Current World Environment

Introduction

The modern style of architecture has had many influences on Iranian urban designing, leading to belittling of quality in linear city spaces in favor of quantity and ease of transportation. What were not considered in new approaches were the soul of living and daily happening in city spaces; in fact successful city designing has to consider both physical and spiritual factors of daily living in each of the city structures.

Bridges are one of the linear city spaces that are underrated in modern architecture, being acknowledged only as a connector of two sides and ignorant of human’s presence. In contrast, Iranian traditional architecture has always valued presence, passage and settlement of humans in bridges. Kashkaan bridge (related to Sasanian dynasty), Menjil safavid (Farshid Nik et al., 2004) bridge ,Shahrestan Bridge, Allahverdikhan bridge ,and the most complete one Khajoo bridge are among successful samples of this thoughtfulness (Moravej et al.,2013).

Khajoo Bridge, unlike nearby newly widened Bozorgmehr bridge, has been a vital part of the Isfahan in different eras and has preserved its dynamicity and liveliness in different ways in concordance with changes in political, social, and financial situations . Paying attention to not only the act of passing but to human' presence and physical conditions is the difference between Khajoo bridge, as a flourishing sample, and other soulless structures (like Bozorgmehr bridge).

To fully understand the reasons behind the preserveness of the Khajoo Bridge, following questions should be answered:

• What different roles have Khajoo Bridge played during different times?
• Is it possible to find any kind of basic similarity and coordination in various roles and function of Khajoo Bridge?
• How to utilize these strength points in other city structures and spaces?

To answer these questions, one needs to know about the true meaning of city spaces and quality enhancing factors as well as past and present functional history and story Khajoo Bridge, from past years up to now. we have investigate our objective observation (observation done in 2012-2013) as well as related historical documents, newspapers, poetry, and travel stories to understand public’s feelings, opinions, interests and points of view (Rapaport., 2005).

In the following we first reviewed the history of the bridge from past up to today’s situation (2012-2103) and remained heritage and documents are evaluated. Then we compared different circumstances and behaviors of Khajoo Bridge to shed a light on key factors of Khajoo bridge prosperous survival during centuries.

Materials and Methods

Our study is of basic-applied type with descriptive-analytic approach. Related documents and objective observations are utilized to evaluate dynamicity and living of Khajoo Bridge in different times and identification of meaning and characteristics of a desirable city place.

Base of Research

There are numerous definitions for the term of “city space”. In this study we have specially focused on social aspects of the “city design” according to Jan Gel’s theory and his definitions and criteria for a desirable place. Our sample study was also-as mentioned before- the Khajoo Bridge. Although this historical masterpiece is mentioned in many books and documents, Khajoo Bridge have never been a subject of comprehensive study and analysis of functional dynamicity and liveliness in historical periods.

Definition of City Space

City spaces are acknowledged in the category of open and public places .These places lodge citizens and are symbol of group living. City spaces are approachable by people and host un-programmed social encounters (Pakzad., 2010) and the more they provide peoples with their needs, the more affluent they are. To describe city and city spaces, many theories and approaches exist; one of these approaches is social approach. Jan Gehl[i] is among those who employ social themes for description of city spaces. He believes that it is possible to have an influence on functionality, number of visitors, and quality of social encounters by considering proper designing amid local, social, and constitutional limitations. His main idea is that while low quality spaces only host unavoidable necessary encounters, on the other hand, high quality spaces expenses not only more various events but more frequent (Carmona et al.,2012). He insists that to create an ideal city space-a place that provides people with all elements of happy and comfortable living- most of following factors should be afforded:

[i] Jan Gehl

1. Protection: Protection against motor accident, crimes and violence, and against adverse weather conditions
2. Comfort: ease of walking, standing, and stopping. Comfortable places to sit and chat, entertainment facilities, versatility for different activities.
3. Joy: being able to make people enjoy good weather conditions, landscape and positive feelings (Gehl., 2010).

Introduction of Khajoo Bridge

This bridge was constructed as a symbol of   glorious society at the time of second king Abbas in Safavid dynasty because of unsuitable physical features of previous built bridges (Vahid Ghazvini., 1950), construction of new neighborhoods (Della Valle., 1991), (Chardin., 1966) and need for appropriate access .In addition to its hilarious looking, Khajoo Bridge meets many functions and services and contributes to many social activities and important city events and carnivals. The book “living bridges” acknowledges the Khajoo Bridge in the category of “life giving bridges” (Royal Academy of Arts., 1996).

