Elham Madadi Kandjani (2018), Public Space, Identity and Cultural Values in the Development of Urban Spaces, Institute of Architectural Theory, Art History  and Cultural Studies; 1st reviewer: Anselm Wagner, 2nd reviewer: Eva Vanista Lazarevic; 205 pages, English.

Even though in the beginning, the category of identity in scientific fields such as philosophy, psychology and dialectics was focused on human identity and the recognition of its quiddity, due to the scientific and cultural evolution of the last decades, especially in the case of the human-made environment, its domain has been the transition to the territory of the human-made environment. In recent years, the identity of the human-made environment has been deemed as one of the most important issues in urbanism. During the evolution and process of formation and development in the 20th century, which was related to globalization, cities and urban spaces were exposed to impressive mutations and alterations. During this process, the past and present became separated from each other, and the problem of disconnection between the meaning of humanity and the environment was not solved. Globally and locally, the form of the city and the human-made environment became uniform, similar and began to resemble each other.
Despite the importance of identity as one of the qualitative aspects of urban life in cities which gives meaning and richness to the human quiddity, this complicated and expanded concept is still not taken into real consideration, especially in relation to urban spaces. When examining environments and urban spaces from a different point of view, there can be no doubt that there are some spaces which are creative and meaningful, as well as full of variation. By establishing a connection between people and urban spaces, a desirable living environment can be achieved. However, some urban spaces lack this ability and are not suitable for the individuum using these places. An appropriate urban environment in terms of quality might facilitates the public’s perception of the environment and eventually strengthens the identity of the environment and the means to establish it. However, this also depends on the cultural aspects and the lifestyle of the people, which may lead to a sense of satisfaction. Indeed, once individuals can recognize the environment, they will also be able to make an informed choice based upon the most desirable design concept.
The category of environmental identity is a factor in the strengthening of relations between human beings and the environment and improves the richness of activities in these relations. Regarding the various yet clearly connected levels of identity and the recognition of the principles and foundations of the identity of a community, a series of guidelines and criteria can be extracted which leads to design and implement identified urban spaces. In other words, one of the main ways of identifying urban areas is the development of design criteria based on the principles and foundations of the cultural values, and consequently the identity of the community.
In fact, this research seeks to evaluate and determine the quality of the environment in the process of its perception. Theoretically, the issue of the identity in this thesis will be studied based on the three basic elements of the human, the environment and the culture. Furthermore, the examples and instances of this issue concerning the three constituent elements of a sense of place which are activities, meaning and physical characteristics will be analysed. Also, in the phase of the theoretical framework of this study, criteria and indicators in order to assess the identity will be defined and applied. The current thesis defines the identity and the definition of this concept in relation to the built environment, sets the importance of the identity as a response to the human needs, analyses the processes and the mechanisms of its creation, evaluates the factors which are involved in the creation of the identity of the urban environment and assesses the criteria and benchmarks to enhance the identity of urban places.