The role of implementing urban improvement plans in improving pedestrian access in ancient city contexts Case study: Kermanshah historical center Pedestrian life and social life of the city

The ancient cities of Iran have been peaceful, safe, and lively places where pedestrians and citizens experienced a kind of social life in urban spaces. Following industrial development and the spread of machine life, these textures have undergone many changes and damages over time. The emergence of new streets during the first and second Pahlavi periods has changed the overall structure of the old parts of Iran’s historical cities. It seems that these measures have caused many historical centers and the identity of the cities to lose their importance and quality due to the reduction of pedestrians and the rapid passage of motor vehicles, and the physical interaction between the people of the city and their surrounding physical environment has weakened and been damaged compared to the past. The general issue governing such measures is the pedestrian-oriented approach to intervention in historical urban textures in order to provide modern urban services to these centers more easily, while it is expected that an approach will be adopted in urban improvement plans to restore pedestrians to these textures. Therefore, the most important research questions are: 1- What challenges and shortcomings has the presence of cars in the old urban fabric created in its social life quality? 2- What approach can be used in the old urban fabric to improve pedestrian traffic in these complexes in addition to organizing the existing conditions? To answer the questions of this research, the case study of Kermanshah city was purposefully selected and with the help of qualitative research method, the opinions of citizens were collected and analyzed using questionnaires. Taking into account the opinions of citizens, strategies are proposed to organize and improve pedestrian traffic in the old urban fabric, such as what was experienced in the case study of Kermanshah.