Research Problem: Alley is an important space in continuous residential contexts. The function and meaning of this place have been weakened in most cities today. Revitalizing the alley requires achieving a correct understanding of it. The history of the alley in Iran associates this place with experiences of living and meanings that are embedded in the collective memory of Iranians.
Research purpose: An attempt is made to analyze the lived experience of Iranians of the alley by referring to Persian literature and to construct a theory about the alley. The questions are: “What characteristics does the alley have and what behaviors and meanings does it contain?” and “What role does it play in relation to the houses around it?”
Research Method: The research paradigm is “constructivist” and its strategy is “Straussian Grounded theory. The data referring to poems, stories and travelogues, until theoretical saturation was reached and analyzed in the open, axial and selective coding stages.
Conclusion: The axial categories reveal a general aspect (being a path) and three specific aspects (organizing, mediating and landscape) of the alley. The specific aspects of the alley fall under the concept of "being orchestrator". Accordingly; if the space adjacent to the houses is a limited area, with linear proportions and in between, the doors open directly to it and the houses have a visual connection with it through openings, this space becomes a "path that is orchestractor the houses". In residential contexts where residents are consistent, have a long-term presence in the residential environment, the axial phenomenon of the alley is formed. The axial phenomenon gives a human aspect to the alley and transforms it into a “path that is orchestrator of houses and inhabitants.” There are intervening conditions that strengthen or weaken the physical and human aspect of the alley.
Keywords; house, alley, residential contexts, lived experience.