Comparison and analysis of the cognitive effect of the role of memory index on promoting the sense of belonging of residents in new and old neighborhoods in Shiraz City

Abstract

The man-made environment in which man lives is not merely a scientific tool or the result of aimless events, rather it is structured and embodies meaning. These meanings and structures reflect man's understanding of the natural and man-made environment and his general state of being. The meaning that man understands from the man-made environment, individually or socially, creates memories in his mind which ultimately increases the sense of belonging of residents to the living space. To create more meaningful spaces and promote the sense of belonging of residents to the space of their residence, this study sought to discover the memorable factors affecting the sense of belonging of residents to their living space. To evaluate the theoretical model, three neighborhoods including Sang-e Siah, Ishaq Beyg, and Morgh Bazaar were selected from the old neighborhoods of Shiraz, and three neighborhoods including Abiyari, Eslah Nejad, and Havabord were selected as a case study from the new neighborhoods of Shiraz and a questionnaire was distributed. The basic research method of this paper was a correlation. The data of the questionnaire were evaluated using Spss software, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (Spearman's ρ), Tukey, ANOWA, Paired Sample T-Test, and Pearson correlation coefficient (Pearson's r). The memory factor was the independent variable and the sense of belonging was the dependent variable. The results of the present study indicated the importance of the memory factor in promoting a sense of belonging in all neighborhoods. Accordingly, the effect of social memories was greater than physical memories on promoting the sense of belonging of neighborhood residents and in general, the sense of belonging of residents to neighborhoods in the new fabric was much less than the old texture. Overall, the index of reminiscent elements from physical memories and familiarity with the neighborhood from social memories had the most impact and the factor of historical buildings from physical memories and non-governmental organizations from social memories had the least effect on promoting residents' sense of belonging to the living space.