شخصيت فضايي - كالبدي هسته ي تاريخي شهر سنندج

Physical Character of Place: Examining the Historical Site of Sanandaj, Iran

Historical sites are special places not only due to the cultural heritage that they house, but also due to their natural resources. They can be considered as irreplaceable assets representing the investment of centuries of knowledge and lessons which weave the various physical elements and spatial units together in particular contexts. For this reason, such environments are "a treasure house of human experience - of successes and failure", good examples of "problem solving a total response to the challenge of climate and topography" and demonstrating an adaptation of man to the ebb and flow of social and political history of particular nations in a long process of trial and error. Many such sites are in a danger of losing their historical aspects if relevant studies are not put in place to measures those aspects and ensure the continuity of their qualities. This paper is concerned with the historical aspects in the city of Sanandaj considering two leading questions: (1) how has the historic core of Sanandaj formed? and (2) what historical aspects it contained which gave birth to its character? Theses will be dealt through document analysis, observation of the built form of the city and physical survey of existing built form and its natural context (taking photograph and analytical drawings). The informa- tion has been collected from 2003 to 2007. The results of the case study shows that its main structure sprang from the castellated cities, which contained three layers of urban spaces; the citadel or Qala on the top of a hill in the centre of the cityʹs setting was surrounded by a wall, the quarter occupied by the ruling class was again enclosed by a wall, and, beyond these two parts, is the rest of the city comprising three main quarters and one newer quarter free of man-made walls. This means that outer layers of the city have surrounded the power center and have been categorized according to occupations needed by the ruling class. This also has changed the main route of Sanandaj in a manner that its direction, instead of being along with bazaar - as it is the case in other traditional Islamic cities, is conforming to the direction of power and sovereignty cores. Due to this spatial organization and also those factors involved in formation of the city, it can be concluded that the founders of the city has predefined the overall structure of the city and its main components which means that it can be regarded as a "planned" city. The outcome of this review is that the historical site of Sanandaj has the potential for cultural resource-management plans, qualities that should be protected and enhanced. These findings will also be a useful base in recognizing the roots of urban form elements, and further research concerning the cityʹs conservation plan.