From Segregation to Integration of New Developments in Historic Contexts: Rural Texture in Iran

During the last century, rapid modern growth in human settlements has resulted in slicing into traditional settings and dichotomy of old traditional parts of the town on one hand and newly zoned areas on the other in the case of emergent countries. These new zones differ spatially, physically and socioeconomically, as well as culturally resulting in a mosaic urban area without any proper center [1]. Thus, physical form is considered as one of the most significant parameters in rapidly growing cities and villages. In the last decades, modern urban planning and projects have led to segregation and fragmentation in Iran, which is in contrast to the features of traditional cities [2]. Moreover, the spatial structure of Iranian settlements, affected by technology and modern life style, coincided with the decline of rural values and their original sociocultural identities [3]. The present study attempts to investigate a theoretical model to integrate the new and the old parts of Qehi village. This historic village has been divided into two parts by the new development processes: organic and grid textures. The new development of Qehi was based on the modern grid pattern, which is completely in contrast to the traditional patterns of Iranian settlements. This research investigates how physical and social structures of a particular settlement can be integrated based on the views of both residents and specialists. Therefore, a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) was applied to explore the main dimensions of integration. In the following sections, after reviewing the literature and highlighting the most important factors, the framework was defined. Then, Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism