A Comparative Study on Gardens of Isfahan and Shiraz From Sustainability View (Case Studies: Gardens of Hashtbehesht and Jahannama)

This paper will concentrate on the result of a research based on comparative study between two Persian gardens in different micro climates in arid regions. Sustainability could be observed in many aspects and elements of traditional Iranian architecture and landscape architecture, and this method of design has used to solve many problems for many centuries. Gardens of Iran have had special role to moderate hot and arid climate since many years ago and their design method is an appropriate strategy to create sustainable landscape in our today cities. In this research, the selected case studies are Hasht-Behesht garden in Isfahan, and Jahannama garden in Shiraz, located in two different areas in arid regions of central plateau of Iran. The research method adopted in this paper consists of descriptive-analytic and deductive analyses. By the analysis of sustainable and climatic features and characteristics of these cases, the main goal is to identify the parameters of creating green space for present and future sustainable landscaping with similar climates. Results confirm that the similarities and differences between these two gardens are because of the different microclimatic regions they are located in. At the conclusion part, the main characteristics of Persian gardens from sustainability view will be classified and recommendations for sustainable landscape design will be presented.