International Journal of

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Respect and reverence for water and trees are institutionalised in many ancient civilisations due to socio-cultural traditions, values and beliefs. In Iranian societies, respect for trees and water, separately and in composite form as gardens, is a well-known cultural value both before and after Islam. Therefore, the first part of this paper explains the value and importance of plants and gardens according to the religious and socio-cultural beliefs of the Iranian people in various historical periods. The paper continues by focussing on the history of the Persian garden city during the Timurid and Safavid dynasties. The straight streets, long-lasting gardens and the water supply of the three capitals of Samarqand, Herat and Isfahan are explained individually according to their historical references. Furthermore, it explained the special idea that has had direct relation with religious believes. In Safavid period designers often used the gardens as parables of Heaven. This idea influenced on urban design and was important in selection of green spaces as composing elements in urban fabrics. Finally, the paper classifies the features of Charbagh Street as an axis of the city of Isfahan, and compares these features with the features of the axes in the cities of Samarqand and Herat. The results of the study compare the design innovations, features and origins of the Charbagh axis of Isfahan, the Safavid garden city, with earlier garden cities of the Timurid period.

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The increasing rate of urbanization and rate of population growth over the 20th century has led to various problems such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and lack of open and green spaces that have affected the cities and their citizen's life. This condition has led to increasing demands for more land use, homes, and work places, more public transport and mass transit systems and modern infrastructure, so new approaches must be found to better utilize space available. Considered use of underground space creates new methods for solving these challenges. The urban underground spaces have great untapped potentials. If these potentials are managed correctly, it would chip in considerably to the urban sustainable development. Nevertheless seeking of spaces and shelter within the earth is no new idea, man and animal alike have exploited the protective and insulative properties of the soil long before recorded history. During the history of communities have existed in areas all over the world including Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, China, North Africa, and the American Southwest, to name a few. Some of the best examples of man’s symbiotic relationship with nature are Nushabad in Kashan, Sāmen in Malayer and Kariz in Kish Island. These underground cities and Constructions offer many opportunities and lessons for underground development in contemporary cities. This study aims to discuss the ancient settlements of Nushabad, Sāmen and Kariz for their unique and creative underground space use and also explore the potential of developing underground spaces in order to achieving sustainable development . The basic hints of discussion are the physical geography and dominating forms of underground space use.

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The purposeofthispaper is to examinethe impacts ofphysical contextson theefficacy oflocalmosques. The main question of thisresearchis: “What istherelationship betweenphysical context (including:number and space share per head of mosque in neighborhood, functional radius of mosque, the location of local mosque, local adjacent land uses and finally legibility and identity of local mosque in neighborhoods) and efficacy of local mosques? The research hypothesisis based on the assumption that there is a meaningful relation between physical context of mosques and their expected socio- cultural efficacyinurban neighborhoods. The method of the research has been analytical descriptive.In order to examine the hypothesis, variables “physical components of the mosquesandtheirefficacy" have been assigned. Applying“the Theory of Environmental Quality”, theindexes of each variable have been determined and applied in questionnaire to be evaluated in case studies. The data of the study wereanalyzed through SPSS software and the hypothesis was confirmed with 95% confidence level. Theresearch resultsrevealedthatphysicalcontext ofmosques can have a positive influence on their function of efficacy which consists of socialsolidarity, sense of belongingand sense of religiousaffiliationsofpeople through the five above mentioned factors.

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This Paper attempts to investigate the patterns of land cover changes and also the process of urban growth in Shiraz Metropolitan Area. Since detailed information of current urban processes is required for future developments and managements of urban areas, this study utilizes remote sensing data and landscape metrics, as useful tools to gather information on urban growth and dynamics, in order to examine the spatial pattern of Shiraz metropolitan area (SMA) from 1986 to 2014. Since, the northwestern areas of SMA are superior in terms of ecological advantages, analysis of types and patterns of SMA growth were separately examined for each sector (NW, NE, SE, and SW). Five landscape metrics were used to analyze compactness and dispersion of urban patches derived from remotely sensed images. The results showed that over the past 28 years, SMA experienced sweeping changes with unexplainable growth during 1996-2006: a great horizontal expansion with 5.89 percent annual growth rate. After facing great urban sprawl, especially on the edge of the main city in the 96-06 period, periphery rural areas beyond the city borders started growing drastically during last decade. While measuring landscape metrics indicates a process of compactness in the growth patterns of NE, SE and SW areas, NW is going to be more dispersed in the coming years.