Purpose: Large-scale interventions are still the dominant approach in dealing with historic cities in Iran; however, during the last decade there has been a shift towards integrated and decentralised policies and a series of locally based projects were initiated across the country. Political and ideological forces, population growth as well as cultural and heritage consensus are influencing approaches towards urban conservation and heritage management constantly. This paper opens up the urban intervention approaches in the historic core of Shiraz and provides a deeper insight and better understanding of heritage management and regeneration plans in Shiraz as a representative of historic Iranian cities. Design/methodology/approach: The study explains and analyses major urban transformations in Shiraz. The main approaches towards historical city core are identified and the mechanism that shaped these approaches in national and local scale is discussed. This investigation primarily uses qualitative data sources. The study relies on multiple sources of evidence which result in the reliability and validity of the investigation. Therefore, primary sources include original documents, maps and photographs published in documentation for the projects, published and unpublished materials and archives about case study city and secondary sources such as interviews with consultants and authorities as well as residents have been used. Findings: This paper provides a more detailed explanation about several interrelated factors that affected the process of decision and policy making, planning and implementation of city centre interventions during the last two decades. Originality/value: This paper anticipates consequent trends in heritage management in Shiraz and recommends further research areas. The paper can be used to develop a more practical set of recommendations for urban heritage management in Iran.

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Bagh-e-Shazdeh in the Iranian desert, is a place outside: it maintains a distance from the realm of daily life, set apart in the landscape, while at the same time making the landscape manifest. Its enclosure enables both communication and separation: it articulates inside as well as outside, garden as well as surrounding landscape. The walls are the expression of a place that is both autonomous and contextual: the essential character of a garden. Enclosure is an ambivalent phenomenon: to enclose also means to exclude or to be captured, to divide is also a means to order and thus to connect. The boundary is there to be traversed, offering a choice between protection and exposure. Bagh-e Shazdeh exemplifies how a dialogue between confinement and freedom, outside and inside, accessibility and seclusion can give landscape spaces meaning as both part and counterpart of their geographical and social context. @en

This chapter explores two structural aspects of port-city interaction. First, it studies the evolution of planning policies on post-industrial waterfront spaces in the Netherlands before and after the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on the former shipbuilding company Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM). The RDM site in Rotterdam is a significant part of the old port area, and its submarine and shipbuilding legacy has always been present in the heads and hearts of the citizens. Second, the chapter explores how reawakening the nautical culture and marine traditions in Rotterdam can also reanimate the historical links between port and city. It briefly analyses the goals, achievements, and effects of a few heritage projects on the port-city interaction and the maritime identity of this global port-city.@en

This report summarises the findings of the JPI Heritage Plus PICH Project’s nvestigation of the impact of the reform of urban planning on the historic built environment. The project team conducted twelve in-depth case studies in Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK covering three settings: the built heritage of historic urban cores, former industrial areas and the urban landscape. The findings are more fully reported in three comparative reports which compare findings for each setting in the four countries; in four national reports which look across the three settings in one country; and 12 case study reports.@en

Iranian historic city cores are important parts of modern cities because of their valuable monuments and morphology but are also significant because of their population density, location and the major governmental functions they house. Since 1920, modernisation policies and urban development trends in Iran have justified spatial transformation and redevelopment and the demolition and destruction of traditional urban fabrics as a way to provide contemporary requirements and hygiene improvements for the residents. As the UNESCO recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape argues, historic urban cores can only sustain their role in the daily life of the city by getting prepared for and participating in this transformation process. Disagreement over the value of historic urban cores on the one hand and inevitable modification of urban areas in a developing country like Iran on the other, creates a problematic condition for the preservation of the historic environment. The Valletta Principles for the Safeguarding and Management of Historic Cities, Towns and Urban Areas states that historic towns and urban areas require an integrated approach including their “protection, conservation, enhancement and management as well as their coherent development and their harmonious adaptation to contemporary life”. In order to support the process of reaching a balance between these spatial targets in Iran, this research discusses the relation between urban transformation projects and their heritage context. In doing so it connects international literature on urban quality and traditional Iranian urban forms to contemporary Iranian urban design practice. To achieve this integration between urban heritage and spatial development, a framework of quality attributes has been developed to evaluate urban interventions in a heritage context. The three main pillars of this framework have been extracted from and inspired by international literature and guidelines. Place-making theories have proved to be especially helpful. An analysis of traditional urban forms in Iran and their main characteristics - especially for the urban type of the bazaar – has provided a list of specific and relevant parameters. The framework has been tested by evaluating two case studies in Shiraz that illustrate two different approaches to heritage intervention on an urban level. The outcome has led to modification of the framework and new research questions. @en