پیاپی 43 (تابستان 1401)

The choice of cities for life, tourism, education, and investment depends on their perceived images, and the process of creating a positive image of a city is called urban branding. Urban branding is one of the most important factors in the development of the tourism industry. In Iran, this issue has received less attention despite the high potentials of many cities for branding (Dinnie, 2013, p. 16). Therefore, the purpose of this article was to examine the various aspects of this issue in order to provide a model to facilitate urban branding in the development of tourism.

A brand is a concept designed to develop a product (Chan et al., 2021, p. 331), and involves two definition categories. In the first category, a brand is defined as a set of related assets and liabilities and a brand name (Gómez et al., 2018, p. 191). In the second category, it is defined as a collection of perceptions that are there in people’s minds (Hildreth, 2012, p. 4). The brand of a city, like that of a product, is an external signal that evokes emotions, increases awareness, and influences behaviors (Gómez et al., 2018, p. 191), but it may be more complex because of ownership, stakeholder participation, and brand development (Herget et al., 2015, p. 120; Yang et al., 2018, p. 1).

Since official branding plans are not very common in Iran, and no official branding plan was developed in the city of Yazd, a qualitative method has been used in the present study along with the grounded theory. For this purpose, the first group was selected for in-depth semi-structured interviews, which included professionals in urban management, tourism, and academics, based on criteria such as familiarity with the concepts of branding and tourism and with the city of Yazd and availability and preparedness for cooperation. The next groups were introduced for interview by the same group. Sampling continued until no more new idea was created, and the research achieved theoretical saturation and adequacy. It should be noted that the twelfth sample achieved partial saturation, but the research process continued until the fourteenth.

Many studies concerning urban branding and tourism indicate that urban branding has a positive effect on tourism prosperity–including (Feyzi et al., 2020; Herget et al., 2015; Jojic, 2018; Mousavi et al., 2017; Shutaieva et al., 2020). The present research was conducted to facilitate branding in Yazd based on the results of these studies and in line with some others–including (Ghanbari et al., 2021; Hankinson, 2007; Menvariyan et al., 2013; Mohammadifar, 2018; Setiadi et al., 2021)which have sought to provide strategies and present a model for further prosperity of tourism through creation or enhancement of branding. Thus, it can be effective in the creation or enhancement of urban branding and monitoring of its proper implementation besides formation of a special working group on branding or establishment of a destination management organization to adopt strategies such as attracting the participation of public institutions in development and implementation of branding plans, training managers and employees to better implement branding projects, holding international celebrations and events for brand development, and developing the tourism infrastructure. This will also have positive consequences from various economic, social, environmental, physical, and urban management aspects.

- The five groups of citizens, tourists, students, investors, and urban management are the stakeholders who benefit in the short term and in the long term from urban branding if the city is properly branded. Therefore, different cities in the world need to adopt appropriate branding and competition strategies to attract the above stakeholders for life, tourism, education, and investment.- Despite their high potentials for branding, many cities in Iran do not have urban branding administrators, and the tourism sector is even spread in organizations such as municipalities, directorates for cultural heritage, and chambers of commerce. A destination management organization must be established to enhance integrated urban management, and its branches in different cities must undertake to create or enhance an urban brand and monitor its continuity.- In urban branding, it is important to consider the distinctive, competitive identity of the city, so it is necessary to manage several brands that are sometimes developed unofficially and unilaterally in different cities (as in Yazd), as brand confusion in cities indicates a lack of coordination between different organizations, and creates challenges that outweigh its benefits.

