Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Marand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marand, Iran
2 Professor of Geography and Urban Planning, University of Tabriz
Abstract
Introduction
Since the second half of the twentieth century, the tourism industry is known as the third economic industry due to the globalization and development of modern transportation and communication means (Oila et al., 2012: 596). Therefore, in 2005, the World Bank considered this industry a dynamic industry by creating 214 million job opportunities and producing 10.5% of the global GDP (Choi and Sir Kaya, 2006: 127). Furthermore, in the past decades, cities were considered as one of the most significant tourism destinations among tourists (Edvard et al., 2008: 1032), following which, urban tourism was investigated by many scholars (Potof, 2006:15). The historical-cultural contexts in the cities make these centers one of the main tourism destinations. The old and ancient context of the cities has an exclusive place in the urban space and functional structure due to the historical value and historically valuable elements, the proper transportation position, and location in the city’s main bazaar and its economic core, etc. (Pourahmad et al., 2010: 74). Considering the architectural, social, and environmental conditions of the city, the historical centers indicate a community's social and cultural life (Moosavi, 2011: 111). The Iranian cities with the historical- traditional contexts, are considered the undeniable fact that enjoys a historical background; an element and area of the city that lived not a long time ago and welcomed the travels and material and spiritual exchanges of people back then (Habibi, 2010:55). Since the economy of the historical center of the city is formed and revived by tourism activities, the regeneration of the historical centers and bringing back the superior and excellent functions to these spaces is necessary with respect to the regeneration approach (Azimi et al., 2011: 76). Regeneration has been emerged as a response to the reduction of urban issues and is applied in the areas that are being destroyed (Egercioglu et al., 2015: 330). Nowadays, due to the lack of urban life, most of the historical contexts of Iran are being demolished.
Methodology
The current study is applied in terms of purpose and analytical-descriptive in terms of nature. The data collection method is also the documentary-survey method. By studying the research literature and the relevant texts to the regeneration of the cultural-historical texture, the considered criteria were extracted. Then, the effect of the functional-space variables of the regeneration of the cultural-historical context in the tourism development was gathered using the survey method (distributing questionnaire). Using the Friedman Ranking Test, One-sample T-test (to prioritize the study indicators and their effectiveness in the tourism development), and Multivariate regression tests and path analysis (to evaluate and predict the effects of indicators in the tourism development in the future as well as the direct and indirect effects of the functional-space indicators of the regeneration in the tourism development), the impact of the functional-space variables of the regeneration of the historical-cultural context in tourism development was evaluated. Also, to calculate the data reliability, Cronbach’s alpha was used for its popularity, and the alpha coefficient was obtained at 0.756. It is noteworthy that the statistical population of research consists of the managers and experts of the urban issues of District 8 and other municipalities of Tabriz Metropolitan (1400). The sample size was obtained 220 using Cochran’s formula p=q=0.5 and an error value of 0.06 (d).
The results obtained from data analysis show that the most functional-space impacts of the regeneration of the historical-cultural context on urban tourism development are as follows: conservation and restoration of the historical area (conservation of the valuable body and facades, restoration and reconstruction of the entrance gates), restoration of the man structure of the historical center (the main squares, streets, symbolic buildings, etc.); the use of the proper materials and colors regarding the texture, increasing the safety in context and historical buildings with the numerical average of 4.73, 4.54, and 4.37, and the ordinal average of 19.63, 17.43, and 16.07, respectively. The Chi-square test also indicates the correlation of the studied variables at the confidence level of 99%. Multivariate regression method was used to identify and predict the functional-space impact of the regeneration of the historical-cultural context on the urban tourism development. According to R or multiple correlation coefficient in the Table below, it can be said that there is a considerable correlation between the variables. R Square or determination coefficient is the squared correlation coefficient that indicates the variance and the variations of the dependent variable by a set of independent variables. The value of this coefficient is also between zero to 1 variable. The more it declines towards 1, it indicates that the independent variables have been able to explain a large amount of variance of the dependent variable. According to the above, the value of the determination coefficient value is acceptable in the present equation as it indicates the variance of the dependent variable. On the other hand, based on its value, it can be said that it can explain the variance of the dependent variable to a great extent. Adjusted R square in the Table below indicates that 6 variables are appropriate in this model to evaluate the functional-space impacts of the regeneration of the historical-cultural context on urban tourism development. For example, the adjusted coefficient value in improving the quality of the space organization and physical structure of the context explains 90% of the urban tourism development, and the rest of these variations is the result of the external factors of the model, known as the square error.
Discussion and Conclusion
District 8 of Tabriz Municipality, as the old and historical area of Tabriz Metropolitan, must be considered as a symbol to preserve the Iranian and Islamic culture and civilization and history of Tabriz and Iran due to the historical mosques and buildings as well as the Grand Bazaar of Tabriz with the age of more than thousands years. To improve the cultural-historical spaces in line with urban tourism development, nowadays, the regeneration of the contexts plays a significant and influential role. In this regard, the present study aimed to evaluate the functional-space impacts of the regeneration of the historical-cultural context on urban tourism development. The results indicate that improving the quality of the space organization and physical structure of the texture, the organization of the land uses of the area considering its function and role, and development of green public transportation are the most significant functional-space impacts of the regeneration of the cultural-historical context of Tabriz metropolitan on the urban tourism development. Also, the secondary indicators affecting the urban tourism development influenced by the functional-space impact of regeneration are as follows: physical conservation and restoration of the historical area, the restoration of the main structure of the historical texture, the use of the materials and colors in proportion with the texture, increasing the safety in context and historical buildings. Therefore it can be said that the regeneration of the historical-cultural context with an emphasis on the functional-space indicators is the influential factor in the urban tourism development of Tabriz Metropolitan, leading to improving the place and quality of the environment of the historical neighborhoods in the vicinity of Bazaar through directing the interventions in two external (urban edges) and internal (residential structure) levels to attract the tourist, establishing a physical-space and communication relationship between the neighborhoods and the commercial centers and creating the walking paths for tourists’ access to the commercial centers and tourism elements, activating the internal core by creating the new activities and spaces and not merely restoration of some buildings to specify the indicators of the tourism elements, creating the compatibility between the activities with respect to the context and tourism development, and completing the infrastructural network and tourism infrastructures. The regeneration cannot be realized depending on the measures of the public sector and to achieve sustainability and development of urban tourism due to the regeneration of the studied texture, the participation of the private and public sector along with the public sector is one of the most important strategies to achieve success in this field. Comparison of the research results with other studies indicates that the most similar research to the current research is a research conducted by Tissel (1996) and Gominska (2015) that addressed restoration strategies of the historical contexts to achieve sustainability in terms of different indicators. Other conducted studies either described the features and issues of cultural and heritage tourism or addressed historical tourism quality in different places.
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