Analysis of Water's Role in the Structure and Spatial Organization of Iranian Cities Using the Space Arrangement Method (Case study: Iran's Climatic Zones)

Introduction: Water plays a crucial role in the formation of human civilizations, especially in Iran, where it symbolizes purity, fertility, and love. This cultural significance, alongside its physical presence, has influenced city planning, neighborhood layout, and urban development. By examining cities at various scales, we can see how water impacts their origin, placement, and future growth, affecting social, economic, and cultural life. At a macro level, water has shaped city structures; at an intermediate level, water supply systems have influenced spatial organization and activity locations. At a micro level, people's interactions with water enrich urban spaces. The complexities in analyzing urban structures necessitate a method that addresses these challenges. The space arrangement method provides a valuable approach, emphasizing spatial coherence in urban analysis. This research employs a historical interpretive study with a mixed-methods approach, first narrating the historical relationship between water and urban development. It then uses the space arrangement method to explore the connection between water and urban spatial organization in various climatic zones in Iran, aligned with the case study.
Methodology: Considering the research's goal of analyzing water's role in shaping cities, a historical interpretive method is appropriate. This approach allows for a comprehensive exploration of socio-physical phenomena through narrative and holistic analysis. Key to this interpretation is gathering and organizing clues to create a believable narrative. When examining past phenomena, interpretative-historical research is employed. This study will utilize narrative strategies to report historical processes regarding water's influence on urban formation and development. However, the physical and spatial complexities involved can complicate explanations of water's effects. Thus, a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative techniques is necessary. Specifically, the space syntax method and spatial correlation index will be employed to quantitatively investigate water's impact on urban structures across different climates, facilitating comparisons of urban contexts and enhancing our understanding of water's influence on city organization.
Results: The water systems of Iranian cities can be classified into three main categories. The first is systems based on underground water, including wells and aqueducts. Ancient people believed that land rested on water, leading them to dig wells to access it. In arid regions, aqueducts were crucial for supplying underground water, shaping the spatial organization of cities. Second, systems based on flowing water, where rivers played significant roles in city formation and development. They provided functions such as defense and commerce, with their impact varying according to their location and the region's topography. Third, combined systems allow for the use of multiple water sources simultaneously, reflecting climatic diversity. Cities can harness rain, snow, rivers, and underground water, creating a comprehensive water management strategy.
Discussion: Water is one of the most fundamental components of the climate that creates life in a geographical area. Therefore, people in different geographical locations experience different styles of life, which, as a side effect, imposes its effects on the form, structure, and spatial organization of the city. As a result, a city with access to the river will have a different structure than a city with a canal or a city with abundant rainfall. In this regard, the role of water at the macro, medium, and micro levels, which will crystallize the interaction of water in the spatial structure and organization of cities, is investigated in the climatic zones of countries. In the northern part of the country, the abundance of rain has created the soil fertile, and on the other hand, easy access to water sources does not limit the selection of settlements [macro level] to a specific place. Therefore, these conditions have led to the decentralized structure of northern cities, which is largely related to easy access to water. In connection with the internal divisions and also guiding the directions of the expansion of the city [intermediate level], this lack of settlement restrictions has contributed to the scattered expansion and lack of compaction of the cities, and the traditional divisions, including neighborhoods, areas, etc., are not observed, and the only points of concentration are commercial lines along the main roads of the city. The cities of the central plateau of Iran, in locating [macro level], show a complete adaptation to the foothill alluvial cones in which it is possible to access underground water through aqueducts. So because of these limitations in choosing the location of cities and villages, compactness and concentration of the context can be seen in the vicinity of water sources, which are mainly aqueducts. In the interpretation of the internal zoning of the city as well as the direction of expansion [middle level], the same issue of water resource limitation has been effective in the non-dispersion of settlements and has created a concentrated and compact structure with gradual and continuous development around a neighborhood center that is based on a water resource (reservoir). The logical result of this compact and concentrated type of texture will be the formation of a hierarchy of establishments from private to public spaces. Which will be affected by the route of the aqueduct. Cities in mountainous areas have tended to compact settlements in order to be protected from the cold. Therefore, the orientations were shaped to benefit from water resources, and the structure and spatial organization of cities were influenced by rivers. In the interpretation of the internal zoning of the city [middle level], the limitation of the flat land in combination with the cold climate has been effective in shaping a concentrated and compact texture with a hierarchy of establishments from private to public spaces along rivers.
Conclusion: The relationship between water and the city can be analyzed on three levels. First, at the macro level and placement of cities, determining the relationship between the city and the region, determining the directions of development, and designing urban infrastructures; in other words, on a macro scale, water has shaped the structure of the city and determined its development directions. Second, at the middle level, water organized the spatial organization of cities by determining the limits of development, locating land uses, and explaining the relationship between context and activity. In other words, water has depicted the body of the city in relation to the activities that include water-related service buildings such as water storage and baths. According to the climate of the region, in the form of rivers, streams, aqueducts, etc., along the movement of water, it formed the core of the localities. Finally, at the level of wisdom and the presence of citizens in urban spaces, water on this scale is displayed in ponds and fountains inside public buildings and materializes the concept of place in the city. But it should be noted that these three levels are completely interrelated and dependent, so if the role of water is ignored or not understood correctly at one level, it will reveal its effects on other scales as well. Therefore, water fulfills the needs of life, is consecrated and worshiped in places, and improves the conditions for the presence of people in the city. In order to understand the effects of water on the origin, formation, historical development, and spatial structure and organization of cities in relation to climate, the scales of water presence should be compared with the definitions of space (place), structure, and spatial organization.