Ph.D

Supervisors:

Dr. Asghar Mohammad Moradi

Dr. Gholam Hossein Memarian

Referee Panel:
Dr. Abbas Yazdanfar        Dr. Hamid Nadimi
Dr. Mohsen Faizi               Dr. Ali Omranipour

Abstract
With a glimpse into the history of Iran, we encounter time periods which have affected the way previous eras are seen and have had a profound impact on the subsequent periods. The Iranian community, relying on its own assets, with interactivity, effectiveness, and receptiveness over time, without neglecting the past, has passed these periods of time and retained the historical continuity; but the attitude in the past century differs from that of previous periods. In the course of this century, signs of discontinuity, a tendency toward foreign culture and an undivided attention to quantitative development, have affected the Iranian society and made the survey of the history of Iran challenging.
Historians and social theorists have different views on the historical course of these issues in Iran, which are classified into three categories. Based on this, and given the fact that the historical-social dimensions have had a definite influence on the architecture of Iran, the impact of different views on history can be traced back to architecture, with the difference that the reflection of social change on architecture has taken place with a slight delay, which includes the past six decades.
The witness of these developments is the historical context that has been there in the lives of Iranians in both periods of time from past to present. One of the major characteristic features of historical textures is that they have preserved their function in different eras supported by historical, social and natural backgrounds and also the belief system. This study examines the two attitudes of interruption and continuity in the context of historical textures and their effects on the architecture of these textures, posing three fundamental questions: 1. What are the causes of interruption in historical textures and which factor plays the main role? 2. What is the orientation of master plans, the thinking of the inhabitants and the authorities of the historical context regarding the issue of interruption and continuity? 3. What is the relationship between social relations governing the formation of architecture in historical contexts and the issue of interruption and continuity?
After extracting the components related to the two above-mentioned attitudes from previous works and exploratory studies, they have been expanded and fine-tuned using the Delphi method, and the result has been considered as a basis for the content analysis of master plans (as the criterion for action in historical textures) along with the attitudes of inhabitants and the authorities of these textures. For this purpose, based on documented evidence, three examples of small-scale cities including the historical context of Boshruyeh (preserving historical continuity), Naraq (occurrence of interruption but being treated), and Nain (occurrence of interruption without any will to treat) were selected. The results have been obtained by analyzing the resources and conducting 41 interviews regarding the considered cities. Studies show that the main cause of the occurrence of an interruption is years of neglect of the historical assets and state that the occurrence of an interruption or in other words, the deviation from the historical continuity, in the architecture of a neighborhood or a city, more than physical, economic, natural and some other factors, is based on individual and social facts (one’s self-awareness, the awareness of his past and surroundings, lifestyle, the relations between inhabitants, the management pattern, etc.). In fact, addressing the quality of individual and collective behavior and manners from a small nuclear family to the scale of a city, and controlling individual and social behavior, creates and maintains the continuity or causes the interruption in architecture.
Key words:  Continuity Attitude, Interruption Attitude, Architecture of Historical Fabrics, Boshruyeh, Naraq, Nain.