BAGH-E NAZAR
Year:2013 | Volume:10 | Issue:25|Papers Count:12

Numerous researches have already revealed that Iranians were the first people who located large green spaces in their cities and used them as parks. Nevertheless, most of these spaces were later used for hunting. Even during the Safavid era, Chaharbagh Street in Esfahan was described by travelogues as one of the greatest public green spaces in the world.A look at the old maps, scripts and records shows that the term park was firstly used during the Qajar dynasty instead of bagh in reference to green spaces. It is notable that Tehran’s development was specifically sped up during the reign of Qajari king Nassereddin Shah. Nassereddin Shah, who was the fourth king in the Qajar dynasty, reigned about 50 years and this long term is one of the most important and effective periods in regenerating Iranian new urban life.The development of modern knowledge in Europe and the emergence of new technologies had a significant impact on the Iranian culture and civilization. This later led to great changes to the intact and traditional essence of the Iranian culture. Those changes had been addressed from different points of view by researchers. They accordingly illustrated European cultural effects on Iranian (Persian) architecture and urbanism which is one of the most effective changes in Persian culture. Meanwhile, some Iranian (Persian) gardens which were mainly designed based on Eastern ideologies have changed and obtained new forms over time. The researchers for the first time named these gardens as parks. It is notable that these parks that have been shown in Najmolmolk map of Tehran were not used as public spaces. On the other hand, there were some other green spaces in the city that had the name of Public Gardens and were mostly used as playgrounds. An example of this included Golshan-e-Arg Garden which was generally categorized as Bagh-e-Ammeh or public garden in Persian.The present article later discusses some considerable questions: What are the differences between the ancient Iranian gardens that were called bagh and the green spaces which were named parks? Do these new parks have any relevance to the meaning of parks in European culture (although they have been under the influence of European culture)? What are the differences between new modern Persian parks and the earlier ones that had been built in old Tehran around 150 years ago? Persian gardens which are reputable around the world are studied by both Iranian and foreign researchers. Nevertheless, Iranian parks are not sufficiently been studied. Therefore, the present research is focusing on the first park in Iran’s history called Ammin-o-Dolleh park. The park takes its name from Mirza Alikhan Ammin-o-Dolleh who was one of the noble people in Qajar dynasty and was best known for his academic qualifications and intellectuality. In course of time, after he designed the very first park, other honorable people were also inspired to follow suit in designing parks. The present article begins by explaining the type of the cultural diversions that happened during the Qajar dynasty as well as its influences on the common culture and social relations in Iran. Later, the article highlights the history of the park under study. Based on available documents, such spaces had certain elements that they made them to be called parks on the Najmolmolk map of Tehran. Both Qajar gardens and Persian old parks had private owners, high walls and boundaries that separated the indoor and outdoor spaces. Besides, both of them may have had foreign gardeners. To some extent, they also may have been built based on European designs. Furthermore, the parks had some features that were imported from Europe. Therefore, the difference between Qajar gardens and the first Persian parks are in their geometry. The present article shows that the first Persian parks used organic geometry which was the main difference to the Persian Qajar gardens which used symmetric geometry. The geometry of the design was organic with no axis as was customary to Persian gardens. Even the palace or the main building in the king’s court which was located next to one of the main roads had a different form and style from the Persian design. In addition, these differences were also seen in a number of trees and the landscape designs around them. Accordingly, unlike the modern parks, the first Persian parks were designed with walls that functioned as the boundary for privacy. Based on researches carried out over this issue, even though the very first parks in Tehran had similar names to the existing ones, they have over time developed changes in terms of character, identity, usage and form. Finally, the analysis of the results show that a part of sudden changes in Persian culture occurred as the result of inspirations from Europe especially in art and architecture. These changes eventually made the Persian culture lose a certain degree of its indigenous elements.

