Pathology of the historical Bazaar of Zanjan and explanation of regeneration strategies based on the identification of sociability dimensions of public areas

Subject Areas : Urban Management Studies

seyedeh mahboobeh zabihzadeh ¹ , Parisa Aberouman Azar ² , Anahita Ghorbani ³ , seyed ehsan beladi deh bozorg ⁴

1 - Department of Architecture,. West Tehran. Branch. Islamic Azad University, Tehran. Iran
2 - Department of Architecture, Bonab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran
3 - Department of Architecture, Shahr-e-Qods Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Architecture, Yasouj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yasouj, Iran

Received: 2023-08-30 Accepted : 2024-06-09 Published : 2025-11-20

Keywords: Sociability, Regeneration, Zanjan Bazaar, Public area, Social Pathology,

Abstract :

Bazaar, as an architectural-urban phenomenon, including a diverse activity system on a large scale, provides a suitable platform for the occurrence of social activities, following the active and dynamic presence of popular groups. Zanjan Bazaar is experiencing changes in contemporary life patterns, changes in urban structures, non-compliance of new demands with the traditional system, gradual elimination of various activities and dimming of social-cultural events, reduction of social encounters and weakening of the quality of attendance. In order to solve the problem, the current research, relying on the qualitative research method, has identified the dimensions of sociability of public areas through the exploration of scientific literature and documents and the analysis of opinions of experts and by conducting a semi-structured interview with 30 businessmen, has identified the current challenges of Zanjan Bazaar in physical-spatial, functional-activity and perceptual-meaning dimensions and explained strategies to regenerate the case example. The results of the evaluation of the participant group's statements based on conventional content analysis and summarization show that the greatest amount of damage is to the physical-spatial dimension of the Bazaar, and the functional-activity and perceptual-meaning aspects are ranked second and third, respectively. Of course, the damages to the functional-activity and perceptual-meaning dimensions are caused by the serious vulnerability of the physical-spatial dimension of the Bazaar, and with the increase in the amount of damage, the two mentioned dimensions are also overshadowed. The proposed strategies in order to solve the challenges of Bazaar socialization based on the type of damage are presented.