ABSTRACT
As bodies of historical districts of Iranian cities became coordinated through historical, cultural, economic, social, and environmental continuum, they gathered a special character and identity. Those features diminished at some point in time due to various changes and because of thoughtless imitations of Western manifestations in urban planning patterns, in most cases are incompatible with the original Iranian identity. Cultural continuity is possible by recognizing the concepts and principles of organizing urban spaces in the historical cities of Iran and applying them in the design of new urban spaces, to bring identity and originality back to the local society. Kerman historical bazaar, originating about 6 centuries ago, is the longest historical bazaar in Iran. This study analyzes the historical district of Kerman Bazaar by recognizing the nature of its identity through phenomenological approach, examining the initial nucleus of the formation and its changes in time. The results indicate that the formation nucleus of the bazaar was north-south Kerman and the importance of the east-west sections of the bazaar were increasing over time because of the erection of the Grand Mosque and the Rayen Citadel. The spatial identity in the urban space of the bazaar evolved. Over time, the concepts about its form, function, and semantics, led to functional continuation of the bazaar spaces network, so that now it witnesses everyday presence of different social groups and continues its vivid economic life.