The rate of success in urban areas can be attributed to the rate of the use and presence of human being in that place. In fact, architecture should improve social interactions and human relationships and should be void of anything that would cause separation and departure of human beings. Nonetheless, the architecture as can be seen today in city centers appears to be mostly intended to decrease social communication. It specifically lacks the social participation of residents of urban areas. The streets have hierarchy and meet certain qualitative and quantitative features whose goals and roles are determined based on their significance in the city structure. To the same effect, coherence in the architecture of cities is important because it acts like a discipline which links individuals and groups together. The channels in which the currents are established and the capacity of channels through which we communicate with others are quite different. This has made the streets as a great communication channel in the city. In fact, streets are considered as the most important infrastructure and basic public open spaces that are easily available. Therefore, it is important to pay appropriate attention to the streets. This is particularly important when considering that the streets have a social function as well, regardless of their regular functions like facilitating transportation, etc.The present research seeks to argue the low level of social interaction in urban area as a main issue. It in fact tries to solve this problem and recognize the different elements involved through quantities methods. The research studies the main streets of Sanandaj city and its historical perspectives and seeks to examine social interactions in the city as well as the factors involved in it. Needless to say that public areas comprise complex patterns of operation and include various concepts. Therefore, recognizing these relations can be effective in designing highly efficient public areas.Also, recognizing various elements in city architecture including physical, social and individual elements that promote social interactions are equally important. Nevertheless, there are currently no specific mechanisms for assessment of elements involved in social interactions in Iran’s urban streets. The main motives for doing the present research were recognizing the positive and negative qualities of characters in order to identify which areas need to be improved and which areas need to be removed. In this research we want to use different techniques to study and recognize urban streets in order to explore space requirement for improving citizen relationships in streets of the city. Therefore, the research tries to evaluate social space variations and elements of streets, examine streets features, analyze region capacity and examine local potentials. The main goals of the research include classifying the qualitative parameters of streets and extracting variations (qualitative elements of urban streets such as usage, permeability, security and legibility) and evaluating variants of regions which are effective social interaction at the local scale.This research makes it clear that main streets of Sanandaj have not been successful in creating and improving social interactions. In fact, the streets of Sanandaj do not have an appropriate place in collective livelihood of the city dwellers. The main streets are major routes of normal movement rather than selective and social activities. The current statue is affected by physical problems and the kind of people’s attitude toward type, shape and level of social information. Finally, for the improvement of the current situation on the streets, achieving a moderate solution to strengthen social interactions as a meaningful and sustainable solution based on guidelines and attitudes of the dwellers is necessary.On the other hand, atmosphere designers always encounter different challenges in designing public spaces and what is important here is that among different variants effective in social relationships, which variance examines others variances and also which determines the personality features of the dwellers. In conclusion, the final model demonstrates the way and the level of effect of different variants in social interaction in order to be used for space designers. This shows that streets could have the most important place in responding to the needs of the first level of the society but rarely reach the highest level. The present research has taken into consideration the field studies. It has also analyzed the geometric heterogeneity location (site formation) and the proportion of current activities in the streets. The results show that physical features of streets are the most important factors in the reduction and loss of quality aspects of such spaces. This is in a way that high congestion and lack of space in sidewalks have already turned them as simply corridors for passing. This status increases in the peak hours (afternoons and evenings).

The increasing use of computers in architectural design and engineering is one of the most recent achievements in promotion and enhancement of the efficiency of the various stages of construction design process. The early 1960s saw the advent of computers in various areas. Computers were used in the construction industry and their application has grown in the field of architectural processes. Nowadays, computers have become one of the main tools used by professionals in the area of architecture and construction.In recent years, extensive studies have been done about software used for drawing architectural designs like CAD and CAAD. These studies suggest that the arrival of the computer in architecture design process occurs in three steps: the early stage of architectural design, drawing and designing stages.The present paper studies the use of computers in the early stages of the design process and the effects of CAD compared to traditional and manual design tools.In this paper, architectural sketching and the initial stages of the design process, the use of computers in the early stages of design especially Sketchup software have been carefully studied. In order to investigate the applicability of computers in the design process, Sketchup software was selected because it is considered by experts as the most popular tool in the industry.Accordingly, a comparison is made between architectural design methods by various devices. The methods used for the present study are experimental research and survey. In this research, three methods of architectural schematic drawings (sketching) have been taken into consideration. They are sketching with Sketchup, traditional tools and combination methods (both of sketchup and tradiotional devices). Those methods are compared with each other in later stages of the study. Therefore, an experimental sketching design was held and a jury group that was made up of three experts of architectural design courses judged the sketches and evaluated their scores. The scores by the experts were based on a set of criteria defined during a survey to assess the sketches.For analysis of the data, the scores of the judges were used. Other mechanisms used were factor analysis and multivariate analysis of variance test questionnaire or MANOVA. Statistical studies show that the architectural sketching method is only useful for grading students’ abilities to make architectural sketches. Also, according to the test scores of students in the three groups of participants, the sketching group that used traditional tools (paper and pen and clipboard) achieved the highest scores.Finally, the comparison between computer and traditional design tools show that Sketchup cannot be a substitute for architectural design tools in the early stages of design process and traditional methods which are based on manual tools are still preferred.

