PATHOLOGY, IDENTIFICATION, AND REVITALIZATION OF THE “SHAHR” HISTORICAL DISTRICT OF KERMAN APPLYING THE APPROACH URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICT’S VALUES

Abstract

Infiltration of capitalist culture in Iran has brought about an incongruent urban agglomeration and hurried development of urban population caused by broadened migration from villages to cities. A clear example of this conflict is found in historic districts. Testified by historic documents, the Shahr’s district is one of the most ancient and arranged regions in Kerman and possesses all components required for a coherent, historic, residential, and organic context. Kerman’s developing trends, disregarding its physical and socio-cultural values, concurrent with developments which are given rise intended to fulfill this development’s needs, are gradually directed to evaporation of the city’s socio-cultural wealth. Extensive changes during the last decades under the pretext of development of the city, infrastructures, services, improved lifestyle levels, enhanced transportation at all urban levels, and broadened migration into the Kerman’s historic districts have impacted upon this district and its neighborhoods, bringing about a disruption of Kerman’s coherent socio-cultural systems that has resulted in several environmental, pollution, traffic, poverty, ill-residency, etc., problems. Investigation of the manner Kerman and its Shahr locality were shaped, the manner they developed, constant impacts on dynamic system of the city, present conditions of Shahr locality based on sustainable development indices, pathology, and finding lost spaces in the process of its evaporation might give shape to a proposed method to revitalize its historic district based on ancient values and construction of a dynamic life with respect to up-to-moment thoughts and cultures. This would end in stability of urban life through a maximization of available options presented to people living in a democratic environment.