Journal of Urban Studies on Space and Place

Abstract  
Over the past few decades, the urban fabric surrounding the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad has undergone extensive redevelopment. These transformations have largely prioritised infrastructural capacity, accessibility, and crowd management in response to the growing scale of pilgrimage. While such measures have improved logistical performance and service provision, they have also contributed to a progressive weakening of the experiential and meaning-laden dimensions of pilgrimage. Large-scale demolition, functional zoning, traffic-oriented design, and commercially driven development have increasingly disrupted the relational continuity between human presence, spatial structure, and the sacred meanings historically embedded in the pilgrimage environment. As a result, many of the spaces surrounding the shrine now operate primarily as corridors of movement rather than as places of gradual approach, bodily attunement, and spiritual preparation.
Within culture-oriented, place-based approaches to urban regeneration, this research proposes a meaning-based framework for regenerating the spaces and places surrounding the shrine, grounded in the theoretical concept of the Field of Appresentation. Drawing on phenomenological traditions, appresentation is understood as the process through which absent meanings—such as memory, belief, and transcendence—are made experientially present through bodily perception, spatial cues, and cultural practices. From this perspective, sacred urban space is not a passive container of symbols, but an active field in which meaning is continuously constituted through the interplay of perception, action, memory, and belief. Accordingly, the erosion of pilgrimage experience cannot be addressed through formal or aesthetic interventions alone, but requires reconfiguring the appresentational conditions that allow sacred meaning to emerge and be sustained in lived experience.
Methodologically, the study adopts a mixed qualitative–quantitative design with a phenomenological and context-sensitive orientation. The objective is not statistical generalisation, but an in-depth, situated understanding of how meaning is appresented along pilgrimage routes leading to the shrine. Data were collected through document analysis, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, sensory–spatial mapping, and GIS-supported analysis. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with pilgrims, shrine servants, long-term residents, and local shopkeepers, selected through purposive sampling to capture diverse experiential positions within the pilgrimage field. In parallel, nine key nodes along the main pilgrimage routes—primarily thresholds, pauses, and ritual movement junctions—were identified as focal points for detailed field investigation.
The analytical framework organises data around four interrelated experiential domains that structure the Field of Appresentation: environment, ritual, memory, and belief. The environmental domain addresses multi-sensory qualities such as light, sound, materiality, crowd density, and microclimate. The ritual domain examines embodied practices of movement, pause, prayer, and collective synchronisation. The memory domain explores personal and collective recollections, including perceptions of historical continuity, loss, and attachment to place. The belief domain focuses on subjective experiences of sacred presence, spiritual proximity, and moments of intensified or diminished transcendence. Through triangulation of interview narratives, observational records, video-based behavioural analysis, and spatial data, the study constructs a layered reading of how these four domains interact to present meaning within the pilgrimage environment.
The findings indicate that the contemporary crisis of the shrine’s surrounding spaces can be understood through four interrelated forms of rupture: sensory rupture, manifested in overstimulation, noise, and loss of atmospheric calm; performative rupture, reflected in the disruption of ritual rhythms by traffic flows and commercial pressures; temporal rupture, marked by the erasure of historical layers and weakening of continuity between past and present pilgrimage practices; and inner rupture, characterised by a reduced capacity for introspection, spiritual focus, and felt sacred presence. Crucially, the analysis demonstrates that interventions limited to physical form or infrastructural efficiency are insufficient to repair these ruptures, as they fail to engage the deeper appresentational mechanisms through which meaning is constituted.
In response, the Field of Appresentation model reframes the shrine’s surroundings as a multi-layered experiential field in which meaning emerges through reciprocal activation. Bodily perception appresents absent sacred referents; ritual practices synchronise individual and collective presence; memory anchors experience within a temporal continuum; and belief modulates the intensity and orientation of perception. Meaning-based urban regeneration, in this sense, is defined not as the restoration of a fixed historical image, but as the recalibration of appresentational conditions that enable these processes to operate coherently in contemporary contexts.