The Sustainable Community Movement offers a response to global issues by linking the practice of community development with detrimental global impacts, suggesting that our most critical global environment issues are rooted in local and day-to-day problems. In particular, this movement notes that global risks affecting our human habitats, are local matters more often than not created by humans. Therefore, the action to address the negative consequences recognized at the global level requires human interventions at the local level, where humans experience the integration of legislation, policies and planning practice. In this regard, “local viewpoint” has substituted “comprehensive viewpoint” and according to this standpoint, development commences from the very smallest urban unit that is “community”. Community development has two main approaches: one is “need-based approach” which is influenced by entitlement policy and believes in technical values and the other is “asset-based approach” that implies on local capitals, residents’ participation and capacity building. In recent years, Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) has caught the attention of numerous community development experts. As an alternative to the more commonly practiced need-based approach, ABCD shifts the focus of community development from “problem-solving” to “asset-building”. This approach is premised on the idea that people need to take control of their own lives. It is committed to the idea that people can and should take more responsibility for identifying their own needs and managing their own welfare, resources and directions. This is well-aligned to the holistic approach of developing sustainable communities.Community assets mainly include social and physical capital. Social capital as an important part of local capacity can be used by individuals and groups to facilitate their accessibility to local resources. Also physical capital (buildings, roads, open and public spaces) which makes up the most visible and formal part of a community’s fabric, is essential to the success of community development process. It is known that social capital is multi-dimensional with each dimension contributing to the meaning of social capital although each alone is not able to capture fully the concept in its entirety. Also it is clear that the components of social capital need to be treated as multidimensional rather than one dimensional. Measurement of social capital to contain its multidimensionality is a major issue in experimental research. Scientists have proposed a set of indices to measure various dimensions of social capital such as participation and social engagement, perception of community, social interaction, social trust, reciprocity and social cohesion. In this article, after the introduction of asset-based community development approach and sustainable community development, different aspects of them are investigated. In this regard, organized participation tendency and quality of physical facilities (as the main goals and important factors in sustainable community development), as well as the social and physical capital (as two main assets in community level) are studied. The indicators of the research are extracted from domestic and international studies and are measured through survey and random sampling in Imamzadeh Hassan neighborhood. To determine the presence or absence of correlation between local assets and sustainable community development factors, the indicators were turned into quantitative variables and analyzed with SPSS software. The results of correlation analysis indicate that there isa direct relation between local capitals and sustainable community development factors. Therefore, the main research hypothesis is proved. Also the results of multiple regression and path analysis of sustainable community development, social capital and physical capital indicate that social capital has direct increasing effect on both organized participation tendency (0.477) and quality of physical facilities (0.369). This is while physical capital mediated by social capital has an increasing effect (0.448) on organized participation tendency and quality of physical facilities. Such analysis and comprehensive studies, an example of which is presented here, can be a guide for planners and urban designers. However, any urban development plan needs to be based on an infrastructure. The context for the practical application of this approach should also be emphasized. This will help further consolidate the local assets and allow the growth of non-governmental and community-based organizations. Needless to say that this will require a special attention to the capacity of the partnership.

