Cemeteries are an ancient reality, and while their basic function has not changed, their physical layout as well as the symbolic and emotional role within our societies has undergone profound transformations over time. The Oxford dictionary literally defines cemetery as “A large burial ground”. The meaning in the American heritage dictionary is similar: “A place for burying the dead.” The definitions of cemetery in both dictionaries significantly mentions the dead and dark side of these spaces. Not only these definitions but also modern zoning legislation on cemeteries deny their role as urban open public green spaces and their potential to contribute to human well-being. Decisions about cemeteries segregation follow two-dimensional land-use urban planning, without considering their relationships with other urban spaces and without a real understanding of human behavior. The usual process of urban development treats cemeteries as isolated singular function urban spaces, not as part of larger urban fabrics. This vision leads to the appearance of urban spaces without any urban design qualities.
This research was conceived to investigate the main process of urban cemeteries integration with cities and human daily life by biophilic approaches (based on Iran as a case study). It has the potential to make an important contribution to both academic research and planning decisions on the roles of urban cemeteries in cities and their response to human well-being. The thesis is based on two literature review parts concerning urban design assessment and biophilic applied methods. It highlights the necessity of intervention at different scales (urban planning, urban design, architecture, and landscape design) in order to develop an integration process of cemeteries. The case study of Tehran and references to international cases lead to address the general strategies and guides of this process in detail.
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