Identifying the Past Urban Signs to Promote Readability (Case Study: Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran)

A city must have some features and characteristics that provide comfort and convenience for the human. Urban signs have always existed throughout the history. Therefore, it is so good to take a step in promoting the aesthetic of image of the city. Reduction of readability in cities that seriously we are facing today is an important issue, because it causes the lack of understanding the mental map of the city and people won’t have tendency to travel in these cities. The purpose of this study was to continue the promotion of the cities’ readability and find memorable signs. The research method was quantitative. For data collection was used library and field researches by Excel tool as data analysis. The case study was chosen Torbat-e Heydarieh. The purpose of the study was analyzing the signs which do not exist, but they remained in the residents memories. The characteristics of signs were identified among literature review and determined by field research. Results show that location of signs along the length or crossing the main axis of the city enhances their importance for citizens. The most common signs of the city reflect the importance of the old signs and lack of the new appropriate structures to be known as a sign in both terms of application and visual aspects. This study provides recommendations for designing buildings by using the idea of the unknown signs or even putting names on the new structures which are built in the same place to remain in memory.