In most cities and villages of Iran, there used to be sherbet houses, where people gathered for casual chats, drank sherbet (syrup) and debated about local daily topics. In these places, people listened to poems and stories of the well-known Shahnameh (The Epic of Kings) - a masterpiece of Persian poetry dating back to the fourth century. Reading the Shahnameh is specifically considered to have had a significant contribution to the transfer of cultural and literary values across generations. It was also a useful resource in raising the awareness of the people in the ways of life of their ancestor’s. Nevertheless, there is unfortunately no reliable information about sherbet houses in Iran and therefore any study over them needs to be based on the architectures of such ancient structures. Based on historical documents, the first sherbet houses appeared in Iran after the advent of Islam and specifically when religious prohibitions against drinking wine were put into place. The early places where the sherbet houses were constructed were in Samarkand (the capital of Samarqand Province) during the Teymurid era (1370-1405). The next rise in the emergence of sherbet houses was during Shah Ismail’s era (1502-1524). Nevertheless, there was a decline in the popularity of those places later on.In addition, sherbetdar bashi (the owner of the sherbet house) was an occupation which appeared with the tradition of drinking sherbet and became one of the outstanding courtier positions in Iran. After the immigration of Ottomans to Iran, coffee was brought into Iran. Therefore, sherbet houses were replaced by coffee houses where a Turkish delicacy was drunk - coffee. In fact, it was during the same era that people found coffee to be a more enjoyable drink than sherbet.Accordingly, the name of sherbet houses soon turned into coffee houses. The first Persian coffee houses date back to the Safavid period in Qazvin (an ancient capital in the Safavid Empire), probably during the reign of Shah Tahmasp (1524-1576), and then expanded during the Shah Abbas era (1587-1629) in Isfahan (the Safavid capital). Afterwards, in the Qajar dynasty, especially during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah reign (1831-1896), the number of coffee houses multiplied in large cities, like Tehran (capital of Iran). The cultural changes in our present society may have resulted in forgetting the ancient traditions. Therefore, academic researches over the elements of the traditional society and the identification of their cultural values have growingly found a significant importance. The present research has been carried out through a descriptive-comparative method. The main purpose is to picture the architectural space of sherbet-houses of Iran. To achieve this goal, firstly, history and the role of sherbet houses in the Iranian social life was determined; Secondly, the architecture of this social-cultural base was introduced; and finally, on the one hand, a comparison was made between the architectural features of interactive spaces such as the sherbet house and the coffee house, and on the other hand, between the architecture of available sherbet houses.Sherbet houses can be divided into two kinds; governmental or public. The Royal Sherbet House of Qeysariye Portal in the Isfahan Bazaar and the Sherbet House of Amir Garden in Tabas (a city in South Khorasan Province) used to be governmental sherbet houses. The Sherbet House of Sayed Vaghef Abbey in Natanz (a city in central Iran) and the Sherbet House of Sheikh Safi al-Din Shrine in Ardabil (a historical city in north-western Iran) are public sherbet houses. The results of the present study show that sherbet houses were a roofed central space in the form of quadrilateral or octagonal, made of brick with round platforms for people to sit and rest. Sherbet houses have had various ornaments such as brickworks and tiles that represent the artistic sense of the past. In addition to internal spaces, sherbet houses also had ivans (porticoes) in their outdoor spaces to serve customers in the warm season of the year. In comparison, the coffee house’s architecture is based on a common pattern. It was usually influenced by the characteristics of architecture texture, culture, and social needs of the society. However, the architecture of internal spaces of some coffee houses was imitated from the architectural style of bineh (changing room) in traditional baths. This was a building usually with one entrance, a cupola (domed roof), and stone or brick columns. Platforms around the building were made of brick or stone or mud brick. Shoe racks with arched openings which were under the platforms are also a common feature of sherbet houses. Dadoes on the top of platforms were decorated with figured tiles up to one meter. In the middle of the building, there was a pool made of stone or tile, usually in the shape of polygon with one or more fountain and trough. There was also a circle or polygon platform in the center or a semicircle one next to its wall for narrating or reading the Shahnameh. General themes of murals in sherbet houses are the heroes of the Shahnameh. Another specific feature of the interior architecture of sherbet houses is the brickwork and tiles in the portal façade and internal spaces. In short, sherbet houses and coffee houses were a center for doing social activities. And because of the nature of their usage, sherbet houses were based on extroverted or introverted architectural designs.

