Abstract

Iranian traditional Bazaars are not just physical settings for everyday commercial activities. They are places ofcommunal life especially for women and provide the main daily sources of their outdoor recreations. Theresearch hypothesize that there is a serious lack of sensitivity to the cultural values, especially for women withinmodern Iranian market places. In this regard, the aim of this research was in filling this gap and describing therelationship between women communal life and urban public spaces. To reach the aim, this study was conductedamong middle-aged Iranian women within the Iranian traditional Bazaar of Isfahan (as the most public urbanspace in the Iranian cities). To increase the accuracy of findings, the data collection methods throughtriangulation were unobtrusive behavioral observation of women communal life within two selected settings,semi-structured single face to face women interviews (n=24), semi-structured focus group interviews (n=5), andtaking photographs. In order to analyze the collected data, a qualitative content analysis and descriptive analysiswere used. The finding of the research showed that the social settings of traditional Isfahan Bazaar are proper forwomen communal life functionally.

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