The present age is referred to as the age of urban vulnerability, because cities face natural hazards and technological crises from various aspects on the one hand and socio-security crises on the other as urban life becomes more complex. The issue of passive defense is no longer defined as a mere research topic but as a vital requirement for governing any country, both upon crisis and at other times, for maintenance of its material and spiritual values. Therefore, the theoretical and practical position of defense and defense against the crisis is very important in this area. On that basis, the application of passive defense and consideration of its principles in urban planning can greatly reduce the destructive effects of such crises. The checkered city of Salmas, Iran, a mid-sized city, according to Iranian Space Agency, with a population of 91239 people, is located in a region with high relative risk based on the relative earthquake risk zoning of Iran, from the study of the National Physical Plan of Iran. Due to its location on a fault, evidenced by the devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake in 1930, it is very important in this city to observe the principles of passive defense in urban planning. Accordingly, this study was conducted with the aim of measuring and modeling the vulnerability of grid and semi-grid urban forms in Salmas against earthquakes from the perspective of passive defense.

 Theoretical Framework

With respect to the type of fabric, there is less vulnerability and greater relief in case of earthquake in regular continuous fabrics over flat lands featuring roads with low or medium confinement and blocks with one or two regular rows of construction. The grid urban form of the roads is also effective in the provision of relief due to easy access. Regular and stepped discontinuous fabrics over foothill lands are moderate in terms of efficiency and vulnerability, and irregular continuous fabrics over flat areas are less effective against earthquakes. The indicators of urban fabric in the assessment of vulnerability against earthquake include the method of attachment of adjacent segments to the passage, adjacency of the open and constructed spaces of each section to the passage, extent of confinement of the fabric, pattern and size of the urban blocks, and pattern of combination of the roads and urban blocks. 

In this applied analytical research, data collection was carried out through library studies, existing articles, field studies, and 2016 census information from the Statistical Center of Iran. Thus, the effective indicators of vulnerability were extracted from the perspective of passive defense after the relevant documents and resources were studied, and fourteen indicators were then selected from among various influential factors according to their availability for specification of vulnerability in Salmas to obtain the research output. Given that each of the indicators effective in the specification of the vulnerability of the coefficient has a different importance, the opinions of the elite were used in this research to determine the weight (coefficient of importance) of each indicator. To weigh the indicators according to the BWM method, ten questionnaires with contents based on a pairwise comparison of the indicators were formulated given the preference of the best indicator over the others and the preference of the other indicators over the worst. In the next step, the data from the questionnaires were entered into the GAMS software and calculated and analyzed. The weight calculated with the value of λε obtained for the ten questionnaires was 0.097, which indicates the stability and consistency of the calculated weights due to its proximity to zero. For spatial analysis, the information layers of the indicators were first digitized and edited in the GIS software, and each of the indicators was multiplied by the significance coefficient calculated by the BWM method through conversion of the information layers into rasters and their standardization with large and small fuzzy functions and Boolean logic. Using the weighted sum of the indicators to measure vulnerability, the grid and semi-grid urban forms in Salmas were addressed separately. 

Among the calculated weights of the indicators in GAMS, the highest concerned urban from pattern, with 0.164, and the lowest pertained to building façade, with a significance coefficient of 0.030. The average value of λε obtained for the ten questionnaires was 0.097, which indicates the stability and consistency of the calculated weights due to its proximity to zero. The results of combining the indicators in the grid urban form in Salmas demonstrated that there were 4866 parcels in the very low vulnerability zone in the grid urban form, 2719 parcels in low vulnerability, 2862 in medium vulnerability, 3435 in high vulnerability, and 430 parcels in the very high vulnerability zone. In the semi-grid urban form, there were 611 parcels in the very low vulnerability zone, 2598 in low vulnerability, 3669 in medium vulnerability, 5350 in high vulnerability, and 3057 parcels in the very high vulnerability zone.
 

In general, it can be stated that the level of vulnerability in the grid urban form is less than that in the semi-grid urban form. The semi-grid urban form was found to be more vulnerable than the grid urban form based on the indicators of area, parts pattern, building density, building age, building quality, distance from rescue centers, distance from hazardous centers, building facade, population density, and building structure. Moreover, the grid urban form was found more vulnerable than the semi-grid urban form based on the indicators of distance from open spaces, range of worn fabric, distance from faults, and distance from the main thoroughfares of the city.

