خلاصة:
In traditional Bazaars social interactions, parallel to economic and movement interactions, created a mixed urban space which was dynamic, lively and attractive to the audience. However, modern shopping centers and shopping malls are economy focused and void of variety of urban spaces like traditional bazaars. The presence of public open spaces and urban squares undetectable from traditional bazaars – called lost space in modern commercial centers – play a great role in supporting citizens’ social relations and interaction, resulting in the increase of social capital. This research focuses on two case studies – Bazaar-e Reza and Proma shopping center – in Mashhad. Therefore, the present article using analysis of the rigorous literature review, by presenting extracted theoretical framework in order to recognize influential constructs in supporting citizens’ social interactions in traditional Bazaars. Since in this research, a mixed – method was used, finally to examine validity of the research and also gaining citizens’ ideas, a questionnaire survey was applied toward utilizing inferential statistic – structural equation modelling by LISREL software. The results of this research reveal that the two spatial-aesthetic and functional constructs play pivotal roles in supporting citizens social interaction. In this regard, vitality and access – linkage as factors of spatial-aesthetic construct and inclusiveness and personalization as factors of functional constructs played main role towards supporting citizens social interaction. Finally the results of this study can be utilized in the formation of urban plazas in today’s commercial centers to provide a suitable context for increasing the social capital level in structure of public open spaces in the city.
ملخص الجهاز:
The presence of public open spaces and urban squares undetectable from traditional bazaars – called lost space in modern commercial centers – play a great role in supporting citizens’ social relations and interaction, resulting in the increase of social capital.
Finally the results of this study can be utilized in the formation of urban plazas in today’s commercial centers to provide a suitable context for increasing the social capital level in structure of public open spaces in the city.
After identifying the spatial – aesthetic and functional qualities, affecting social interaction in the past and present, two commercial spaces in Mashhad (Bazaar-e Reza and Proma shopping center) are studied closely.
Traditional Bazaar, the Main Platform for the Creation of Social Life Here we continue by the analysis of Bazaar squares as one of urban spaces present in the structure of the city, so that we can understand its spatial-aesthetic and functional features and qualities.
Independent and Dependent Variables Variable Constructs Factors Independent Variable spatial-aesthetic access and linkage Vitality Legibility Richness functional Personalization Robustness and Compatibility Safety and Security Inclusiveness Dependent Variable Social Interactions Social Participations Social Solidarity Social Trust <H3>Introducing Mashhad Metropolis (Case Study)</H3> With a population of approximately 2,400,000 people and an area of 30 thousand hectares, the city of Mashhad, which forms the capital of the urban agglomeration of Mashhad, is a metropolis at the national and international levels.
Therefore, the revival of such spaces with new spatial forms (un-detached urban plazas) in modern shopping centers, along with proper aesthetic and functional elements and their related factors can lay the foundation for the improvement of the level of social interaction in cities.