Comparative Study of Environmental Qualities of Urban Spaces in New Shopping Malls and Traditional Bazaars Case Study: <i>Kourosh</i> Mall and <i>Kaffashha</i> Bazaar in Tehran

Abstract

Throughout history, urban spaces have always been one of the important elements of the city. While having the social and cultural values of the society, they are a place for carrying out various activities that connect the members of the society with each other. They also provide opportunities for recreation. The more these spaces are built in accordance with the local culture and have a higher environmental quality, the more people tend to attend, be active and spend their free time there, and as a result, the vitality in the society improves. On the other hand, the lack of urban space or the lack of attention to the environmental qualities will reduce the sense of attachment and presence of people in these spaces, which will itself lead to the degradation of social relations. In urban settlements before modernism, public spaces such as squares and bazaars were used as arenas for social communication. In the process of modernization, the role of these places as urban space was diminished and new shopping malls have replaced them today. This research seeks to compare the environmental qualities of urban space in new shopping malls and traditional bazaars. The research is applied in terms of purpose and analytical-descriptive and comparative in terms of method. In order to achieve the goal of the research, the theoretical concepts were first studied and environmental quality factors were extracted. Then, with the technique of observation and photography, the extracted factors were checked in Kourosh mall and Kaffashha traditional bazaar. The results show that although shopping malls are derived from western societies and do not fit with Iranian culture, but due to the facilities they provide to the people, they have a more favorable condition in most of the factors examined in this research and have been more welcomed by people as urban space.