Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Monib Talebi ¹
• Nina Ghaslani ²
• Atoosa Hassani ³
• Mehrdad Yousefzamani ⁴

¹ Department of architecture, faculty of architecture and urbanism, Shahid Beheshti University

² Department of architecture, Faculty of architecture and urbanism, Shahid beheshti University

³ Department of architecture, Faculty of architecture and urbanism, Shahid Beheshti University

⁴ Department of architecture, Faculty of art and architecture, University of kurdistan

Abstract

Traditional bazaars in Iranian cities function not only as infrastructures for everyday commodity exchange but also as complex lifeworlds saturated with social relations, memory, and multisensory experience. In recent decades, the introduction of modern retail elements—particularly the glass storefront—has posed new challenges to these lifeworlds. Focusing on the traditional bazaar of Sanandaj, this study seeks to understand the lived experience of the shop window in this context and to interpret its relationship with the spatial–social logic of the bazaar. The research adopts a hermeneutic phenomenological approach inspired by Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with sixteen participants, complemented by field observations and systematic note-taking on spatial conditions and behavioral patterns in the bazaar. Data analysis followed a multi-stage process involving thematic articulation, the construction of meaning horizons, and the fusion of horizons between researcher and participants.

Findings reveal that the shop window in the Sanandaj bazaar embodies a dual experience. On the one hand, it is perceived as a protective boundary that reduces dust penetration, minimizes the daily burden of arranging and clearing merchandise, enhances product security, and to some extent regulates the excessive spillover of stalls into pedestrian passageways. On the other hand, it transforms the fluid threshold between stall and passage into a rigid and formal façade, diminishes the bodily presence and natural surveillance of shopkeepers, reduces the multisensory richness of the bazaar to a predominantly visual display, conflicts with the occupational structures reliant on tactile and olfactory engagement, and resonates only weakly with the lifestyle and mental image of the bazaar’s primary user groups—particularly rural visitors, low-income shoppers, and older adults.

The study underscores the need to avoid uniform, storefront-oriented renovation schemes in historic bazaars and highlights three key considerations: aligning modes of display with the nature of each occupation, preserving and reinterpreting the living threshold between stall and passage, and remaining attentive to the social composition and aesthetic expectations of the bazaar’s core users.

Keywords

• Traditional Bazaar
• Shop Window
• Lived Experience
• Hermeneutic Phenomenology
• Sanandaj

Main Subjects

• Urban Design