Regenerating the “Creative Place”: A New Approach in Promoting Contemporary Heritage of Islamic -Iranian City (Case Study: Naqsh-E-Jahan Square of Isfahan)

Minou Gharehbaglou,Elahe Aghajni,Ahad Nejad Ebrahimi

doi:10.12944/cwe.9.3.57

Abstract

Regenerating the historic cities and adapting them with the circumstances and developments of contemporary life is one of the essential strategies for improving the social, economic and cultural situations in historic cities. The changes of socio-cultural conditions have necessitated more attention to high potential urban contexts such as historic hubs for improving the mentioned conditions. This research aims at studying a recent phenomenon in cities based on social, cultural and economic innovations called “creative place” .The objective of the theory of “creative place” is developing strategies for achieving a new model of sustainable development that is consistent with the spirit of time in response to the following question: “How can we achieve the concept of creative place as a new model of sustainable development based on culture and identity in regenerating the historical centers of a modern Islamic-Iranian city?” .According to the approach of “sense of place” and using interaction between the three areas discussed in the creative place, i.e., Art & Culture, Knowledge-based organizations, and Community projects, this subject is analyzed using content analysis method and reviewing the literatures. Then the environmental components in renewing the historical hubs of Iranian-Islamic contemporary city is detected using the approach of “creative place” .In the final step, the environmental factors of Naqsh-e-Jahan Square of Isfahan are recognized and analyzed in order to become a creative place. This study concludes that recognizing the features of contemporary heritage of architecture and Islamic urbanism of Iran in order to establish a basis for the realization of creative place idea, leads to the recognition of the rich factors involved in this heritage.

Highlights

From the 1970s, changes in programs, urban policies and practices implemented a new concept of policies and practices within the cities
(Farahmand, 2010) .Following this concept has always been associated with the concept of creative place that has been interpreted with various definitions .The model of creative regeneration is seeking for places that can attract the creative classes and groups, and maintain them so that urban areas to become the main arena for competition in the highly revolutionized global conditions (Florida, 2010) .The first point to the creative city as a sense took place in Melbourne by Charles Landry at a seminar organized by the Ministry of Planning and Environment of Australia in 1988 .He was the originator of the concept of “creative”, and advisor of Great Britain planning projects and implementer of many cultural projects and studies as well
Melbourne, Adelaide and London can be considered among the first “creative cities”. These cities according to a strong social and cultural infrastructure and through their advantageous facilities are the centers of creativity and investment and have placed more attention on historic centers of the cities, and benefiting from a city approach and creative place have attempted to revitalize the historic hubs of cities

Summary

Introduction

From the 1970s, changes in programs, urban policies and practices implemented a new concept of policies and practices within the cities. (Farahmand, 2010) .Following this concept has always been associated with the concept of creative place that has been interpreted with various definitions .The model of creative regeneration is seeking for places that can attract the creative classes and groups (of people), and maintain them so that urban areas to become the main arena for competition in the highly revolutionized global conditions (Florida , 2010) .The first point to the creative city as a sense took place in Melbourne by Charles Landry at a seminar organized by the Ministry of Planning and Environment of Australia in 1988 .He was the originator of the concept of “creative”, and advisor of Great Britain planning projects and implementer of many cultural projects and studies as well. These cities according to a strong social and cultural infrastructure and through their advantageous facilities are the centers of creativity and investment and have placed more attention on historic centers of the cities, and benefiting from a city approach and creative place have attempted to revitalize the historic hubs of cities

Objectives

Conclusion