During the construction of the bridge , on the western bank of the river, royal citadels and palaces were assembeled. by closing the orifices of the bridge, beautiful lake would form (Blunt ., 2005), (Jaberi Ansari., 1942) and royal family could enjoy and entertain themselves (Vahid Ghazvini., 1950).A mansion was also built in the middle of the bridge to be a palace on water (Hillenbrand., 2010) making it possible for the kings and royal family to enjoy festivals and celebrations (Shamloo., 1992) After times , the role of Isfahan in political geography of Iran was weakened  and according to remained documents ,this bridge was a place for social events and carnivals.

Fig. 1: Khajoo Brige, From the authors  Click here to View figure

Explore the Behaviors

Our understanding of each space and its current soul of living depends not only on related physical aspects but to events happening there. To study these events we need to explore behavior and events happened at the bridge during different epochs.

Explore Happened Behaviors and Events from Written Documents

To explore current of life in past and present and social events being witnessed by Khajoo Bridge, written documents are a great asset. In the following we have reviewed most important events hosted by Khajoo Bridge.

Table1: Behaviors and events noted in the bridge according to written documents, From the authors

Explore Happened Behaviors and Events from Written Through Observations

Another method to recognize the current of life in any place is to observe daily living of people and take photos to document these connections and interactions (Pakzad., 2010) therefor we documented our observations by taking photographs^[i] of the bridge and the nearby environment in different hours of the day, on different days of the weeks and even in different seasons. For better and easier introduction of the physical features of Khajoo bridge, we have divided the structure into three part as shown in the section(1).

[i] Taking photos was done in two ways: A- a camera was installed on high point without causing any attention and photos were taken every ten seconds. B- The authors stood among the crowd and started taking the photos with high speed.

Table2: some of the observations from the east part of the khajoo bridge,  From the authors Click here to View figure

Fig. 2: Section Diagram of  different levels of the Khajoo bridge .( From the authors) Click here to View figure

Table3: Observed behaviors of the people in each levels of the bridge. (From the authors)

Fig. 3:Plan In plan dividing of  spaces related to  the 3rd level Click here to View figure

Fig. 4: Plan Wandering of the visitors in the rooms of the 2nd level  Click here to View figure

Comparing the Documents With Our Observations

We tried to compare the documented behavior and events in the history with our observations to discover sustained behaviors and traditions through different times.

Table4: comparison between documented behavior and events in the history with our observations from Khajoo Bridge, (From the authors)

As mentioned above, we can divide daily behaviors and events ever happened in the bridge into three category: the events that are no more practiced, the events and behaviors that saved their existence during the times and events and tradition that did not exist in the past and are new. these changes in the traditions and functions are directly due to changes in political, social, and economic conditions, as an example, the agricultural farms has given their place to official offices, trading centers and residential complexes, so water orifices in the level 2 of the bridge’s plan which once were used as a water drainage for farms are now used as a place to rest and revel in.

There are also preserved function and behaviors from past to now , like hosting ceremonies and festivals, live music and singing shows, boating, a place for people to gather, smoking, being visited by travelers and tourists, and playing a role of parkland for citizens. These sustained activities can be explained according to Gehl’s criteria as the following:

protection

As Gehl’s believes, protection has three parts, protection against motor-car accidents, protection against crimes and violence and protection against adverse weather .The first measure to provide these elements of protection was to find a proper location for the bridge. The Khajoo Bridge is constructed in the way between the downtown of the Isfahan and the Fooladshahr and as result, frequent passage of crowds from this root guaranties the safety. In spite of the fact that this reason no longer plays an important role due to progression of the city, placing a police station on the northwest of the bridge, lighting systems and glorious night life of the bridge still provides high level of security and safety against violence and crimes. The other contributing factor to the protection is the physical features of 3-level plan of the bridge. This unique design divides the bridge into different sections, making the people feel safe while passing the rivers the bridge looks like a shelter. To minimize the effect of the adverse weather, the bridge’s structure employs direction of the wind and water, especially in the second level, to introduce a pleasant condition for pedestrians mainly in the summers.

comfort

The main role of the bridge was and is to facilitate the passage between two sides of the river. Beside this function, physical features and beauty and liveliness embedded in the water stream, have made the bridge into a favorable place for walking, sitting , sightseeing, chatting, rendezvous ,  singing,  and playing .

Physical factors contribute to the fascination of the bridge are wide, clear, eye catching field of view and landscape , responding different needs of visitors( individual visitors or groups), providing platforms with suitable height for people to sit,  considering different passages for different purposes(fast passing from the third level and slow passing from both rooms of the third level and  near the water flow in the second level) and widening of the bridge in second level ( the width of the bridge increases from the 11.7 meters in the third level to 24.5 meters in the second level.

Joy

The third and most important of Gehl’s criteria-as he believes- is joy. He deduces that first and second criteria are prerequisites of third criteria. In his theory what changes a structure or a city space into a fascinating enjoyable place is a combination of 3 components: proper scale, pleasant weather conditions and ability to induce positive feelings in visitors.

