The Effect of Landscape Quality of Urban Public Spaces on Place Attachment Case Study: Quran Gate of Shiraz

Articles in Press

Document Type : Scientific-Research

Authors

Fatemeh Rezaei

Raana Shaykh-Baygloo

Saeed Reza Akbarian Ronizi

Shiraz University

https://doi.org/10.22067/jgusd.2026.96439.1562

Abstract

Urban public spaces serve as arenas for individual presence and social interactions, playing a significant role in fostering a sense of attachment, place identity, and enhancing the overall quality of life. The urban landscape represents the first level of interaction between citizens and the city environment, influencing how people perceive their surroundings and develop a sense of belonging to urban spaces.

Quran Gate in Shiraz is one such public urban space that, due to its unique visual and functional characteristics, holds a distinct identity and significance for both residents and tourists. This study aims to assess the impact of the landscape quality of the Quran Gate environment on citizens’ place attachment. The statistical population comprised Shiraz residents aged over 18 who had visited the site at least once for leisure purposes. Data were collected via a questionnaire from a sample of 389 participants and analyzed using one-sample t-tests, linear regression, and one-way ANOVA in SPSS. The results indicate that, from the citizens’ perspective, the landscape quality of Quran Gate across five dimensions: physical, functional, aesthetic, perceptual, and symbolic was above average. Residents also reported a relatively high level of place attachment to the site. Furthermore, findings revealed a significant positive effect of landscape quality on place attachment, with approximately 54% of the variance in citizens’ place attachment to Quran Gate explained by differences in landscape quality. The present research introduces the Quran Gate and its surrounding environment as an urban public space, whose landscape quality, according to citizens, is at an acceptable level. As a result, it has been able to create or strengthen individuals' sense of place attachment.

Keywords

Urban public spaces

Urban landscape

Place attachment

Environment quality

Quran Gate of Shiraz

Subjects

• urban planinnin

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