Garden as an Urban Development Driver in Iran, "Garden- Axes" and Development of the Historical City of Shiraz

Document Type : Review

Author

Ph.D. candidate in Architecture /Art University of Tehran

Abstract

"Garden-axis" –the urban structural axis influenced by the gardens- is a great urban element in the cities of the Safavid era. Cities such as Qazvin, Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz and Nishabur, developed with garden-axes during this era. The first Safavid rulers built their new capitals by connecting them to old towns with garden cities which were organized around a special kind of public garden spaces (squares and streets).
Shiraz, owes its civic life to existence of gardens, such as "Garden-axes" and also governmental gardens. The main question in this article is “What is the role of garden-axes in the development of Shiraz?”
To answer this question, at first the concept of garden-axes and two garden-axes on north and west of the city is explained. Then their role in urban development during the Zand era and after it was analyzed and evaluated.
The results show that garden-axes has been an achievement which drove gardens in the historic city of Shiraz in the Safavid era for the physical manifestation of the spatial structure of the city in the new system. Not even northern and western garden-axes of the city were the identification elements in the urban system, but they also have an important role in urban development.
The formation of these garden-axes, represent Safavid basics of building gardens for identifying of the entrances to the city (Estakhri gate) and also led the development of the city during the Zand and Qajar and Pahlavi era. In the period of Karim Khan Zand Government, creation and integration of gardens with government buildings, including Bagh-nazar and Arg-Karimkhan Garden, along with revival of two garden-axes of north and west, strengthened the urban system.
In the early stages of urban development of Shiraz in the first Pahlavi era, the western-oriented garden-axes became Karim Khan Zand street and in later periods, the integration of important administrative activities in this street and the process of development, led to the breakdown and destruction of gardens.

Keywords

References

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MANZAR, the Scientific Journal of landscape
Volume 7, Issue 33
January 2016
Pages 82-89

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