On this basis, the study translates the four experiential domains into a set of design-oriented principles applicable to urban regeneration and architectural intervention. These include reinforcing ritual continuity along pilgrimage routes, enhancing the legibility of collective memory through spatial and material cues, moderating sensory conditions within threshold spaces to support bodily and emotional attunement, and promoting forms of spatial justice that balance the needs of pilgrims, residents, and local economies. Rather than prescribing deterministic solutions, the framework functions as a flexible design logic that guides planners and architects in aligning spatial decisions with appresentational processes of meaning-making.
Ultimately, the research argues that regeneration in sacred urban contexts should be understood as a dynamic and adaptive process aimed at restoring meaningful presence rather than merely improving spatial performance. By foregrounding the Field of Appresentation as the core analytical and design framework, the study offers a systematic way to reconnect human experience, spatial structure, and sacred meaning in the spaces and places surrounding the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS). Beyond the specific case of Mashhad, the proposed approach contributes to broader debates on sacred space, phenomenology, and meaning-based urban regeneration by demonstrating how experiential theory can be rigorously translated into spatial analysis and design practice.
 

Abstract Introduction
Public spaces are key venues for social gatherings, participation, and collective expression, playing a crucial role in fostering collective identity and enhancing social well-being (El-Bardisy, 2024: 3). They also provide a context for analyzing human behavior through interpersonal spacing, or proxemics, which classifies distances into four zones: intimate (0–0.45 m), personal (0.45–1.2 m), social (1.2–3.6 m), and public (>3.6 m) (Hall, 1966). Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran, is one of the most prominent historical public spaces in the country, hosting both locals and tourists and offering a unique setting for studying socio-spatial interactions. Previous studies have primarily focused on the historical, architectural, and physical aspects of the square, while micro-scale analyses of user interactions and interpersonal spacing patterns remain limited (Babazadeh Asbagh, 2024: 3–8; Radahmadi et al., 1399: 5–12). This study aims to address this gap by investigating two primary questions: 1) What are the spatial patterns and interpersonal distances in Naqsh-e Jahan Square according to Hall’s proxemics model? 2) How do these patterns vary across morning, afternoon, and night periods? Understanding these patterns is essential to inform user-centered design and management, improve social interactions, and support sustainable tourism in historical urban spaces.
Theoretical Framework
This study is grounded in Edward Hall’s proxemics theory, which highlights the role of interpersonal distances in regulating social behavior (Hall, 1966). The theory has been extended to urban public spaces, where environmental and physical conditions, alongside cultural norms, influence behavior. Complementary concepts such as territoriality—primary (fixed), secondary (temporary), and public (open)—explain how users create informal boundaries through spatial positioning and clustering. Fixed features such as pathways, fountains, and iwans structure movement and spatial organization, while semi-fixed elements like seating areas, furniture, and shading regulate density, proximity, and social interaction. In Naqsh-e Jahan Square, the convergence of local cultural norms and tourism-driven dynamics requires an adapted proxemics framework that considers lighting, shading, crowd density, and temporal fluctuations. This augmented approach demonstrates that interpersonal distances result from the interaction between social norms and environmental affordances, positioning public spaces as “living behavioral models” in which user feedback informs iterative spatial design and management.
Methodology
A mixed–methods approach was employed to examine interpersonal spacing and user behavior in Naqsh-e Jahan Square. The study population included tourists, local residents, families, couples, and solitary users. Data collection occurred in June 2025 over three distinct day types—a weekday, a near-holiday day, and a holiday—across three time slots each day (morning 9:00–12:00, afternoon 16:00–19:00, and night 20:00–23:00), producing nine observational sessions in total. Key observation points included the central pool edges, the area in front of Ali Qapu Palace, the northern, eastern, and western platforms, the mosque entrances, and the iwans. A systematic, non-intrusive observation method ensured the natural behavior of users. An observation checklist captured variables such as time, location, social composition, dominant activity (sitting, standing, wandering, eating, cycling, vending, etc.), interpersonal distance (coded per Hall’s four zones), interaction type, and environmental conditions, including crowd density. Distances were estimated using the square’s flooring units (~50 cm each). In total, 380 social groups and individuals were recorded. Behavioral maps were created for morning, afternoon, and night to integrate observations for qualitative analysis. Quantitative analysis employed descriptive statistics (mean distances, activity distributions), while qualitative analysis involved map interpretation and environmental notes. Reliability and validity were ensured through repeated observations and dual coding.