In archeology, rock carvings have always been an important source of data, representing parts of the ancestors’ tradition, history, culture, civilization and art in every community. They have been used as representations of ancient concepts, thoughts, rites and rituals. Rock carvings are also used to tell the stories of ancient victories, major achievements, artistic delicacies, as well as the political, religious and social situations of any given civilization. To the same effect, they have been used as a means to satisfy the desire for immortality of any given past ruler.Making rock carvings has always been one of the most frequent occurrences throughout the ancient Near East. Prevalence of this tradition in Parthian times led to the creation of a lot of rock carvings in Parthian territories, the major part of which is located in autonomous reigns of Elymeans (162-3 BC to 224 AD). The main part of independent Elymaean territories was in Bakhtiari Mountains and the central part of Zagros mounts. Rock carvings in that area are thus considered as the most prominent artistic works of the Parthian era and are mostly characterized by several features including frontality, spirituality, linearity, solidity and comparative realism.Izeh plain, in Khuzestan province, is one of the major Elymean sites which contains several works of this period. Around 13 kilometers away from Izeh, Hung-i Nauruzi 2 rock carving is located which bears several key features of the Elymaean art.Hung-i Nauruzi 2 rock carving is located in the vicinity of Hung-i Nauruzi 1 rock carving and adjacent to Yar-Alivand and Kamalvand rock reliefs. This rock carving is among the religious rock carvings and presents a ritual scene. Severe erosion and a lack of inscriptions have made it difficult to determine the date of this site. In order to discover the theme and exact date of this rock carving, experts have utilized pictorial concept studies and compared it to similar Elamite, Parthin and Elymaean rock carvings.By extracting the similarities in stylistic and artistic features, the implicit content of the rock carving and carving techniques and stylistic features of this site as a local art have been analyzed. Furthermore, based on its ritual theme and its comparison with similar.

Place attachment is an intersection point between physical, activity, and subjective components in space and it changes the space to the place by specific sensory and behavioral characteristics of people. Urban squares with different semantic, functional and physical dimensions perform an important role in improving the quality of urban spaces.It should be taken into consideration that effective attachment factors in urban squares can play a great role in the desirability of contemporary squares. Due to the importance of attachment to the place for enhancing the quality of the environment, the present research has assessed the role of place attachment in creating desirable urban squares. To the same effect, urban designers with proper understanding of the changes in urban fabrics must take “place attachment dimensions” into account when drawing urban plans. This article is based on research findings about place attachment test in relation to one of the important squares in central Hamedan named Avicenna square. A Persian architectural monument that includes Avicenna’s tomb, Bu-Ali Museum and its periphery landscape areas have made Avicenna square a suitable space that attracts people. This square is mostly characterized by a series of social events, the people of Hamedan, the native culture, the memories of previous experiences, the history of the place and its physical organization. The present research uses analytical and deductive approach. At first, it deals with the concept of place attachment and its relation with place identity. Afterwards and based on conceptual framework, it describes place attachment dimensions. In this regard, place attachment indicators have been extracted and then a case study has been carried out using various surveying methods, observation and statistical analysis. To secure an efficient mechanism for collection of data, 200 questionnaires with 20 variety questions in each were designed. With the statistical methods, the level of each variable was determined by their components. The research outputs in Avicenna’s tomb square proved that attachment indicators which were assessed in this square are in the top levels. Accordingly, it was proved that the square identity and the related people imagination of this structure have been influenced by it. On this basis, attachment to Avicenna’s tomb square is derived from experiences, behaviors, feeling and social organization of people. The respondents indicated numerous factors involved in the place attachment feeling. They included feelings and emotions towards the square, sense of honor and pride and sense of belonging. The levels of these factors in place attachment had a direct relation to the period of stay and visiting the place. It can be said about the functional and spatial factors of Avicenna square that citizens and visitors, have imagined square as a meaningful and enjoyable place where they had a sense of security and calm. These accordingly had a great impact on creating satisfaction between citizens. Furthermore, with regards to the semantic factors of Avicenna’s tomb square factors such as present signs, symbols, as well as its social and cultural structures play an important role in improving the level of attachment to this square. This paper has argued that there is a direct relationship between place attachment and place identity. Therefore, among the main factors of attachment to Avicenna’s square; Avicenna’s tomb with its artistic architecture in the center of square, convenient access to the square, suitable environment elements such as trees and green spaces, commercial and daily spaces around the square, perfect location of the square in the center of the city, appropriate objective and subjective views of the square are more important than others. Thus, it can be concluded that the physical structure and certain activities associated with the structure influence people’s imagination of place. Creating emotional and social concepts have contributed to identity and place continuity, while the social and cultural relations, people’s historical memory and their personal experiences have contributed to enhancing emotional attachment to the place. By generalizing the results of this research in relation to emotional components and its role in urban squares, it can be said that for a place attachment to exist, it is necessary for the public to have a sense of comfort and calmness as well as individual and collective memories. It can also be said about the functional characteristics in squares and their impacts on improving attachments to urban squares that their present activities and their physiological, vital and economic requirements are the main factors in developing attachment to the place. Also with regards to the semantic attachment, the results were argued that occurrence of semantics and concepts in the urban squares depend on personal and collective experiences of people. This point strongly have been influenced by frequent visits to the square, checking people’s social interaction with each other, evaluating the sense of pride to the place (place identity), examining the position of the square and its spatial and architectural features. Results of this research can provide appropriate strategy for an ideal square designing in contemporary cities.

