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New urban developments in Safavid Isfahan continuity or disjuncture?
Some historians and critics have claimed that the generation and the evolution of traditional pre-modern urbanism and architecture were based on a deep understanding of the natural and man-made environment; they present its achievements as an integrated structure in which a clear sense of continuity and integrity exists. But the new Safavid developments of seventeenth century Isfahan, a city that has been extensively admired and referred to as an ideal Iranian-Islamic city, narrates a different story and discredits this supposition. By applying the concept of genius loci, introduced by the Norwegian architectural critic Christian Norberg-Schulz to study the major natural and man-made characteristics of settlements and their later developments, this article investigates formal and structural differences and contradictions between new Safavid developments in Isfahan and the old pre-Safavid city. It attempts to explain and clarify whether these differences are based on a misinterpretation of the existing genius loci of the city and thus generate a sense of discontinuity or whether they are the result of its re-interpretation and thus present a sense of continuity. Ultimately, it will be argued that Safavid Isfahan expresses a sense of ‘disjuncture’, which must not be ignored at the expense of idealizing traditional urbanism.
New urban developments in Safavid Isfahan continuity or disjuncture?
Some historians and critics have claimed that the generation and the evolution of traditional pre-modern urbanism and architecture were based on a deep understanding of the natural and man-made environment; they present its achievements as an integrated structure in which a clear sense of continuity and integrity exists. But the new Safavid developments of seventeenth century Isfahan, a city that has been extensively admired and referred to as an ideal Iranian-Islamic city, narrates a different story and discredits this supposition. By applying the concept of genius loci, introduced by the Norwegian architectural critic Christian Norberg-Schulz to study the major natural and man-made characteristics of settlements and their later developments, this article investigates formal and structural differences and contradictions between new Safavid developments in Isfahan and the old pre-Safavid city. It attempts to explain and clarify whether these differences are based on a misinterpretation of the existing genius loci of the city and thus generate a sense of discontinuity or whether they are the result of its re-interpretation and thus present a sense of continuity. Ultimately, it will be argued that Safavid Isfahan expresses a sense of ‘disjuncture’, which must not be ignored at the expense of idealizing traditional urbanism.
New urban developments in Safavid Isfahan continuity or disjuncture?
Falahat, Somaiyeh (author) / Shirazi, M. Reza (author)
Planning Perspectives ; 27 ; 611-624
2012-10-01
14 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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