Different arrangements of blocks in a residential complex create different patterns of open space that enable the occurrence of different potentials in terms of spatial socialization. In this study, four different patterns of arrangement of residential blocks in the city of Shiraz, Iran were selected, including linear, complex, single-element, and complex central patterns. Their spatial structures were analyzed using the spatial syntax theory tools and field and documentary observations, and different aspects of socialization therein were compared.

 Theoretical foundations

1- Sociability of the architectural space:Socialization in a public space is based on people’s need for a sense of social belonging and interaction with each other, which can be realized in a supportive social space along with provision of physical comfort, territory claim, sense of ownership, and reception of justice in space.2- Factors affecting socialization in the open spaces in a residential complexAmong the factors affecting socialization, physical factors (pertaining to spatial order) that affect the sociability of open spaces in residential complexes were studied and analyzed.3- Physical components affecting socialization3-1- Type of spatial organizationHierarchyThe concept of hierarchy denotes a set of features and phenomena that cause different spaces to be classified or ordered in a spatial configuration.AccessibilityThe issue of accessibility can be examined in two ways: physical access and visual access.3-2- Locations of spaces and types of access to them One of the most important factors that affect the sociability of different spaces is their locations in the context of a site and the way in which people access them. TransparencyTransparency means the possibility of visual connection of different spaces with each other, and is an important factor in the provision of a feeling of peace and security in the environment.3-3- Form, geometry, dimensions, and proportions of the space:  The morphological characteristics of space specify its appearance, and have a direct impact on people’s mood in interaction with space and their desire to attend it, as measured by the following two factors.Spatial diversity:Spatial diversity is associated with a variety of concepts that are related both to the uses and to the formal diversity of spaces.Percentages of open and closed spaces:It is very important to consider the proportionality of open and closed spaces and the visible skyline.

In this research, spatial organization was evaluated using the indicators of hierarchy and accessibility. The tools of connection, relative connection, and depth were used in the space syntax technique. The locations of the spaces and the types of access to them were evaluated using the two indicators of spatial location and transparency, the subject of spatial location was examined using the tools of communication, relative link, and depth, and the transparency indicator was assessed using the tools of vision control and obstruction.

- It was observed that the least spatial depth was formed in the central layout, leaving the open spaces in the center of the complex with greater sociability.
- Where the playing space was located in the middle of the entrance area of a mixed complex, it occupied the largest viewing area, thereby increasing sociability.
- Mixed and central spaces exhibited the highest degree of interconnection, minimum separation, and maximum accessibility of the open space due to the type of arrangement of their blocks.
- Central and mixed spaces provided greater vision control and transparency despite their great spatial diversity and the possibility of mutual view of the spaces.
- In the examination of the indicator of spatial diversity, as observed, the presence of a skyline with a wider field of view and a sense of open space increased the sociability of the public space.

- Improper placement of spaces in the site of a residential complex will leave them less appealing and desirable to the community.
- If a space is relatively deep in terms of access, it will hardly be welcomed.
- Variety in the arrangement of blocks can increase sociability in the open air, because it increases the variety of space on the plan.
- An open space will enjoy greater sociability if it meets everyone’s needs. Children and families should be free to respond to their basic needs in these spaces.
- By establishing a balance between the percentages of open and closed spaces, we can help increase sociability. A visible skyline and consideration of the height of the blocks increase a person’s motivation to be outdoors.
- Greater sociability is required to create less visual depth and more communication and interconnectedness.
The following suggestions are made about the design of a complex:- tendency to design residential complexes of the mixed and central types
- inclusion of playing spaces that are more connected and more frequently used
- development of spaces suitable for sitting with a focus on provision of the right shade or the possibility of sunbathing and applying maximum transparency and accessibility
- creation of a playing space in a lower hierarchy with the possibility of providing maximum transparency and communication
- creation and development of semi-open common spaces on the floors of a residential complex, such as social balconies, and consideration of the availability of public, private, and semipublic spaces
- recognition that residents of a complex who have better observed the indicators of physical quality will find their living environment more favorable in the same conditions of the neighborhood.

