The broadness and complexity of dimensions of urban life, especially in metropolises, have diminished the role of urban neighborhoods in shaping social ties and place attachment. Though many researchers have focused on quantitative measurement of the impact of the neighboring tie on place attachment, a smaller number of studies are dedicated to the description of the quality and depth of neighboring relations in Iranian-Islamic communities. This article tries to describe the quality of neighboring ties and its interactions with place attachment through a holistic and qualitative approach. With this aim, neighboring and place attachment is studied in Sagharisazan neighborhood, which is one of the traditional and historical neighborhoods of the Rasht city. This neighborhood is located in the central part of the city and despite many changes, it almost has maintained the social and structural features of a traditional community. Resident’ s memories and everyday life experiences in the neighborhood should be analyzed to reach a comprehensive picture of the quality of neighboring ties and place attachment in a traditional neighborhood. For this purpose, 17 in-depth interviews with long-term residents of the neighborhood have been done by applying narrative mapping method. drawing a hand sketch of neighborhood map in past and showing places on it, and their changes through time, was very helpful for interviewees to remember memories from a long time ago, in some cases more than half-century. in next step, qualitative content analysis of information obtained from interviews have been done. Being a neighbor in this community is an important certain social role that brings a certain sense of commitment and responsibility with itself. High neighboring ties and social residence in neighborhood boundaries enrich different places around it with social meaning and shared memories of the community residents. Therefore, it can be concluded that place attachment in traditional Iranian neighborhood is mostly affected by the social meaning of neighborhood places. Furthermore, place attachment among residents of the traditional neighborhood is classified as an active attachment which is much more valuable than traditional or inactive attachment to an urban neighborhood.

The Caucasus region has consistently attracted Iran’s attention both as extension of the territory and as a sphere of influence. The Islamic Republic of Iran has extensive economic cooperation with the South Caucasian republics including Armenia. Fertile grounds for extended economic cooperation between the two nations include Armenia’s needs in energy, transportation, industries and mines, and labor force on the one hand and Iran’s suitable location, possession of advanced technology, and vast network of roads. The authors deal with the opportunities for and obstacles to the expansion of ties between the two countries.