Townscapes of War Capital; Prioritizing Memorable Townscapes in Khorramshahr from the Dwellers’ Point of View

Townscape is an essential element in creating collective memories (i.e., memories people collectively share as a group in a city, affecting the identity of that city, the cultural continuity, and the relationship between generations). One of the collective memories -that have happened in different countries- in the war. A war that is fought to defend the homeland and preserve the identity, culture, and honor of a country is part of the valuable memories of a society. In various western cities, including Berlin, Warsaw, and Moscow, the scenes of the collective memories of the war have been reconstructed. Still, in Iran, although fought in an imposed war, these scenes have been less regarded. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the views of Khorramshahr dwellers about the impact of war townscape on the revival of memories of that period. It seeks to find priorities in townscape criteria on war-based memories. With the descriptive-analytical method, the present study aimed to express the applicable standards of the reminiscent townscape and analyze them in Berlin, Moscow, and Warsaw(in World War II). Finally, to study the townscape impact on younger inhabitants’ war idea -who has not experienced that war, the townscapes have been prioritized using a questionnaire analysis. The results indicated that battle scars on walls and beheaded palms have the priority and the Grand Mosque as the symbol of the city function has the second. The title, Bloody City, has the third one according to the dwellers’ point of view. Finally, some solutions have been suggested to improve the townscape of Khorramshahr, emphasizing collective memories of the war.

Keywords:

Townscape , Collective memories , War , Khorramshahr