Acknowledgment

This article is taken from the first author's doctoral dissertation entitled "Compilation of Shiraz apartment housing schemas with emphasis on indicators of optimal physical quality" which is being conducted at the Islamic Azad University of Shiraz.

Tourism is one of the largest, fastest industries in the world, which causes an increase in income, employment, and investment in many countries. As a cultural event, tourism development causes effective interactions between tourists and destinations to let them acknowledge and respect each other more. In fact, it provides an apportunity for establishment of more effective communications between nations and people. Cultural tourism is a topic addressed in the tourism industry, and there is a lot to do in that regard in a country like Iran, which is the origin of civilization and written history. Kurdistan Province is located in the west of Iran. Given its diverse cultural attractions, it should attract more cultural tourists through careful planning in the field of cultural tourism, and profit can be made by local people in return as cultural products are sold to tourists and promoted. This provides a good opportunity to take advantage of the attractions of this province, especially the cultural attractions. The aim of this research was to consider a model for development of cultural tourism in Kurdistan Province.

Theoretical Framework

The outbreak of the Coronavirus has almost devastated the tourism industry, and the images of empty streets and entertainment venues, blackouts, and closed shops in cities around the world are very strange and sometimes frightening. Of course, the statistics on the tourism industry in different countries are alternating. According to a global estimate, approximately three million jobs in the tourism and travel sectors have been eliminated or are expected to be lost soon. International travel revenues have fallen by more than $300 billion, and hotel occupancy has fallen sharply to about 25 percent. Experts and specialists in the field of tourism have different opinions about the future of travel and tourism, but the Coronavirus will definitely change the way of thinking, tourists’ behavior , and the amount of people’s travel around the world. However, the tourism industry is moving towards purposeful holidays in today’s world, and a new form of tourism along with cultural tourism involves travel that combines relaxation and satisfaction of mental needs . Cultural tourism can have particular effects in any region, such as rediscovery and celebration of local residents’ lost cultural privileges, recognition and development of regional awareness in spatial dimensions and cultural identity, promotion of a good sense of belonging to a culture, economic infrastructure development, in the long run, and enhancement of employment in an economy undergoing recession. The present developmental applied study aimed to describe the conditions or phenomena under study, and such a plan can be implemented only to help understand the existing conditions better or to assist the decision-making process.

The present study is considered as applied, as it is possible to apply the results in the cultural tourist attraction program, and a mixed research method (qualitative and quantitative) was used therein. First, the researcher identified the factors affecting the development of cultural tourism in Kurdistan Province using the method of semi-structured interviews through opinion polls provided to professors and managers and research information obtained by questionnaires in the field of cultural tourism based on earlier research. The theoretical framework and library studies were used to examine the results and identify the factors effective in the field of cultural tourism. The population in both theoretical and practical sections included A) faculty members of universities, including professors of tourism management, in Kurdistan Province and professors of universities in neighboring provinces with expertise in the field and at least one research article in the field of cultural tourism with a scientific rank (scientific-research, scientific-development, ISI, and ISC), B) tourism managers, marketing experts, and specialsts in cultural heritage, handicrafts, and tourism in the cities of Kurdistan Province, C) managers of tourism agencies in Kurdistan Province, and d) cultural tourists.

Using common concepts, categories were extracted which included eight components: urban potentials, citizens, impact of border cities, event management, orientation toward other tourism destinations, tourism economy, government management, and advertising. The research results indicated the favorable conditions of urban potentials, citizens, impact of border cities, event management, orientation toward other tourism destinations, and tourism economy. However, government management and promotion in Kurdistan Province was not in favorable conditions. The results were examined through verification of eight hypotheses appropriate to the eight components.

