Pedestrian movement patterns in historical urban fabrics

The current study seeks to investigate the relationship between the distribution of pedestrians and the integration/connectivity of the street network and land uses in the historical urban fabrics of Iran. In this regard, three historical neighborhoods from the cities of Gorgan (representative of northern Iran), Qazvin (representative of the middle part and west of Iran) and Yazd (representative of the central plateau) were chosen as case studies. In the first step, the integrity and connectivity of the street network of each case were analyzed using the Space Syntax technique. In the second step, the pedestrian intensity was assessed via extensive gate observations at the neighborhood scale. Lastly, the land use patterns in all the above-mentioned cases have been explored. Analyzing the results using statistical methods, it was concluded that the overall spatial configuration of the streets in the historical fabrics of Iran is not a meaningful variable for describing pedestrian movements. On the other side, it seems that the pedestrians' distribution is mainly influenced by land use patterns. Our research suggests that this part of the "Natural Movement" theory which indicates the spatial configuration of the street network influences the flow of human movement is not applicable to the historical fabrics of Iran. Considering that the results in all three cases are quite similar, it can be argued that the findings could be generalized to similar cases of complex street patterns. The results should provide an appropriate reference for urban designers/planners, architects and policymakers dealing with traditional urban fabrics.