A B S T R A C T
This study investigates the mechanisms underlying tourists’ place attachment and sense of place within the historical Zandiyeh complex in Shiraz. Sense of place and the place attachment are central components to tourism and historic environment research. These components explain how individuals perceive, experience, and develop emotional connections with specific locations. These concepts enhance the quality of tourism experiences and help sustain the cultural values of historic environments. This applied research adopts a qualitative methodology and thematic analysis. Data were collected through open-ended questions based on experiential narratives from 61 tourists and citizens. The analysis included 138 textual narratives using MAXQDA software. The findings reveal that the sense of place in the Zandiyeh historical complex emerges from the interaction between two main dimensions: functional and perceptual–experiential components. The Functional components, including land-use, accessibility, and physical characteristics, provide the initial framework for experiencing the place, while perceptual–experiential components, including objective landscape, subjective landscape, meaning, memory, and sensory experience, play a decisive role in transforming a historic space into a meaningful place for users. The results demonstrate that enhancing the sense of place in historic environments cannot be achieved solely through physical conservation and the preservation of architectural values; rather, it requires simultaneous attention to the symbolic, identity-related, social, and experiential dimensions of place. Accordingly, policies for the management and regeneration of historic areas should move beyond the preservation of physical elements and focus on strengthening identity-defining features, improving environmental experience, and developing cultural and social activities.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Historic urban areas represent some of the most valuable cultural, social, and spatial assets of cities. Beyond their architectural significance and historical importance, these environments function as living settings where collective memories, social interactions, cultural practices, and human experiences are continuously produced and reproduced. They provide a physical and symbolic connection between the past and the present, allowing communities and visitors to engage with layers of historical meaning embedded in urban space. However, contemporary processes of rapid urbanization, modernization, and spatial transformation have created significant challenges for historic environments. The rising emphasis on physical development and infrastructure improvement has often led to the neglect of the perceptual, emotional, and symbolic dimensions of place. Consequently, many historic areas have experienced declining environmental quality, weakened relationships between people and place, and spatial identity gradual erosion.
Recent studies in architecture, urban planning, environmental psychology, and tourism emphasize the experiential dimensions of historic environments. Rather than treating places as static, these approaches highlight their dynamic nature—outcomes of interaction among physical structures, social activity, cultural meanings, and human experience. In this context, the frameworks of “sense of place” and “place attachment” are central to understanding how individuals connect with their environments.
Sense of place is a multidimensional concept that describes the relationship between individuals and their surroundings through perceptual, emotional, cognitive, and symbolic processes. It emerges from the interaction among a place's physical characteristics, its functional patterns, social relationships, cultural values, and users’ personal experiences. Unlike traditional approaches that define place primarily through physical characteristics, contemporary interpretations consider place as a meaningful construct created through human engagement. A physical space becomes a meaningful place when it is capable of generate identities, emotional responses, memories, and personal or collective associations among its users.
A sense of place extends beyond visual appreciation and architectural quality. It includes memories, historical narratives, cultural meanings, lived experiences, and emotional responses that influence how individuals understand and value a place. Historic environments are particularly important in this regard because they contain multiple layers of meaning accumulated over time. Their architectural authenticity, cultural narratives, and connection to collective memory offer individuals opportunities to experience identity, continuity, and belonging. Therefore, historic places are not only preserved physical remains of the past but also active environments where meanings are continuously interpreted and reconstructed.
Place attachment, as a concept closely to the sense of place, refers to the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral relationship that individuals develop with specific environments. This attachment emerges through direct experiences, social interactions, personal memories, and recognition of the symbolic and functional values of places. In tourism studies, place attachment has gained considerable attention because it influences visitors’ satisfaction, emotional engagement, destination loyalty, intention to revisit, and willingness to recommend destinations to others. Understanding how place attachment develops is therefore essential for improving tourism experiences and supporting the sustainable management of heritage environments.
Despite increased focus on these concepts, numerous studies examine sense of place and place attachment separately. Research often prioritizes physical, architectural, or historical aspects, paying less attention to how environmental qualities become meaningful experiences. The relationship between physical features, user perceptions, lived experiences, and emotional bonds with historic places remains underexplored. As the value of historic environments depends on both preservation and user interpretation, further study is necessary to reveal how the sense of place and attachment arises.
The Zandiyeh historical complex in Shiraz, Iran, provides an appropriate context for investigating these relationships. As one of the most significant heritage complexes in Iran, it includes several significant historic components, including Vakil Bazaar, Vakil Mosque, Vakil Bathhouse, Karim Khan Citadel, and Nazar Garden (Pars Museum). The complex represents a unique combination of architectural heritage, commercial activities, cultural practices, and everyday urban life. Unlike purely preserved heritage sites, the Zandiyeh complex continues to function as a living urban environment where residents, visitors, traders, and cultural activities interact. This combination of historical significance and contemporary use creates a complex experiential setting in which meanings are produced, and place attachment can develop.
This study specifically investigates how the Zandiyeh historical complex contributes to tourists’ sense of place and place attachment, contending that the experiential and symbolic dimensions of the environment are crucial for forming these bonds. It seeks to identify which environmental, experiential, and symbolic factors enable users to develop meaningful, emotional relationships with this historic urban environment.