Results and Discussion
Findings indicate that interpersonal spacing patterns are strongly influenced by day type, time of day, and environmental and physical factors. On low-density weekdays, social and public distances dominate, with individual, transient behavior prevalent. In contrast, near-holiday and holiday periods show higher density, reduced distances, and more intimate interactions. Users actively create secondary territories, particularly along the central pool, peripheral platforms, and shaded zones, while open transitional areas remain primarily public. Fixed elements structure movement and clustering, whereas semi-fixed elements such as furniture, seating, and shade regulate density, distance, and interaction opportunities. Hall’s model alone is insufficient for fully explaining behavior in Iranian public spaces; environmental and spatial components must be integrated. Behavioral mapping revealed that shaded, furnished areas accommodate higher density and closer interactions, while open sunlit areas maintain larger interpersonal distances. The findings align with patterns observed in global public spaces but also reflect local socio-cultural and tourism-related dynamics, emphasizing the importance of context-specific adaptation in public space design.
Conclusion
Naqsh-e Jahan Square functions as a “living behavioral model,” where user behaviors interact with environmental affordances to shape social experiences. Integrating Hall’s proxemics model with spatial and environmental variables provides a practical framework for analyzing and designing user-centered historical public spaces. By adjusting furniture layouts, lighting, shading, zoning, and pathways based on observed behaviors, overcrowding can be reduced and social interactions enhanced. This study contributes to the localization of proxemics theory and offers practical guidance for sustainable, inclusive, and context-aware urban planning in Iran, ensuring that historical public spaces meet real user needs while supporting social vitality and cultural continuity.
 

Abstract Introduction:
The conservation of heritage spaces, particularly in historical urban contexts, is a central challenge for contemporary urban governance and cultural sustainability. Such spaces embody not only architectural and aesthetic values but also the collective memory and social identity of communities. The historic bazaar of Tabriz, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site, exemplifies a living cultural organism in which economic, social, and cultural functions are intricately intertwined. Within this dynamic environment, social interactions, networks of trust, and shared norms play a critical role in maintaining both the tangible and intangible dimensions of heritage continuity.
While the concept of social capital has been widely discussed in urban sociology and cultural heritage studies, its classical forms—defined by stable networks and long-term trust—do not fully account for the transient and flexible relations that characterize complex urban markets. In this regard, this research introduces the novel theoretical concept of Fluid Social Capital (FSC), which captures the adaptable, temporary, and situational social relations that emerge in dynamic heritage spaces. Unlike conventional social capital that relies on durable relationships, FSC operates through flexible alliances, short-term collaborations, and spontaneous interactions that respond to contextual shifts in urban life.
The study focuses on the historic bazaar of Tabriz as an ideal empirical case to examine how fluid social capital functions within heritage environments, shaping collective behaviors and supporting heritage conservation through evolving social networks. The central research question guiding this study is:
“To what extent can fluid social capital influence and enhance the conservation and revitalization of historic urban bazaars, particularly the Tabriz Bazaar?”
This research thus aims to conceptualize, operationalize, and empirically test the notion of fluid social capital in relation to heritage protection, providing a theoretical and practical framework for policymakers, cultural managers, and urban planners involved in heritage-led urban regeneration.
Theoretical Framework:
The foundation of this study lies in the reinterpretation of classical social capital theories within the context of heritage conservation. According to Bourdieu, social capital represents the aggregate of actual or potential resources linked to durable networks of mutual recognition and institutionalized relationships. Coleman emphasized its role as a facilitator of collective action through norms of reciprocity and trust, while Putnam highlighted its contribution to civic engagement and democratic governance.
However, in heritage spaces such as the Tabriz Bazaar—where actors continuously shift, interactions are fluid, and the balance between tradition and modernity is constantly negotiated—these classical definitions prove inadequate. Fluid social capital expands the conceptual boundaries by accounting for temporary, situational, and adaptive relationships that generate resilience and cooperation under conditions of uncertainty.
The bazaar functions as a complex socio-spatial system where trust, cooperation, and identity are not static but continuously reconstituted. Therefore, the study proposes that FSC operates through three main dimensions:
-Network Flexibility – the ability of social networks to reorganize and adapt to changing economic or cultural conditions;
-Temporary and Multi-Actor Interactions – short-term collaborations that bridge different stakeholders such as merchants, municipal actors, and heritage institutions;
-Cultural Reproduction and Social Cohesion – the ongoing reinforcement of
shared norms, values, and traditions that sustain collective identity.
