Neighborhood Centers: Similar Appearance for Tourists, Diverse Characters in Citizens’ Perception (Case Study: Vaqt-o-Sa’at Square in Yazd and Jolfa Square in Isfahan)

Sartipi Isfahani, Mohammadreza; Yousefi Moghadam, Zahra; Ghasabe, Maede; Bagheri, Hamidreza

doi:10.22034/toc.2025.498708.1184

Neighborhood Centers: Similar Appearance for Tourists, Diverse Characters in Citizens’ Perception (Case Study: Vaqt-o-Sa’at Square in Yazd and Jolfa Square in Isfahan)

https://doi.org/10.22034/toc.2025.498708.1184

Volume 6, Issue 22
Autumn 2025

Pages 20-29

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

Mohammadreza Sartipi Isfahani ¹

Zahra Yousefi Moghadam ¹

Maede Ghasabe ¹

Hamidreza Bagheri ²

¹ Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran

² Department of Architecture, School of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The neighborhood is one of the smallest units of the urban system, and its pulsating heart is the “neighborhood center.” The neighborhood center constitutes the nucleus that generates the social, political, and economic life of the neighborhood, and as long as it remains Vibrant, the neighborhood will also endure. The existence of the neighborhood depends on its center, and the existence of the center, in turn, relies on the activity of the residents inhabiting it. When confronted with a phenomenon, first we perceive its existence as a unified reality in the form of a general impression, and only afterward proceed to comprehend its components. This holistic perception emerges from the elements and the interrelations among those elements that constitute the phenomenon. In the research journey titled “Ontology Reading of the Urban Landscape of Yazd”, through visiting several neighborhood centers in Yazd, the study pursued the overall impression derived from the experience of space, comparing four neighborhood centers with one another. In this comparison, the neighborhood centers were considered as unified wholes; therefore, the investigation was directed toward their constituent elements and the interrelations among them. The neighborhood center, in accordance with the domain of its intermediate space, its façades and immediate land uses, the adjacent land uses which, though not constituting its façades, nevertheless exert influence upon it, the streets that terminate in or branch out from it, and the events that unfold within it, possesses unique characters. These characters shape the personality and identity of the center, which, in essence, constitute its overall existential Ontology. The key finding of the research lay in apprehending these diverse characters of the neighborhood centers beneath their seemingly similar appearances. The method of data collection in this study was founded upon field observation and an ontological approach with a holistic perspective from the standpoint of the space-experiencer, complemented.

Keywords

Neighborhood Center

Yazd

Vaqt-o-Sa&‌rsquo؛ at Square of Yazd

Jolfa Square of Isfahan

Being

Ontology

Subjects

landscape

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