From the final results of the analysis of available data and information, it can be inferred that Kurdistan Province exhibits a high capability (potentially) of attracting tourists and developing cultural tourism. However, a large part of the province has been abandoned and ignored due to improper advertising and provision of information, lack of infrastructural facilities, physically inadequate access routes, and relevant organizations’ insufficient supervision and planning to introduce the unique features and privileges of museums. This includes the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, which has failed to draw visitors’ attention to this tourist destination in line with expectations. Given the high potentials of Kurdistan Province in the field of cultural tourism development, the present study suggested that the province should be turned into a cultural province. Finally, it should be acknowledged that cultural tourism involves tourists’ behavior and their interaction with local residents. We must promote cultural development and increase respect for the cultures of other countries among the citizens of Kurdistan. Residents can play an important role in the formation of tourists’ perception of the destination.

Little attention has been paid in the current era to the field of environmental graphicsand the creation of new experiences to induce a sense of place, which has caused environmental graphics to encounter stability and inactivity. This is due to ignorance and insufficient concern for it in strategic research. Today, architects and designers have tried to crystallize the aesthetic aspects of these elements besides the functional aspects in the study of urban graphics, and what they create involves aesthetic meanings and creates a sense of place in the audience. Moreover, the issue of creating a sense of place, one of the most important factors in environmental quality in Iranian cities, has been largely forgotten in the field of environmental graphics in the current era. Today’s urban space is sometimes left open even in response to performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the urban graphics in District Two of the city of Qazvin, Iran in order to improve the sense of place in citizens and then to achieve a model of urban graphics reading.

Theoretical Framework

The visual quality of the urban environment involves an area with two systems of esoteric and external existence that must be understood simultaneously in order to improve the promotion of a sense of place for the audience. Cities with favorable visual environments are capable of expanding citizens’ aesthetic experience, promote their mental image of the society, and strengthen their civic pride. Meanwhile, the visual environment of a city emerges through the complex system of signs and the social, economic, and cultural characteristics of their communities. In the process of human-urban interaction, the visual environment provides the conditions for citizens’ and visitors’ perception, cognition, and environmental evaluation as a common interface. Man’s main perceptions from the environment depend on visual perception and visual factors. Thus, visual data provide man with the possibility of communication with the environment, because they play an effective role in promotion of the reading of urban spaces and visual perception of the environment. If we fail to consider the visual principles, graphic works, and visual representations in urban spaces, chaos and visual pollution will be created in urban environments, and these visual inconsistencies will intensify people’s psychological unrest. Therefore, environmental graphics can contribute to the organization of the visual system, improvement of the visual qualities, and enrichment of the sensory-visual features of urban spaces and consequently provide visual and mental peace and particular effects to the audience. As a part of the performance of environmental graphics, urban furniture has an important role in beautification and quality improvement along with creation of a sense of place in urban environments. Therefore, it can be stated according to earlier studies that architects and designers have tried to crystallize the aesthetic aspects of urban furniture besides the functional aspects of these elements in their current studies, and what they create involves aesthetic meanings and a sense of place.

The present qualitative-quantitative study is considered as a survey in terms of purpose. In the collection of qualitative data, library tools were used for a review of the studies conducted in the field, and the obtained data were evaluated using the method of content analysis. In the quantitative part of the present study, field tools (observation and questionnaire) were used. The researcher-made questionnaire of the present study, which was prepared according to the data obtained from library studies and the theoretical framework of the present study, was distributed to one hundred citizens in District Two of Qazvin, who were selected using simple random sampling. The Friedman test was first used to rank the criteria and indicators concerning the respondents to the present research questionnaire, and the data were analyzed using the method of content analysis  in the following step.

The results indicate that the physical structure of urban graphics in District Two of Qazvin involves a balanced quality of significant signs that attract the audience’s attention, and specify the sense of place in the area depending on the form, color, and materials. Among the components of environmental graphics reading in District Two of Qazvin, the components of visual structure and architecture exhibit the greatest roles, where they have created a sense of place in the residents of this district proportionally to their contexts and the types of color combination used, because there is a strong mutual relationship between the components of proportion and color combination and the reading of environmental graphics.

