Exploring the Sense of Place Components in Historic Districts: A Strategy for Urban Designers and Architects

Historical fabrics are known as a national heritage and treasure which are full of spiritual and human concepts. However, we are witnessing that many of these historic districts are being forgotten, abandoned and destructed as the emotional relationship between human and its residing place is fading out. Sense of place is a concept which focuses on the emotional and internal relation between people and their environment. Sense of place consists of three dimensions, namely: place identity, place dependence and place attachment. This research is trying to identify the most significant components regarding the sense of place. It is assumed that by improving these components, a higher level of sense of place is achieved in historic fabrics. These components could also help urban designers and architects that contribute to the historic fabric of the city. Qualitative content analysis methodology was used to elicit the sense of place components from 175 studies. Screening of the systematic reviews and extraction of information on included studies was performed using a validated framework. Finally, the Delphi method is used to find the most related components of the sense of place in historic districts. The results for the physical factors show that the most important attributes are “valuable landmarks and fabric”, “form and physical characteristics”, “communal spaces and public gathering places”, and “visual harmony and unity of the facades”. The results for the set of activity factors show that experts were generally reliable in their responses. The mean value for “events in place” is 4.94, which indicates that experts perceived this attribute as the most influential determinant. Other important attributes are “social activities and interactions”, “proper roads and pathways”, “legibility and identification”, “land use and functional diversity”, and “accessibility and permeability”. In the meaning category, “vitality and happiness” is the most important attribute to evaluate the sense of place in the historical fabrics. “History and originality of the place” is then ranked second, and “aesthetic, beauty and arrangement” third. In the individual-social category, “memories and experiences of place” scored the highest followed by “cultural, religious and ritual ceremonies”, “mental imagery of the place”, and “awareness of historical values of places” (mean value of 4.24).