Iranian traditional gardens are well-known among different gardens of the world. The importance of axial geometry which organizes plants, water and pavilion can be observed in many Persian gardens. The arrangements of elements are varied in different gardens so the spatial and visual qualities of each garden may differ from others. All of these gardens are part of the Iranian heritage. They have been spread over the plateau of Iran and many of them are disused or have been vanished. Kerman gardens are an important part of Iranian gardens and unfortunately many of them have already suffered a lot as the result of what may be the greediness of certain individuals as well as the lack of knowledge of owners or authorities.Biram AbAd garden which was built during the Safavid Dynasty and Fath AbAd garden which was built during the Qajar dynasty are two main gardens in Kerman which are placed in two different areas of the city. Fath AbAd garden is in EkhtiAr AbAd village within a distance of six kilometers from Kerman, and Biram AbAd garden is on a mountainside in the east of Kerman. There are a lot of similarities between them. These gardens are among the few and perhaps the only existing gardens in Iran, with two pavilions and this characterizes them from other gardens. In this paper first the structure and elements of each garden is studied, then the gardens are compared and differences and similarities are investigated. There are four topics for comparison of the two gardens: garden structure and its effective factors, the location of each pavilion and its function and spatial relation with other parts of the garden, the space arrangement according to emersion and quality of each space, and finally the study about the integration of the garden and nature. The first topic analyzes the role of axis (number, function, proportion, etc) and the order in each garden. The second is the study of pavilions, their plans, visual perception and the circulation between them in each garden. The third is about space quality and the observer perception in each garden. The forth is about the comparison between the integration of each garden with nature. During the research some hypotheses are proposed in order to explain the reasons and results of the differences between the two gardens with the Persian garden pattern, and the effect of the two pavilions and the multi axial geometry of each garden.The studies of the two gardens which were built several hundred years apart demonstrate some new points. Two effective axes with two pavilions in each garden are the distinctive characteristics which define new qualities and specify the two gardens from Persian garden pattern (Table 1). Although the two gardens have been formed through Persian garden pattern, the number of axis and pavilions causes different methods to reply to the functional, formal and spatial demands, and this difference effects the combination of parts and the whole of each garden. The organization of each garden axis is more complex than Persian garden pattern. Therefore, a new geometry is created which concentrates on two focuses (pavilions). The effect of this organization changes the role and the quality of the axes, so different spaces with different qualities are created. Unlike many Persian gardens, the two garden spaces don’t have definite boundaries but a continuous connection and integration with each other. Therefore, everyone can perceive new experiences of space which is related to time. The location of the two pavilions in each garden and their place to each other is different. Therefore in Fath AbAd garden the functional and visual interaction between two pavilions are more than Biram AbAd garden. Although one of the two pavilions of each garden is the main one and similar to what is expected from Persian garden pavilion, the “U” shaped plan of the main pavilion of the Fath AbAd garden and the protrusion of the main pavilion from the garden wall in the Biram AbAd garden are the exclusive characters of the two pavilions and confirm the ability of the Iranian architect in using creative methods for interacting architecture and nature. Studies of these two extraordinary gardens demonstrate the dominance of the pavilion and the axis in the organization of the garden. The form of the axis is not changed. The axis is characterized by the plants and especially by the form of the waterfront in all Persian gardens; the only difference is the number of the axis. On the other hand the pavilion, its form and location has an effective role in garden structure.It is important to mention that the differences and the similarities between the two gardens with Persian garden pattern and the sense of presence in each of them for the observer demonstrate the richness of the pattern and its capacity to adapt to contextual variants and also the skill of Persian architect who responds to the demands of the users of the space.