Methodology
This applied study employed a qualitative approach and thematic analysis. Qualitative methods are chosen because sense of place and place attachment involve subjective perceptions and emotions that cannot be captured by quantitative data alone. These methods let researchers explore how individuals experience, interpret, and form connections with places through direct encounters.
Data were gathered through open-ended questions about participants’ personal experiences. The questionnaire was distributed online to those who had visited the Zandiyeh complex. Questions covered perceptions, emotions, memories, and interpretations of the complex’s parts, especially the five main components: Vakil Bazaar, Vakil Bathhouse, Vakil Mosque, Nazar Garden (Pars Museum), and Karim Khan Citadel.
A total of 61 participants contributed to the study, providing 138 textual narratives describing their experiences. Purposeful sampling was employed to ensure that participants had direct experience of the environment under study. Data collection sustained until theoretical saturation was reached, meaning that additional narratives no longer generated substantially new concepts or themes.
Narratives were analyzed in MAXQDA using thematic analysis. First, researchers reviewed texts multiple times to understand overall experiences. They then identified units related to spatial perception, emotions, environmental qualities, and meanings. Initial codes were created inductively to allow themes to emerge from the narratives, rather than from preset categories.
Next, similar codes were grouped into categories. These categories were synthesized into main themes that reflect key dimensions of sense of place: accessibility, function, physical structure, objective landscape, and subjective landscape. Environmental challenges, such as insufficient services, limited facilities, poor lighting, and functional issues, were also identified as negative factors for visitors.
Several strategies were applied to enhance the credibility and reliability of the research. These included multiple reviews of the collected narratives and the coding process, continuous comparison between the raw data and extracted themes, thematic consistency evaluation, and consultation with experts in urban design and historic urban environments.

Results and discussion
The findings indicate that the sense of place in the Zandiyeh historical complex is a multilayered phenomenon shaped through the interaction of physical, functional, perceptual, social, and symbolic dimensions. The analysis of the participants’ narratives demonstrates that no single dimension independently accounts for users’ experiences. Instead, a sense of place emerges from the combined contribution and mutual reinforcement of different environmental and experiential factors.
Among these dimensions, symbolic and meaningful aspects most strongly influenced visitor perceptions. Concepts such as connection to the past, historical identity, memorability, and culture recur in narratives. This illustrates visitors observe the Zandiyeh complex not just as historic buildings, but as a meaningful environment to connect with history, identity, and Shiraz’s memory.
The perceptual and sensory dimension also played an imperative role in shaping memorable experiences. Participants frequently referred to architectural details, visual qualities, environmental sounds, spatial atmosphere, lighting conditions, and human presence as influential factors shaping their experiences. These findings demonstrate that historic environments create meaningful experiences through multiple senses rather than solely through visual appreciation. The combination of architectural character and social activity contributes to the formation of lasting mental images of places.
From a functional perspective, activities’ diversity, accessibility, and spatial vitality were identified as important contributors to the sense of place. Among the different parts of the Zandiyeh complex, Vakil Bazaar demonstrated the strongest capacity to enhance visitors’ experiences. Its continuous commercial activities, social interactions, pedestrian presence, and everyday vitality transform it into an active and dynamic historic environment. In contrast, less active areas with fewer social interactions and limited functions provided weaker experiences of place attachment.
At the physical level, architectural authenticity, spatial coherence, and preservation quality were recognized as fundamental factors shaping positive perceptions of the complex. However, the findings indicate that physical qualities alone are insufficient to create a strong sense of place. Historic elements become meaningful when they are supported by human activities, social interactions, and opportunities for experiential engagement.
The findings suggest that the sense of place in the Zandiyeh historical complex should be understood as a dynamic process rather than a fixed characteristic determined only by physical attributes. This process begins with the perception of environmental qualities, develops through sensory and social experiences, and ultimately results in the formation of meanings and emotional bonds with the place.
A major contribution of this study is highlighting the dominant role of meaning in historic environments. While conventional heritage conservation approaches have often prioritized physical preservation, the findings demonstrate that the long-term value of historic places depends largely on their ability to generate meanings and emotional connections among users. Physical conservation is necessary, but without considering human experience, it cannot fully support the creation of strong relationships between people and historic environments.
The study also emphasizes the importance of social vitality in sustaining historic places. Vakil Bazaar illustrates how everyday activities and continuous human presence can preserve both historical value and social relevance. The findings suggest that historic environments remain meaningful when they continue to support social interaction, cultural practices, and everyday urban life.
Furthermore, the research reveals a reciprocal relationship between the sense of place and place attachment. Positive experiences contribute to the formation of meanings and emotional connections, while stronger attachment reinforces users’ perceptions and appreciation of the place. This indicates that the relationship between people and historic environments is not linear but continuously reproduced through experience.

Conclusion
This study demonstrated that the sense of place and place attachment in the Zandiyeh historical complex are outcomes of a complex interaction among physical, functional, perceptual, social, and symbolic dimensions. Although architectural authenticity and historical values provide the foundation for experiencing the place, symbolic factors such as memory, identity, meaning, and connection with the past play a central role in developing emotional relationships between users and historic environments.
The results suggest that the management of historic places should move beyond a purely conservation-oriented approach toward an experience-based framework. Such an approach should consider users’ perceptions, social interactions, cultural activities, and meaning-making processes as equally important components of successful heritage management.
The Zandiyeh historical complex represents a valuable example of a living heritage environment with significant potential to strengthen urban identity, enhance sustainable tourism experiences, and foster deeper relationships between people and place. Realizing this potential requires integrating architectural conservation with cultural planning, improving visitor services, and activating historic spaces socially.

Funding
There is no funding support.

Authors’ Contribution
Mahsa Sholeh: Scientific guidance of the article, supervision of methodology and analysis process, review and completion of scientific content, integration of the article text, final editing, preparation of the final version, and responsibility for correspondence and article submission.
Fatemeh Barzegar: Compilation and review of sources, development of theoretical foundations and analytical framework of the research, interpretation of findings, extraction of the initial structure of the article, effective participation in revising and finalizing the scientific text.
Sahand Lotfi: Participation in advancing research discussions, providing expert consultation during the study process, participation in evaluating results and scientific review of the article.

Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.