Comparative analysis between qualitative norms of ancient Iranian urbanism and western urban design approaches

Abstract

The rich identity, originality and validity of the “Ancient Iranian Urbanism and Architecture”, always have been stimulating the urban designers and planners to have research about their valuable qualities and historical principles. Unlike the past, today’s Iranian cities have inefficient urban qualities; because they are inspired by the western urban designs, without paying attention to their contents and contexts, which have destroyed the originality and identity of them. So in this research, to achieve more efficient urban design solutions, is tried to revive the concepts and principles of the ancient Iranian urbanism. Also, according to globalization and urban commonalities, the main attempt is to find the overlaps and common qualitative norms between the western contemporary urban design approaches and the ancient Iranian urbanism principles. Due to this, by utilizing the inductive, comparative and descriptive methods, is tried to have research in theoretical resources to suggest some comprehensive principles, in order to reach an appropriate concept for the implementation of urban design projects in Iran, which may revive the original Iranian contextualism. This research will create a linkage between innovations of the western urbanism approaches and values of the ancient Iranian urbanism principles to have a prospective and more accurate understanding of the Iranian urban developments.