Historic urban cores represent critical repositories of cultural identity and spatial continuity, yet they face escalating threats from modernist planning paradigms that prioritize vehicular movement, functional segregation, and abstract urban forms. This fragmentation has severed the organic connections within traditional urban fabrics, leading to a loss of socio-spatial vitality and morphological coherence. Within this context, the traditional bazaar—once the fundamental socio-economic and structural spine of cities across Iran, the Middle East, and South Asia—is frequently marginalized or misconstrued merely as a historic relic. This research posits that the bazaar possesses an inherent, generative capacity to function as a “living urban spine,” actively structuring coherent spatial networks that bridge historical patrimony with contemporary urban life. The study addresses a significant theoretical gap: the lack of a systematic framework that conceptualizes the bazaar as a dual entity—simultaneously a spatial corridor for movement and a dense mass of built form—and models its role in creating multi-scalar urban coherence. To develop this framework, the research employs a qualitative methodology. First, a qualitative content analysis of 70 seminal theoretical and empirical texts was conducted to extract latent principles of urban form and coherence. These initial findings were then refined and validated through a three-round Fuzzy Delphi Method involving 12 expert urban designers and morphologists, ensuring scholarly consensus and operational relevance. The findings crystallize into a tri-scalar conceptual model anchored by 13 validated indicators. Structural coherence is achieved through principles such as connectivity, integration, centrality, mass-void relationships, hierarchy, scale, continuity, and permeability. Functional coherence is driven by mixed land uses, land-use compatibility, pedestrian-oriented access, and activity diversity. The macro-scale frames the bazaar within urban governance and flows; the meso-scale examines its dual nature as space and mass within the urban fabric; and the micro-scale translates principles into design directives for spatial quality. The major implication of this study is the repositioning of the bazaar from a passive heritage element to an active catalyst for sustainable urban regeneration. The resulting framework provides a transferable, theory-grounded toolkit for urban designers and planners aiming to revitalize historic cores and legacy commercial corridors—from the souks of Fez to the bazaars of Istanbul and Delhi—by fostering spatial coherence, enhancing resilience, and strengthening urban identity in the face of modern developmental pressures.
Ghalenoee et al. (Fri,) studied this question.