Historical documents from Safavid epoch show that the aim behind the designing of first and second levels of the bridge was to optimizing water flow and forming an adorable landscape, however , although some elements are added later( like some of the  doors and wooden pieces ) employed architectural scales  are totally humanized . The design of the bridge also takes advantage of wind and water flows to bring positive feelings to visitors especially in the summer.

Amid all the mentioned characteristics, we believe that what distinguishes Khajoo bridges from other similar constructions and linear city spaces is the beautiful, unique, and awesome feeling, inspired by the whole complex. This feeling, also roots in the culture of Isfahanis which forms their behaviors toward the bridge. One of the practiced tradition sustained from past up to now is singing. People of Isfahan are used to sing and walk on the banks of the Zayanderood River. Ibn Hoghel describes the Isfahan in the 4th AH century as the following:  “people from far and near places gather and celebrates the New Year in bazaar and enjoy themselves in 7 days.   Male and female singers and entertainers warm up the ceremonies in palaces and elsewhere” (Ibn Hawqal., 1966). Holster also mentioned that “Isfahanis are somehow different in comparison with other Iranians, they are always happy and noisy and sing while walking or riding and some rich people brings singers with themselves in their travels and trips(Holster.,1976). Walking in Charbagh’s streets and parklands of Zayanderood river is also routine among people of Isfahan and is their main leisure activity from past up to now (Ansari., 2000)), although less frequent now, singing has always been a part of walking for Isfahanis men. Since Khajoo bridge neighbors the Zayanderood, all these traditions   are practiced even more regularly in the bridge especially by families who spend their spare time around the bridge at summer. It is noteworthy that all these traditions are compatible with cultural fundaments, making the Khajoo Bridge a place for giving life to historical and cultural identity .it can be assumed that people approach the bridge with entertainment intentions .ⁱⁱⁱ

Table5: How Khajoo Bridge fulfill Gel’s criteria, From the authors

Conclusion

City spaces host different actions and interactions of citizens. They embed parts in themselves to organize presence and movement of the human being. Movement in cities take place in linear spaces (roads, streets, and bridges).in modern urban designing, these spaces are acknowledged only as a connection between two points and quality of these spaces and presence of human being is scarified. In contrast, we can find many live successful samples of considering both presence of human being and transportation in Iranian traditional architecture like Khajoo Bridge in Isfahan. In spite of extensive changes in the city, this structure has managed efficaciously to survive and preserve its dynamicity. As we mentioned before we have tried to analyze the reasons behind this accomplishment according to the famous social theories of Jan Gehl’s. considering Gehl’s criteria (protection, comfort, joy) and different behaviors and traditions happened in Khajoo bridge, it is concluded that the main reason behind the liveliness and prosperity of khajoo bridge during centuries is its joyous-entertaining-life giving characteristics, which is compatible with the third of Gehl’s criteria(joy).

This joyous-entertaining-life giving approach witnessed in the design and physical features of the bridge, in fact reflects a need to have a place for festivals and royal ceremonies in the Safavid epoch and this joyous feature is well preserved in many years.

The most precious point in the design of the Khajoo Bridge is the credit it gives to pedestrian. A human that thinks, walks and watch. A human that rests and enjoys. These considerations, foreseen in the design of the Khajoo Bridge, are a great guide in design and construction of new bridges. In addition to joyous-entertaining-life giving approach of the Khajoo Bridge, there are other important attentions that are employed in the design of the Khajoo Bridge should be utilized in the design of other cases:

• finding proper location of construction
• finding proper transportation points
• considering different roots of passage, especially for pedestrian walk.
• having a wide field of view and landscape.
• Considering scales optimized for human being.
• Versatility of the space.
• functional adaptability.
• predicting suitable urban furniture.
• considering cultural issues in designing.
• making the entertainment facilities available to general population.
• considering historical and cultural identity, to create a memorable and impressive work.
• giving true identity to city spaces through suitable urban furniture.
• Boosting sense of  protection and security with the  help of lighting systems, police force, fascinate   the visitors through various programs ( to keep the bridge always crowded) and avoiding creation of  dark and hidden spaces.

To sum up, we should repeat that only adoptable, flexible and dynamic traditions will survive amid daily changes of life.

Acknowledgments

With especial thanks to Dr. M.A.Ghodsi Rad.

¹Jan Gehl

²Taking photos was done in two ways: A- a camera was installed on high point without causing any attention and photos were taken every ten seconds. B- The authors stood among the crowd and started taking the photos with high speed.

³Entertainment includes category of voluntarily actions with the aim of enjoyment.( Vafa., 1993)

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