Background
Type: Article

Space Identity of Yazd (Iran) and the Formation of Its Urban Civilization

Journal: Geography and Natural Resources (1875371X)Year: March 2023Volume: 44Issue: Pages: 81 - 89
DOI:10.1134/S1875372823010109Language: English

Abstract

Abstract: The geomorphological and topographic landscapes of Yazd (Iran) are considered; their study is effective not only for the dispersal or selection of one or another human activity, but is also one of the effective factors in the formation of physical structures of spatial constructions. It is revealed that the analysis of urbanization can be influenced by the conceptualization of phenomenology, because from this point of view the basis of development of human settlements is primarily a spatial identity. According to the theory of “lakes of the fourth period of urban civilization in Iran,” lakes are considered components of urbanism in Iran, and they form its identity. This study is intended to complement other geomorphological studies in this area by focusing on Lake Yazd, located in the large Yazd-Meybod-Siyahkuh drainage basin. The work is based on a set of archaeological, geomorphological, sedimentological, space, and syntax studies, as well as on field data. It is shown that there are individual lakes in the Yazd-Meybod-Siyahkuh watershed, one of which is Lake Yazd. It is established that, during the glacial period, the lakes merged and ended up in the Siahkuh desert. It is concluded that large cities of Yazd province (Yazd, Meybod and Erdekan) owe their urbanism to the spatial identity, namely the existence of these lakes, while the spatial indeterminacy of smaller cities (Islamabad (Farasha), Taft, Hezrabad, and Mehriz) depends on the water–ice equilibrium line. © 2023, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.