International Journal of
Architectural Engineering & Urban Planning
Sat, Nov 8, 2025
[Archive]
Volume 35, Issue 4 (2025)
IJAUP 2025, 35(4) |
Back to browse issues page
Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Nari Ghomi M, Momtahen M. Popular Architecture and Urbanism of the City of Qom on the Edge of Tradition and Modernity. IJAUP 2025; 35 (4)
URL: http://ijaup.iust.ac.ir/article-1-701-en.html
URL: http://ijaup.iust.ac.ir/article-1-701-en.html
1- Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran. , msnarighomi@ut.ac.ir
2- Department of Architecture and art, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.
2- Department of Architecture and art, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.
Abstract:
This research aims to explore the process of modernization of the city’s image—a topic that has not yet been critically
examined. The study employs an interpretive-historical method, drawing on publications, photographs, and oral
historiography related to both existing and lost buildings of the period. In the case of Qom, the obligatory modern
changes—such as cutting streets through the traditional urban fabric—could not entirely erase traditional conceptions of
the city image at the microscale. Revisiting the street façades of the early modern era in Qom reveals that the public
perception of the new phenomenon of the street was derived from the spatial logic of inner courtyards as well as the bazaar.
The baroque-style planning of the new city was exceptional within Reza Khan’s urban plans and had the greatest impact
on turning the holy shrine into the new city center. However, about a decade after the onset of this modernization process,
a popular trend emerged toward adopting certain modern spatial features. Thus, in this small city at the beginning of
modernization—and later a large city at its peak—numerous popular adaptations between tradition and modernity can be
observed, not only at the microscale and in façade design but also at the urban scale, where modern detached spaces were
integrated through the adaptation of traditional spatial patterns.
examined. The study employs an interpretive-historical method, drawing on publications, photographs, and oral
historiography related to both existing and lost buildings of the period. In the case of Qom, the obligatory modern
changes—such as cutting streets through the traditional urban fabric—could not entirely erase traditional conceptions of
the city image at the microscale. Revisiting the street façades of the early modern era in Qom reveals that the public
perception of the new phenomenon of the street was derived from the spatial logic of inner courtyards as well as the bazaar.
The baroque-style planning of the new city was exceptional within Reza Khan’s urban plans and had the greatest impact
on turning the holy shrine into the new city center. However, about a decade after the onset of this modernization process,
a popular trend emerged toward adopting certain modern spatial features. Thus, in this small city at the beginning of
modernization—and later a large city at its peak—numerous popular adaptations between tradition and modernity can be
observed, not only at the microscale and in façade design but also at the urban scale, where modern detached spaces were
integrated through the adaptation of traditional spatial patterns.
Keywords: Popular architecture, Transition of modernity, Façade changes, City of Qom, Pahlavi period.
Type of Study: Research Paper |
Subject:
Urban History
| Rights and permissions | |
 | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
