Document Type : Original Research Article
Authors
1
Ph.D Candidate in Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, University of Tehran, Iran.
2
Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Faculty of Architecture, University of Tehran, Iran.
3
Ph.D., Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Development, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.
Abstract
The difference in the form of Iranian cities between the present and the past and the eclecticism in the view of today's cities are interpreted as unoriginality or crisis of identity by some critics of architecture and urban planning. Meanwhile, the elimination of the body of the traditional cities and the creation of a huge change in the urban bodies in terms of form, material, and color of the buildings compared to the past is what justifies the elimination of the identity. It is as if proving the originality of the urban facades lies in preserving the bodily ornaments of the past. Also, variation and formal changes do not go with maintaining the identity or character, insofar as it is acknowledged as identity crisis, and imposes considerable expenses on the urban management for reviving the lost identity. This article seeks to find the philosophical reason for this perception among urban experts and practitioners. By referring to the ideas of Mulla Sadra in the written sources, this qualitative research proceeds to conclude through rational and philosophical reasoning.
The philosophical innovation of Mulla Sadra, "Principality of Existence", against "Principality of Quiddity", proves that identity is a matter of being. The expression of the motion in the essence of the object means the negation of consistency and stagnation and the proof of dynamism in the "identity". This means that instead of relying on the characteristics of quiddity such as constant figure, tone, and material, one should look for existential attributes such as humanism, order, and righteousness, which have accompanied the urban appearance through its history. Likewise, the identity crisis must be sought in the absence of existential attributes such as plurality, order, plus the dictation of fixity and stagnation. Thus, the resolutions of this approach are against the Principality of Quiddity, non-figurative, and, in fact, epistemological. At this view, the urban facade organization plans, which seek restoration and repetition of the form, material, and colors of the past to it, do not have a firm philosophical basis.
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