Culture-led regeneration in a Persian historical city centre: A case study of the Karim Khan-e Zand Complex

In recent decades, the dramatic growth of urbanisation and modernism has had significant effects on historic city centres, the most negative of which is the phenomenon of ‘placelessness’ in the historical fabric. Therefore, urban design that maintains the historical fabric concentrates on the priority of ‘placemaking’ and aims to provide a ‘unique place’ in the city centre.1 Culture-led regeneration can enhance the symbolic centre of cities and improve the character of the area and the power to attract citizens, tourists and investors. The old and valuable centre of Shiraz, the cultural capital of Iran, is considered at the national and international level an appropriate example of how to use culture as the catalyst for regeneration because of its cultural and historical past as well as its iconic buildings and places. This research paper attempts to model the relationship between culture and regeneration in historical city centres. Questions addressed in this study include: what models can be used in the regeneration/culture relationship in historic city centres and how do they work? Which characteristics make Karim Khan-e Zand unique? What culture-led regeneration policies were used in the Karim Khan-e Zand Complex?