Investigating and Studying Dispersal of Historical Baths of Tabriz on Dar-al-Salṭaneh Map

A city is a dynamic context, whose all components interact closely with one another; therefore, planning and managing the dispersal of land uses is of high importance. In past, considering the climate, culture and the needs of society, the architects managed to respond to the demands of the citizens by carefully planning the use of urban lands. Historical baths were among these major uses, which were very important in terms of social, cultural, and sanitary factors. Although these places have lost their importance nowadays, investigating and studying the dispersal of such places helps us determine the access radius, its effect on neighboring land uses and consequently the structural shape of the city. Thus, this study has been conducted considering the historical area, desirability of access radius of historical baths in Tabriz, and the level of distribution relationships between these structures, and other land uses based on social-cultural factors is studied as well. Documentary and library methods have been used to collect the necessary data and information. Tabriz’s Dar-al-Salṭaneh map is a document which the foundation of the research is based on. Abbas Khan Sartip Chenari had this map drawn in Tabriz in 1880. Using this map, the study results indicated that the most dispersal of baths (one-third of them) were within Najaf Goli Khan rampart, which was located in city center. The mean of access radius for historical bath of Tabriz was about 300 meters, and mosques were the only land use with at least one structure within the functional radius of the baths. In addition to the mosques, some other mosques and houses of famous people formed two other land uses many of which were located in this access radius. These results show the structural formation of the city of Tabriz influenced by cultural-religious beliefs and social principles as well as natural factors (mountain, river) which existed in that context.
Keywords: Bath, Dar-al-Salṭaneh Map, Dispersal, Access Radius, Neighboring.
 
Introduction
Having a correct understanding of urban space structures and social-cultural issues, designers of the past designed cities that brought comfort and satisfaction to their citizens. Historical cities (like Tabriz) express an invaluable collection of designing principles and rules which have been gradually shaped. It seems that investigating and studying these principles and rules paves the way to find out complex issues in urbanism. Urban design in the context of a city as a whole should be carried out with the knowledge of the characteristics and issues of various parts as components (Tavassoli, 2009: 18). Nowadays, the “land use” is a concept that helps experts study and investigate these components. Land use involves creating a kind of “ecological balance” and “social justice” in the process of urban development of the city and must respond to qualitative goals of human beings such as perception of beauty, sense of spatial identity and sense of belonging to the environment; Because eventually, these factors provide the ground for the “citizens’ comfort and satisfaction” (Mahdizadeh, et al. 2013:286, 291). Furthermore, assessment is one of the basic stages in the process of land use planning and its implementation improves the pattern of urban space and determines the optimum pattern for the urban uses. One of the most important indicators of land use planning has been the quality of access to urban land uses. The definition of access standard is the easy access of people to their desired places, such as shopping, medical care or recreation centers. Consequently, most of the geographers and planners believe that access to basic goods and service is an important indicator of quality of life. Access measurement is used by comparing the access levels of different groups of individuals and families in different places and situations (Gregory et al., 2009:1).
Access is influenced by land use patterns, and distribution of their facilities, services and quality is inextricably bound up with social welfare. We should bear in mind that if the best and most beautiful places, in terms of access and living conditions, are faced with a loss or lack of access to benefits and facilities, they cannot be enjoyable and useful for the welfare of the residents. The distribution of environmental welfare is not the issue of the present time; The distribution of environmental welfare is not the only issue; rather, it is influenced by the actions done in the past, just as future welfare is influenced by our present actions (Chapman, 2007: 123). The type of land use and neighboring of land uses and the way of having access to them, both in the short and long term, have had fundamental effects on road safety, travel attractions and vehicle speed.
Research Question: The main questions that we sought to answer in this study by analyzing the map of Dar-al-Salṭaneh are as follows:

According to the plan of Dar-al-Salṭaneh, what is the relationship between the number and area of baths present in a neighbourhood and the area of that neighbourhood?
Is there a logical relationship between neighbourhood land use, the number and area of baths?
Considering the fact that Tabriz is located in a cold and mountainous region, what is the logical relationship between the dispersal of baths and climate?
Around which neighbourhoods have the historical baths of Tabriz mostly located? and why?

Research Method: The present article has been compiled in order to assess and analyze land use in the historical baths of Tabriz using Dar al-Saltanah map (Table 1). The research method in this research is historical-documentary and the statistical method and AutoCAD have been used for analysis. The variables studied in this research are: access radius, the farthest and closest distance of the baths from each other and the neighbouring uses of these structures.
 
Body of Article
The main topics in the structure of this article are as follows: “introducing historical maps of Tabriz”, “investigating dispersal of historical baths of Tabriz in the neighbourhoods”, “assessment of access radius of the baths using Dar-al-Salṭaneh map” and “the assessment of social-cultural approach of the baths and its effects on city structure”. “the map of tarazel-fabouieh, map of fortifications, Tabriz and surroundings’ map, and map of Dar-al-Salṭaneh” are among the pictorial documents still available nowadays. Because of correct drawings and detailed information included in Dar-al-Salṭaneh map, this map was the criteria of our study. In order to easily and correctly investigate dispersal of the baths, the information of the map was presented graphically using AutoCAD. Using the information obtained from this map, the baths located in each neighbourhood, number of the baths in each neighbourhood, and the farthest and closest distances of baths from each other were given in a table. In order to obtain the access radius, the distance of baths from one another was classified and its statistical chart was drawn. Finally, neighbouring uses and the places located next to each bath was analyzed using the mean of the least access radius.
 
 
Conclusion
The findings of this study about the baths, which were obtained from Dar-al-Salṭaneh map are as follows: there were a total of 67 baths in the map. The highest dispersal of baths in relation to the area belongs to the neighbourhoods of Chahar Menar, Khiaban, and Nobar; these neighbourhoods had commercial-residential, residential-governmental, or merely residential land use. The whole neighbourhoods of Chahar Menar and Khiaban and a part of Nobar neighbourhood were located whithin the region of Najaf Goli Khan rampart belonging to the early Qajar period. The presence of six baths only in the old Bazaar of Tabriz shows the necessity of bath-Bazaar neighbouring. The placement of about one third of the baths in the region within rampart, which was to meet sanitary-social needs, is an indicative of high population in this region. Another achievement of this study is the access radius of 300 meters for an individual access to the baths – whether in terms of gender or age group. Considering climate of Tabriz, which is cold and mountainous, and also lack of riding access to the places in past, an access of radius of 300 meters for each individual seems logical. This shows the wisdom of planners and architects and their knowledge of structure of urban space and social-cultural-commercial issues according to people’s needs in the past, which brought comfort to the citizens. Another point which is worth noting is the formation of cities of the centrality of mosque-bath; because there was at least one mosque within the radius of 300 meters of a bath. This puts more emphasis on the function of baths in the past, which were used as a symbol of hygiene and sanitation beside mosques. In addition to the mosques, other structures which were within 300-meter radius from the baths included other baths, houses of famous people, Bazaar, and Caravansary. An investigation of the map showing the distribution of historical baths in Tabriz and its logical relationship with spaces and neighbouring land use, indicates urban development which was based on natural structures (river, mountain, topography) as well as social-cultural factors.