There are some hidden positive forces in Persian paintings that can be good resources for analysis according to contemporary and new critical studies. The present article will try to study Persian paintings over a wider scope than simply the firm concepts and principles. A significant attention will be thus paid to new concepts. In the past, artists considered art as a religious matter and art was seen as a practice of prophets. Accordingly, Islamic artists dealt less with the individualism. In Persian painting from a special period more or less have been seen the name of the painter as a sign. Nevertheless, the way the artists put their signatures on their works in the past were completely different. A look at this issue shows how modest the artists have been. Those signs show the modesty of the artists. Especially, paintings that have been the result of a group work are not attributed to a single person. Nevertheless, the signatures of artists in paintings started to appear over years. This turn is simultaneous to the development of the artist’s character as seen in their bibliographies. From the Teymorid period, the forbidden artist’s style and art penetrate to the royal courts and among artists. Also in this period there is a new genre called Moraga which is different from ancient manuscripts. In the first page of Moraga there are some explanations. Little by little in Safavid period, the supporters of major manuscripts lost their positions and there are new definitions of relation between artists and supporters.In this new condition, the artists can show their individual creativity and characters. This is a constant analysis of the rising and prevalence of signs in Teymorid and Safavid periods. Nevertheless, it is not the purpose of the present research to analyze the authors’ logic through available signs. Furthermore, the research has made in several instances references to some new critical approaches. Accordingly, the authors have chosen the most important and the most famous artists who are Kamal ud-Din Behzad and Reza Abbasi from two different eras. And among philosophers who have provided extensive insights into critical theory, the authors have chosen Barthes, Derrida and Focault. The present research focuses on the paintings first and then according to the signs and the artists’ names considers the changes of signs in two continuous periods. However, relying on paintings does not provide enough information for analysis. Therefore, the bibliographical information has been exploited to obtain a better analysis of the paintings. Comparative studies let scholars find potential points for analytical readings. The high capacity of Persian painting is a persuasive motive for the present research. Literary criticism undoubtedly has a strong effect on other cultural and academic fields. Therefore, issues like authorship have had comprehensive effects on contemporary art. Of course, for the purposes of the present research the most prevalent ideas of critics about authorship and signing have been chosen. To the same degree, a careful attention has been paid to the idea of French thinker Roland Barthes who says that the author is dead and his signs are not important. Nevertheless, Jacques Derrida as a deconstructive theorist corrects that idea. He says the author is dead but he has left his traces on other signs. Michel Foucalt also considers author as a function in discourse. This means that a specific author creates a special discourse and a special some older works have been chosen which have some threads to lead scholars to these discussions. According to these theories, the audience in fact reads masterpieces by painters. The same holds true with the works of Persian master painters Behzad and Reza Abbasi. Behzad in some of his works brings his name as a signature. However, his signature is missing from some of the other works. Reza Abbasi always tries to put signatures at the bottom of his paintings. The present article has drawn on the ideas of the three philosophers named above i.e. Barthes, Derrida and Focault to arrive at final conclusions. Roland Barthes believes in the death of the author. Derrida on the other hand believes in the absence and presence of the author. Michel Focault believed that the author is not a person and should mostly be considered as a function. The author can make a discourse. Accordingly, the present research concludes that Behzad’s function in this kind of issues can be comprised to Derrida’s beliefs. Reza Abbasi also made a discourse through what was later called the Isfahan movement. This is a fact that makes both of these ideas impossible to exist without Barthes theories. Therefore, the death of the author is the origin for the ideas of Derrida and Faucalt. Derrida believed that signature is a unique thing whose repetition in different texts and works does not let it to be unique. Therefore, signature should signify on just one thing but according to different contexts the signifier of it will be changeable.Finally, the present research showed that the critical function of author lies behind the creative thoughts of painters as can be seen in masterpieces of Kamal ud-Din Behzad and Reza Abbasi. The present article also showed that such painters have been the first critics of their area of expertise in their own ages.As much as this survey shows, from the Teymorid era to the Safavid era, the Persian artists have frequently found the opportunity to show their creativity and individualities as an author who creates a unique style of his mastership. Undoubtedly, Reza Abbasi should always been remembered as an artist who have had the greatest contributions to the artistic movement of Isfahan.