According to the data extracted from the questionnaire and the opinions collected from the residents of the district, it can be stated in general that seats and sitting places and square elements are ranked highest according to the conducted Friedman test, while elements such as trash cans and murals are ranked lowest.

In recent decades, the increasing growth of cities has transformed agricultural lands and increased the costs of urban services, leading to urban expansion. Moreover, the cities are faced with problems such as the deterioration of urban neighborhoods and suburbs due to people’s lack of willingness to live in these neighborhoods, decline in investment in old neighborhoods, reduction of capacity, and decline in the quality of life. With 1,700 hectares of distressed areas, the city of Shiraz, Iran is no exception, and suffers the same problem. It is possible to solve such issues through urban growth management policies. One of these policies is Land Readjustment (LR). It is necessary to identify and classify the legal, institutional, economic, social, and local factors influencing land readjustment in order to provide effective, sufficient urban generation. Thus, this study aimed to identify the key factors influencing the land readjustment process in distressed areas and to examine the cause-and-effect relations through Interpretative Structural Model in order to identify the most important variables in the implementation process. This could be a guide for urban management to achieve infill development by stimulating and implementing the most important variables and, consequently, increasing the possibility of the entire land readjustment project.

Theoretical Framework

Land readjustment is a technique used for management of urban development, according to which a number of irregular plots of land are divided into more regular plots after consolidation with proper planning, and sections including ones used for provision of public services are also divided between the original owners for construction purposes. In this method, the lines of ownership are changed for consolidation, division, and replacement of land areas for the purpose of creation or improvement of urban facilities and public services. Rather than forced to provide the required land, the owners are invited to negotiations for consolidation of their lands to provide land for services.

The present research could be categorized as an applied descriptive-analytical study. Due to the complexity of the relationships, the MicMac software was used to analyze the driving and dependent forces. In this method, the factors are placed in an n * n matrix and filled with numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 based on expert opinions, and are considered as the basis for further analysis. For this purpose, indicators were extracted from the theoretical framework of the research as a 22 * ​​22 matrix and provided to seventeen urban experts in Shiraz as a two-stage Delphi questionnaire.

In the case of unwillingness to participate, two variables were considered as increasing system risk: definition of the laws concerning the residents and owners’ protests pertaining to the urban design before, during, and after its implementation and enactment of the laws concerning the payment of the probable indemnity to the residents. This was because any legislation could be an obstacle in the system, decreasing the owners’ and residents’ partnership tendency, without fair consideration of their interests.The major organizational-institutional variables played an important role in the implementation of land readjustment, and influenced the other variables.  These included partnership of the local government through intermediary and facilitating institutions, law-abiding local governments, and concern for individual and social justice. This is because these variables actually link the social variables to the executable ones, and function as an interface to provide a framework for correct implementation to meet people’s needs.Furthermore, partnership of the local government through intermediary and facilitating institutions is one of the most effective, most impressive variables, which plays a key, strategic role.

The findings reveal that the key to implementation of land readjustment in distressed areas and to solve their problems is to create an intermediary institution to listen to the people’s demands and opinions. Other strategic variables involved in land readjustment in distressed areas include concern for individual and social justice in the local government, strategic perspective and flexibility of the local government, definition of the tangible, approachable objectives, and appropriate assessment of land price before and after the execution.Therefore, it is necessary to constantly examine the variables during both design and implementation of land readjustment in a distressed area. All these variables are either directly related to or applied by the local government, indicating the importance of city authorities’ policy-making and employment of experienced workforce.It is also important for the basic requirements according to the existing facts to select appropriate sites and set tangible goals, because the process would stop as a result of a lack of concern for the facts.