These dimensions collectively contribute to the resilience of heritage spaces, enabling them to respond to economic pressures, social change, and modernization challenges without losing their historical essence. The theoretical framework thus integrates the idea of social fluidity into heritage governance, presenting FSC as both an analytical lens and a practical tool for adaptive management of urban heritage.
Methodology:
This study adopts an integrated mixed-method approach (qualitative–quantitative) to capture both the depth and breadth of social dynamics within the Tabriz Bazaar.
Qualitative Phase
The qualitative phase involved semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 10 key experts in architecture, urban planning, and cultural heritage management, as well as representatives of local communities and bazaar stakeholders. Data were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA software using a thematic analysis approach. The aim was to identify and categorize emergent themes related to the formation and operation of fluid social capital within heritage spaces.
The analysis revealed that “network flexibility” and “temporary cooperation” appeared most frequently in interview codes, indicating their central role in the dynamics of the bazaar’s social system. These findings provided the empirical basis for constructing the quantitative instrument.
Quantitative Phase
Based on the qualitative results, a structured questionnaire was designed using a five-point Likert scale to measure perceptions and experiences of FSC components among 150 participants, including merchants, cultural actors, and heritage managers in the bazaar. The questionnaire's reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s Alpha (α = 0.89), indicating high internal consistency. Data were analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships between FSC components and heritage conservation outcomes.
The structural model included three independent latent variables (network flexibility, temporary interaction, and cultural reproduction) and one dependent latent variable (heritage conservation). The SEM results demonstrated a high level of model fit (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.045), indicating strong relationships among the constructs.
Results and Discussion:
Findings indicate that network flexibility is the most influential component, enabling adaptive collaborations and coordination. Temporary multi-stakeholder interactions support conflict resolution and joint decision-making, while cultural reproduction maintains social cohesion. SEM analysis confirmed the positive and significant impact of all components on heritage conservation (p < 0.05), illustrating how fluid social capital integrates traditional practices with modern urban demands to enhance resilience and sustainability. The results further reveal that stakeholders with higher participation in flexible networks demonstrated stronger commitment to heritage protection and collaborative management. This underscores the value of dynamic social relations in facilitating participatory governance and long-term heritage vitality.
Conclusion:
Fluid social capital offers a novel lens for heritage management, highlighting dynamic, adaptive networks that foster trust, collaboration, and resilience. In the Tabriz Historical Bazaar, this approach facilitates sustainable preservation while accommodating contemporary pressures, providing a practical model for heritage conservation in historic urban contexts globally. The study concludes that incorporating fluid social capital into urban policy frameworks can bridge the gap between institutional strategies and community-based practices, fostering inclusive governance and sustainable cultural continuity.
 

Abstract Introduction
Smart cities have become a central paradigm in contemporary urban research, transforming how cities are measured, compared, and governed. Yet despite the global diffusion of the concept, the internal structure of “smartness” remains uneven, multidimensional, and strongly dependent on local capacities for data production, governance, and innovation. Europe, unlike many other regions of the world, benefits from a rich statistical ecosystem that enables cities to be evaluated across multiple dimensions using reliable, comparable, and annually updated indicators. This study builds upon these datasets to develop a six-dimensional analytical geometry of smartness across European cities. It aims to move beyond simple rankings and construct a deeper structural understanding of how cities behave across economic, people, governance, mobility, environmental, and living dimensions. The broader motivation of the research is twofold. First, it seeks to reveal the spatial and conceptual diversity of European smart cities, showing that “smartness” is not a uniform path but a set of distinct patterns and typologies. Second, it aims to establish a theoretical–analytical device adaptable to other regions, including data-scarce contexts, where smart-city strategies remain fragmented due to the absence of structured statistical systems.
