Identifying the DNA of Event Places in Urban Spaces Case study: Tajrish Neighborhood, Tehran City

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Elham Khazaei 1
Maryam Ostadi 2
Fatemeh Mohammadnia Gharaie 3
Mohamadreza Pourjafar 4
1 Ph.D. research scholar of Urban Planning, Department of Urban Planning, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Iran.
2 . Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Department, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Department, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Iran.
4 Professor of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
10.48311/udd.2026.122236.82849
Abstract
Contemporary urban spaces have increasingly transformed into networks of transit routes; consequently, opportunities for lingering, social interaction, and the creation of a true "sense of place" within them have diminished. Nevertheless, certain transit-oriented spaces spontaneously evolve into settings for social events. This study aims to identify and prioritize the factors influencing the transformation of "spaces for lingering" into "event spaces" within the urban public realm. The research employs a directed qualitative content analysis approach, utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize the final indicators. Data were gathered from four sources: 24 in-depth interviews with experts and users; field visits to 12 urban spaces hosting spontaneous events in Tehran’s Tajrish neighborhood; documentary and library research; and reports from expert panel discussions. During the analysis, 183 initial indicators were identified; after excluding seven indicators with negligible frequency, 176 remained. Subsequently, through quantitative and qualitative content analysis and the consolidation of overlapping items, 20 core indicators were extracted, from which six were selected for AHP analysis. The results revealed that "spatial flexibility" (weight: 0.238), "proximity to transit and movement paths" (0.204), and the "presence of an attracting element" (0.198) held the highest weights. Based on these findings, the "Spatial DNA of Event Spaces" framework was proposed as an exploratory, context-sensitive model to explain the process of transforming spaces for lingering into event spaces in the Tajrish neighborhood.
Keywords
Space of pause
event venue
spatial DNA
qualitative content analysis
hierarchical analysis
Tajrish neighborhood
Subjects
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Urban Design Discourse
Volume 7, Issue 3
Summer 2026
Pages 1-18

  • Receive Date 19 July 2026
  • Revise Date 17 September 2026
  • Accept Date 22 September 2026
  • First Publish Date 22 September 2026
  • Publish Date 23 September 2026