The metropolis plays an important role in the contemporary society. It features prominently in the public imagination as the very site of modernity and capitalist economy that has been encoded to convey the preferred meanings. Thus, it can be understood as an amalgam of objects of cultural production. To understand the metropolis is–to some extent–to understand our present age. As a patchwork quilt of traces of human existence, the metropolis could not present itself beyond the limitations of any strictly positivistic outlook, and it requires semiotic and phenomenological models like reading and experiencing. Thus, it might be read as a text, with its forms deciphered and its meanings understood. This means that the metropolis itself does not exist, and can only be understood through its various manifestations.In the reading of a city, or indeed any cultural artifice, it is important to know that meaning is never univocal. A city–any city–is always open to a variety of interpretations, and meaning must always remain plural and contested. Because there is no single way of understanding the metropolis, everything depends on how one views the metropolis and who views it. The reader, the “lover” of cities, must therefore be open to a range of “readings”, which go well beyond straightforward, rational analyses to open up the “poetry” of the city.

Theoretical Framework

Mindscape and spatial images play an important role in the experiencing and understanding of the city, as they result from a combination of different factors such as literature, art, media, myth, and narrative. As a German cultural theorist, Siegfried Kracauer, puts it, where the hieroglyphics of any spatial image are deciphered, the basis for social reality presents itself. Any Marxist-inspired cultural theorist would argue that what we see on the surface is the product of deeper underlying forces, in order to understand which we need to interpret the surface level. The unconscious nature of surface-level expressions reveals the hidden logic behind these phenomena.Cinema is one of the most important factors involved in the reconstruction of spatial images and urban mindscape. Emphasis on the relationship between cinema and the city denotes emphasis on culture and how the city is represented thereby. Apart from anthropological fieldwork, nothing compares with watching movies made for a community’s domestic market when the community is to be known. Most broadly viewed, cinema represents both the real and the imaginary. Architecture and urban architecture make up the body of the city for the presence of both lives, and cinema is a novel platform for re-reading the relationship between the body and the soul of the modern city.

Quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods were used in this research to explain the hieroglyphs of the modern metropolis of Tehran in the representation of the mysterious language of the city. For a concrete study of the city through official narratives, its representation in the selected movies of 2016 was studied, and seventeen movies were selected after the sample size was specified using the purposive qualitative sampling method.

According to the findings, we can conclude that the language of the modern metropolis of Tehran is discontinuous and disintegrated under the effect of the modernity paradigm and capitalism. We can claim that it is not possible to experience the metropolis of Tehran through movies although it makes up the location in most Iranian movies. Movies made in Tehran have failed to introduce the physical space of the city in the sense intended by Balzac and even Zola. This makes it more important to analyze this absence. Tehran has created its own specific metropolitan type. Thus, a cold, unfriendly stereotype defines the characteristic of people living in a Tehran. Modernity has been manifested there in a negative sense, and the city has turned into a refuge for the darkest aspects of modernity.

Finally, it is important to know that the city must be read by those who seek to create, shape, and transform it. Their reading of the city crucially conditions their writing of the city text and its buildings, streets, street furniture, etc.Thus, the task of any theorist intending to analyze the metropolis is to act like a detective, interrogating the traces and revealing the secrets. The metropolis therefore lends itself to research as a textual object. It constitutes a series of spatial image hieroglyphics–which may be deciphered in order to provide access to deeper underlying questions about society.

Acknowledgment

This research has been extracted from the Ph.D. thesis of Nazila Rahidpour, entitled “Explanation the hieroglyphics of Tehran modern metropolis with emphasize on reading, experiencing and memory”, defended in the Department of Urban Planning at the Islamic Azad University of Qazvin, under the supervision of Dr. Seyyed Mohsen Habibi and advisory of Dr. Manouchehr Tabibian.

Spatial navigation is influenced by landmarks, which are prominent visual features of the environment. These cues are stored in memory as structures based on places in space, and help advance path knowledge. Spatial representation of landmarks is preferably coded according to their capability of navigation. Signs affect our ability to navigate a familiar or unfamiliar environment successfully. Sights are messages from the urban space. This is especially important for children, who do not usually have the independence and experience required to move in an urban environment. This research was conducted to investigate the effect of urban signs on children navigating the urban space in the Sajjad neighborhood of the city of Mashhad, Iran.

