GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH
Year:2001 | Volume:16 | Issue:1 (60)|Papers Count:10

"A structural and spatial survey of the Bazaar In Isfahan" is a project under study in the university 'of Isfahan. This article is to introduce the Bazaar and its attraction to the world.Unlike all other Bazaars in other Islamic cities, the Bazaar in Isfahan is still developing, and the Western culture seems to have not much influence on it so far.It is one of the most beautiful and greatest Bazaars of Iran, and probably of the world. It has even contributed its social, political, economical, and particularly religious importance to the society. This centre of commerce has notably preserved its universal fame for handicrafts ever since the Safavid dynasty (16th. century) and is considered as a unique architectural magnificence.

From the early history, and the beginning of the rural society in Iran, the head -man of the villages, has always been both the leader as well as the communicator between the inner and outer society.Being born and grown up in the village, Kadkhoda was the representative of the villagers, the village land lord, and the government. The above mentioned characteristics made Kadkhoda able to play a crucial role in the success and unification of people in the village, leading the human and physical resources of the village to produce the crops, to satisfy the local as well as the market needs. He was also able to control the security and order (outer and inner) of the village.The 1962 Iranian Land-Reform gradually decreased and, at least in 1976, omitted the position of Kadkhoda. Since then, though a number of alternatives have been adopted and tested, no suitable management system would have successfully replaced the role of Kadkhoda in the rural areas and villages. The result was the downfall of the rural society, as well as the rural production, etc.In this paper the writer is searching for the answers to a number of questions about kadkhodas i.e. his historical background, his sources of power, his relation with the villagers, and finally, the chances for the revitalization of his role.

In the past, there was a crucial relationship between population and security population growth provided security for people, family and the whole country. But today, the development of technology, management strategies, production, specialization, etc. have taken over and the quantity has been replaced by the quality. So only the educated, creator, well trained, skillful and dutiful population can enjoy the advantages of security.

A great part of our country, and one third of the world's continents are arid and semi-arid, having problems to meet their water needs. Although different factors are responsible for this aridity, the arid regions mostly suffer from water shortage in relation to the potential evaporation. Therefore aridity is a permanent character of climatic reactions in these regions.Regardless of some factors, (e.g. distance from humidity source, orography effect, water upwelling etc) we learn that the main cause of the aridity on the larger world scale is the descending of air masses and its following adiabatic warming, and strong thermodynamic stability. The result of this is often a clear and cloudless sky, and consequently the reduction of Precipitation in the summer months. In spite of this complexity in the nature of the aridity, there have been many attempts to make a formula for touching aridity and drought. As a great part of our country is covered with arid and semi -arid areas, and usually suffers from severe drought, the choice and application of a method, that could lead to more accurate knowledge about the extent and the manner of spreading drought, can help the organizers to reduce the effects of this natural disaster.In this paper, we introduce some valid and important indices for aridity and drought, and we emphasize its application to the climatic condition in Iran.

The formation of civilized nuclei in Iran has been the subject of great concern to sociologists, archeologists and geographers. Archeologists hold that a study of the environmental conditions of the past can bring to light many of the environmental, economical dimensions of human beings. Based on such information, research can discover many important facts about the early civilized centers, migration, the mode of life and type of livelihood, the context of nature and the climatic changes involved.In this paper an attempt has been made to elucidate the role of the Quaternary lakebeds in creating civilized and demographic centers in Iran.The purpose is to classify the geographical areas of Iran on the basis of the importance of the natural characteristics in contributing to the generation or development of civilized centers in question. In this connection geomorphic, historical and archeological evidence have been used for analysis.

The aim, in the first part, of this paper is to present a historical review of the structure and formation of the city of Isfahan. In order to illuminate the old structure and organization of the city, some remarks are made on the Saljugui, Safavid and Quajar periods. The second part of the article concentrates on the expansion of the city, from the beginning of the 14th century (Islamic calendar).Problems in the expansion of the city and its population increase during this relatively short period, are also studied. Furthermore the policies adopted in the two previous comprehensive plans are studied compared to the real expansion trends of the city. The article ends with some concluding remarks.

Knowing and understanding the situation of cities, their weak and strong points, capacities, and shortcomings are essential to design more comprehensive plans for the cities. The development of human resource is also a factor used in the city's developmental plans as well as an indicative of the city's rank, compared with other cities.There are many variables and factors contributing to the development of human resources. Comparing these variables as separate entities in different cities will definitely change their rank in the corresponding tables and as a result will make planners and programmers confused. It is therefore recommended that "human development "be used as an integrated index to compare cities from different points of view.The present article studies 34 standardized variables. Using "factor Analysis", attempts have been made to reduce the number of variables and introduce an integrated" human development index" of meaningful variables in which the significance and share of each variable has been determined.

Generally, in third world countries the normal increase in population and the growth of the supply of labour are found more in the rural than in urban areas.This has brought about a decrease in rural productivity and has made the difference between rural and urban income more significant than before, and, as a result, has accelerated the migration of rural people into cities. The following are some of the factors giving impetus to rural migration in Sistan and Baluchistan: economic stagnancy in rural areas; unemployment; lack of development in infrastructural services in rural areas; droughts and successive floods in the rural areas and better job opportunities and relatively more income in urban areas; more job opportunities across the border (i.e. in Pakistan and in Persian Gulf countries).From 1345 (A.H.) up to now more than 600,000 people have left the area.This process has affected the areas from or to which the migration has taken place in a number of ways: depopulation of rural areas; passivity of the remaining population in rural areas; expansion of slum areas; an increase in social and moral abnormalities in cities; lack of dynamism of national and regional economies and on the whole, lack of appropriate urban and rural development in the region.To reduce the rural migration in this region, the following strategies can be recommended:(1) Reducing the imbalance between job opportunities in the rural and urban areas.(2) Providing the basic needs and infrastructure services in rural areas;(3) Developing the agricultural sector and paying much more attention to it in the region;(4) Developing small industries and minor agricultural activities in the region;(5) Providing capital and directing small capital into production and rural development.