Sara Sadeghi; Bahram Shahedi; Bahador Zamani; Samar Haghighi Boroojeni
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: Contemporary commercial spaces fall under quasi-public spaces, which have long served as the physical platforms of social, economic, and ...
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Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: Contemporary commercial spaces fall under quasi-public spaces, which have long served as the physical platforms of social, economic, and cultural aspects for public life. Today, these spaces are not just confined to commercial functions; rather, they have taken on a cultural turn to turn into places for recreation and leisure of the young people and also social contexts for the formation of their identity and behavior. Also, anthropological developments have changed the man-place and man-man link in the place. In modern society, individual tastes are important, while modernism and change are recognized as the social values of the modern world. Changes made to commercial spaces, on the one hand, and the individual-environment relationship in these spaces, on the other hand, have affected and transformed users’ environmental evaluation criteria of commercial spaces, while creating new challenges and opportunities at the same time. Hence, young people are influential in public and quasi-public spaces, and they should be considered as a large resource in planning processes. The present study aimed to examine the environmental characteristics of contemporary shopping malls from the perspective of the youth by investigating Isfahan City Center Complex as the case study.Methods: The methodology of this study was descriptive-evaluative. Since people’s evaluation of the environment may vary from one individual to another, it is required to adopt a qualitative and exploratory approach to meet this goal. Hence, the present study used case study strategies and qualitative approaches. Data were collected in two general sections. In the first section, a self-evaluation tool was used for the free expression of beliefs and attitudes in the form of semi-structured open-ended interviews. Interview items and propositions were developed based on the conceptual framework of the study, encompassing people’s holistic assessment of locations, the length of time spent in these locations, their preferences within these environments, the driving factors behind their visits, and their suggestions for alterations, reductions, or additions to these places. In the interviews, purposive sampling was used and the interviews with the youth ranging from 20 to 30, who had visited Isfahan City Center Complex, continued in several stages until theoretical saturation was met. As for the validity and reliability of the study, library sources, field observations and two place- and individual-oriented behavior maps or behavior tracking, along with the interviews, were used. These non-interventional field observations were performed in a macro-level behavioral unit, for which behavioral mapping was provided for ten days with the presence of the observer at Isfahan City Center Complex in March 2020. Also, interview data were analyzed using Theme Analysis Technique and Atlas TI 8 Software, while observation data were analyzed by simple descriptive statistics.Findings: All open codes and categories were extracted from interviews and analyzed, as only the final criteria were provided in the form of findings following the investigation of indicators and field observations. These observations were collected for each behavioral center at three-time intervals, while group movements and behaviors were outlined in the form of lines in separate maps; after this, all tracking maps were outlined in the form of a combined map resulting from an overlap of single tracking. In the next step, the validity of the expressions made within the self-evaluation tools, the indicators resulting from responses and their divergence from and convergence with what occurs in field observations were examined and interpreted. Accordingly, the youths’ evaluation of the Isfahan City Center Complex involves a variety of physical-environmental, functional-activity, social-cultural, and individual-psychological dimensions. Each of these dimensions has indicators that sometimes overlap, and are finally presented in the form of theoretical models.Conclusion: Findings revealed that commercial spaces at Isfahan City Center Complex are affected by the environmental factors across physical, functional-activity, social-cultural, and individual dimensions. Consequently, these factors have reshaped the complex, turning it into a quasi-public space characterized by diverse social and cultural interactions. As a result, new commercial space experiences have emerged, particularly for young individuals. In addition, non-environmental economic factors, marketing and managerial factors, complex maintenance, sales festivals and customer affairs and services affect young peoples’ evaluation. Thus, planners and officials are required to consider physical, functional and social changes to affect the quantity and quality of mandatory, voluntary and social behavioral patterns in spaces. Considering physical structures proportionate to some voluntary behaviors, interactive social behaviors and social partnerships, such as creating spatial diversity, along with intermediary spaces and natural views, creating a system of interactive equipment and furniture to create official and non-official sitting opportunities, creating unofficial and flexible collective spaces using decorations, local elements and symbols for holding ceremonies, and establishing social, religious and national festivals and ceremonies, which conform to our culture in local market samples, could contribute to this goal. In this regard, it is essential to use collaborative approaches between young users and space officials in designing and planning contemporary commercial spaces, such as Isfahan City Center Complex. In the end, concerning commercial spaces planning, it is required to strike a balance between preserving elements from local cultures and historical spaces, as seen in traditional examples, and incorporating these elements into contemporary contexts.