Theoretical Framework
The study is grounded in the six-dimensional model widely adopted in the European smart-city literature (Six Dimensions), originally articulated by Giffinger and subsequently refined by contemporary scholarship. This framework conceptualizes smartness as a balance between technological infrastructure (hard assets) and human–institutional capacity (soft assets). European Parliament reports, Urban Audit methodology, and recent studies emphasize that the most successful smart cities cultivate harmony among these dimensions rather than privileging any single component. Building on this foundation, the research introduces the concept of Smartness Geometry, which treats each city as a six-coordinate point in a multidimensional space. The geometric shape derived from these coordinates, interpreted through radar profiles, reveals whether a city is balanced, skewed, hard-infrastructure-dominated, soft-capacity-dominated, or structurally weak across multiple fronts. This theoretical lens allows smartness to be operationalized not merely as ranking but as form, pattern, and structural identity.
Methodology
The analysis uses 91 indicators extracted from two major European data repositories: Eurostat’s 2025 smart-city datasets and the 2024 Urban Audit. Each indicator corresponds to one of the six smart-city dimensions, forming an extensive database of urban performance covering economy (12 indicators), people (16), governance (12), mobility (10), environment (13), and living (28). To ensure comparability, all data older than 2015 were excluded. After cleaning and standardization, the Shannon entropy method was applied to compute dimension-specific weights, ensuring that indicators with greater variation across cities exert proportionally stronger influence. Using these weighted scores, six composite values were generated for each city, yielding the coordinates of their smartness geometry. To evaluate relative performance, four multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods were applied independently: AHP, SAW, TOPSIS, and VIKOR. These methods were intentionally selected because they differ in compensability, normalization sensitivity, and aggregation logic. AHP reflects hierarchical expert-based reasoning; SAW is fully compensatory and linear; TOPSIS emphasizes distance from ideal and anti-ideal solutions; VIKOR balances individual and group utility through a compromise model. The Friedman test was employed to assess the statistical agreement among the four methods. Finally, consensus clustering and radar-geometry analysis were used to classify the cities into geometric types of smartness.
Results and Discussion
The integrated ranking produced a clear hierarchy among European cities. The geometry of smartness across European cities can be interpreted through four distinct typological forms, each representing a structural pattern of urban performance. Type T1, the Balanced Smartness Core, reflects cities scoring between 0.70 and 0.96, primarily found in Northern and Western Europe. These cities show strong performance in living standards, mobility, governance, and environmental sustainability, resulting in a symmetrical hexagonal radar chart that signifies equilibrium across all dimensions. Type T2, the Industrial–Economic Hardware Smartness, includes cities in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, typically scoring 0.55-0.70. Their radar charts appear as elongated pentagons pulled toward economic, innovation, employment, and infrastructure dimensions, indicating strong hard capacities but less balanced soft dimensions. Type T3, the Latent Software-Based Smartness, is characteristic of Eastern European cities, with scores ranging from 0.45 to 0.55. These cities perform better on people-oriented indicators such as education, governance, and civic participation, while lagging in the economy and mobility, resulting in an asymmetric quadrilateral with elevated human/governance axes and depressed economic ones. Finally, Type T4, the Negative Consensus Core, includes structurally weak cities of Southern Europe, positioned between 0.00 and 0.40. Their profiles show severe imbalance across all dimensions, forming collapsed or fragmented polygons with sharp recessions that reflect pervasive deficits and the need for significant policy interventions. This typology demonstrates that Europe does not move toward a uniform smart-city model but toward differentiated regional patterns—each shaped by historical, economic, cultural, and governance trajectories.
Conclusion
The study offers a comprehensive analytical device for understanding smart-city performance through a multi-dimensional, geometric, and consensus-based approach. The Smartness Geometry model reveals that smartness is not simply about technological adoption but about structural harmony across economic, human, institutional, environmental, and infrastructural systems. Europe showcases both excellence and disparity: while northern cities achieve equilibrium, southern and eastern cities face multidimensional fragility. The framework developed here is transferable to other regions, provided that a reliable statistical infrastructure is established. Without consistent, transparent urban data, neither profiling, geometry, nor benchmarking is possible. Strengthening national urban statistics, creating open datasets, and adopting standardized indicators similar to those of the Urban Audit would allow governments to construct their own smartness geometry. Future research should extend this model to comparative regional studies, integrate time-series dynamics, and examine the causal mechanisms behind geometric patterns. The Smartness Geometry framework thus offers a robust, expandable system for measuring, understanding, and improving urban smartness across diverse global contexts.