Nowadays more than half of the world's populations live in urban areas. The figure is estimated to increase to about 60 percent by 2020. Therefore, the phenomenon of urbanization has become inevitable today. Despite the many benefits of urbanization, many policy-makers in different countries are warning against the perils of increasing urbanization. They are specifically warning against profound effects of urbanization on environmental issues such as on traditional and conventional relations, preparation and provision of public services and infrastructure problems, proliferation of informal settlements, deterioration of environmental conditions, and increased social problems related to unemployment and others. These problems are increasingly grabbing the attention of researchers in various fields of study, like Life Quality, Quality of Place, and Human Life Improvement in Urban Areas. On the other hand, we should always pay attention to the fact that civil society encompasses a wide range of the cultural-social and occupational groups. Each of these groups according to the type of insight and norms has different criteria for choosing a place to live and work. Therefore, they have also different criteria about satisfaction of the city environmental quality. However, in developing societies, paying equal attention to the demands of all the people is very difficult. But in this research, we emphasize on the differences between the mental image of citizen and planners about urban environmental quality in distressed areas. As was mentioned, when human habitats can yield the greatest utility to man, that meets his expectations. These expectations are defined in all aspects of human life like the environment, society, economy, etc. If any of these factors do not have good qualities in a person's life, they can influence the perception and the level of satisfaction in that individual. As we know, distressed area refers to legal limits of urban life where environmental deterioration and low quality structures cause particular problems for cities. It is normal to see that in these areas, citizens’ expectations in relation to quality living environment are unrealistic. Perhaps this is due to the fact that citizens have a non-aligned image of a desired biological space. Therefore, this research, in order to improve environmental quality in urban distressed area, is trying to determine the priority criteria and indicators of environmental quality in urban distressed areas in both the mental images of citizens and urban planners. To achieve this, first of all, the concept of urban environmental quality and its component, deterioration and the features of distressed area in Iran are defined. The next step is to develop the theoretical model for evaluating the level of satisfaction. The model is divided into five levels; each level evaluates the benchmark of one component such as environmental, socio–cultural, economic, physical and management criteria involved in the quality of the environment. In this regard, a questionnaire was designed according to the range of five-point Likert scale (1 < X < 5) to assess the quality of the urban environment. The researchers distributed 378 questionnaires based on the formula of Cochran is distributed between citizens residing in Qazvin distressed area and 42 questionnaires between urban planners who work at municipalities as urban experts as well as university professors. The method used to analyze the data was analytical - descriptive method and SPSS software in data analysis and one-way ANOVA and Duncan grouping test to evaluate and rank components of environmental quality in the urban distressed area. This approach helped with the determination of the value of each criterion and its rank among others. To determine the validity of the research instrument of the questionnaire, the help of professors and experts was sought - all of whom were positive with the reliability of the results. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach's alpha test. The value of this coefficient is 0.927 that shows a high reliability. We see in classification criteria and rating on them by citizens that the first priority is managed measures by 2.3 points then economic measures with 2.5 points, physical measures with 2.9 points, environmental and social criteria with 3.2 and 3.3 points are in the next line of priorities. But in urban planner’s rating, physical and managed measures with scores of 2.5 and 2.6, environmental and management criteria of 2.7 and 2.6 points, economic and social criteria with 3.0 and 3.1 points show the order of importance. In general summary and conclusion, the results indicate that the first priority in low quality of life in citizens’ view involved lack of attention to physical problems and low economic status of residents. This is while in urban planners’ approach in urban distressed area environmental standards and management are suffering from the ravages more than the other components. Therefore, the results show the lack of convergence in mental image of citizen and planners to the quality of the urban environment. Therefore, to improve the quality of urban environment, both citizens and planners should take serious steps to draw their viewpoints closer and pay more attention to each other’s demands.