Assessing the Role of Collective Memory in the Process of Rasht’s Saqarisazan Houses and Old Texture Revitalization

Abstract

The valuable old textures in Rasht, including the old Sagharisazan Neighborhood, are considered as the ground for the occurrence of events and reminder of the individual and collective memories of the citizens that play an important role in kinship and rendering the urban environment`s meaningfulness. The playing of the intended role entails the existence of identifiable codes in the old textures that have undergone depreciations in the course of time. The current research paper investigated the collective memories of the residents in the revitalization of the valuable and old Sagharisazan’s houses and buildings. After dealing with the existent theories in the area of the collective memory and performing a case study with an analytical approach, the hypothesis was tested. The present study’s question pivoted about the idea that is it possible to benefit from the citizens’ collective memories for the revitalization of the architecturally valuable old houses and textures or not? Moreover, the present study’s focal point has been drawn on the assumption that the continuation and preservation of the overall identity of Sagharisazan’s texture seems to be dependent on the citizens’ collective memory and sense of attachment in the intended texture. The goal of the present study was finding practical suggestions for increasing quality in the valuable old textures and, since the qualitative elaboration of the environmental factors and axes aimed at the achievement of executive suggestions, the present study’s research method was consequentially descriptive-analytical and the information has been gathered through searches in the library resources. To investigate the study sample volume’s vernacular houses and buildings, a questionnaire was prepared and arranged for assessing the indices that was administered to 47 residents in this old texture and the acquired information was analyzed using SPSS1. The results indicated that the old texture has been abandoned and many of the memories of this neighborhood have lost their color due to the urban management’s paying attention to new constructions. The role of collective memory in the revitalization of the valuable old textures can be actualized through citizens’ participation and acquiring of their cognitive amps in respect to place, preservation of the rites and rituals and holding of memorable ritual exhibitions in religious places and conservation of the valuable and old vernacular elements and applying them in the new constructions demanded by the modern statuses of the citizens.