Kaveh Bazr Afkan - Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Central Branch, Tehran-Iran
Reihaneh Khorrami Rouz - M.A., Department of Architecture , I.A.U of Dubai, Dubai-U.A.E

The aim of this paper is to investigate the bazaars and shopping centers as public spaces. Given theweakness of public places and consequently the weakness of social interactions, today’s societies are in dire need ofsocial spaces to increase social interactions. Therefore, the review of these two as then and now’s urban spaces couldhelp solve some problems. Bazaars are among the oldest Iranian urban spaces, which are deemed to be the palpitatingheart of the Iranian cities, playing different social, economic, and other roles. Shopping centers are adopted from the20th Century’s models and are considered as an appropriate alternative for Bazaars for the modern human of the 21stCentury. Descriptive-Analytical research method is of the case study model, and Space Syntax Software was usedfor collection of data by library method and analysis. The results show that shopping centers cannot be appropriatealternatives for Bazaars and can be considered as centers for meeting economic needs. Therefore, these centers couldnot be considered as appropriate collective spaces and as appropriate places for meeting social and recreational needs.

PUBLIC SPACES, social interaction, Markets, Axial maps