Development of the Structural Relationship of the Garden and the City in the Spatial Organization of Shiraz: From the Fourth to the Twelfth Century AH

Historic gardens of Shiraz were considered among key elements of the city up to the Pahlavi and contemporary era. It seems that the formation of the historic core of the city and its development in different periods involved gardens, both regarding the structural relationship between the two, and also in the use of the garden and its elements in the body of the city. On the other hand, the garden site selection system is dependent on several factors that, in turn, impact how it interacts with the city. Shiraz was under the rule of four powerful states to the end of the Zand period. Thus, the main question of this research is what the structural relationship of the garden and the city was from the fourth century AH to the end of the Zand era. To understand this relationship, first “the place of the garden in the urban core,” and then “the role of garden-axes on the spatial development of the city” was studied by using historical documents, travel accounts, and reconstructed maps. Then, site selection system of gardens in the city to the end of the Zand period was analyzed, and their locations were reconstructed on the map. The results show that the interaction of the garden and the town is a reciprocal process in that the natural settings such as mountains, rivers, and water supplies, along with governmental decisions on town structure predefined the location for a garden. Reversely, the gardens defined the identity of governmental axes and guided the development of the city in its forthcoming periods, thus playing a key role in the spatial organization of the city.