Theoretical Framework

Humans create images of cities in their minds according to their physiological and social characteristics, such as age, gender, social class, ethnicity, nationality, skills, and information received from the environment. These images turn into the basis for a person’s behavior toward the environment. Moving through space and navigating are essential aspects of space exploration. As part of the understanding and experience of the environment, routing involves spatial decision-making for arrival at the destination. Sights are a kind of message from urban spaces. People choose landmarks in the city for their routing. Humans navigate with information support by quickly observing and understanding signs, maps, and signals. Route knowledge includes the important sights in the environment. This study sought to investigate the effect of signs on children navigating urban spaces.

This applied research was a quantitative-qualitative survey with a sequential strategy. Data collection was based on a review of authoritative sources concerning the research topic, the indicators were extracted based on experts’ views, and the test was performed in a case study. Initially, twenty questionnaires were completed as a preliminary, randomized test and distributed among children. The population included 245 children aged 8-12 years, selected in the Sajjad neighborhood, given an accuracy of 95% and a confidence level of 0.05. Sample size was set to 150 children and then reduced to 106 due to the lack of cooperation of some children. Thus, 106 girls and boys in the age range of 8-12 years were randomly interviewed. The questionnaire was divided into two parts based on a five-point Likert scale. The variables in the theoretical framework of the research were tested in the questionnaire. Moreover, Cronbach’s alpha, obtained as 0.761 for the questionnaire, was used to assess validity and reliability, which indicates the desired coefficient of reliability and content validity of the questionnaire.Upon completion of the questionnaire, the children were interviewed, and the meanings of the questions were fully explained to them. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively in Amos using confirmatory factor analysis methods. A qualitative analysis was made of the children’s paintings, and overlay and graphic methods were used to summarize it. The main variables of the research included routing and signage, which were evaluated according to the theoretical framework of the research.

The results indicate that differences in children’s age groups cause differences in the effectiveness of signals in their wayfinding. Moreover, physical elements and signs in urban spaces are highly effective in their guidance through the study area. Among the features used by 8-year-old children in the wayfinding process, we can mention green spaces and the forms of buildings. Children aged 9-10 years pay attention to the physical forms and distinctions of buildings in the routing process. Children with 10-12 years of age refer to buildings with greater color variety and ones with more distinctive architectural forms than others. The results demonstrate that the uniqueness of the sign, color, form, shape, and distinction has a great effect in the process of considering the sign and the persistence of the wayfinding process. Therefore, given the priority of following the signs in children’s process of wayfinding in urban spaces, it can be pointed out that the physical, functional, and semantic manifestation of the signs also has a great impact in the process.The role of signals in children of the examined age range was investigated according to the theoretical model of the research, along with the characteristics of signals in the environment. Initially, signs were paid greater attention by children, as extracted from the questionnaires and drawings. Among the signs mentioned by children in the Sajjad neighborhood were those of Laleh Street, Melli Bank, Jami Park, Pomegranate Juice Store, and Mina Park..

Children in the 10-12 age range use prominent commercial and residential buildings in wayfinding. Studies indicate the effect of a distinct body on children’s wayfinding behavior, given that signs are one of children’s navigation tools. It was found through the examination of the routing process as the main variable of the researchthat wayfinding is facilitated for children in the Sajjad neighborhood by the available signs and indicators. The analysis results of the effect of cues in children’s wayfinding process indicate that different guiding elements are used in the process at different ages. At the age of 8, children use paths and buildings to navigate. In the age groups of 11-12 and 9-10 years, they pay attention to the forms of roads and the shapes and functions of buildings, and turn in different directions at decision points during the wayfinding process. In the drawings, attention is paid to the ways and to the forms, shapes, functions, and colors of buildings. Therefore, children’s familiarity with the neighborhood has been observed in their wayfinding. The results indicate that there are relationships between wayfinding and environmental characteristics (physical and communication components of signals).