Defining the Relationship Between the Concept of Flaneur and the Experience of Modernity in Space_ Place of Chaharbagh in Isfahan

The street has always had a mental and conceptual life that makes it a readable object and full of signs. In this regard, the visible and public form in it, is the subject of flaneur who observes and perceives the street as a stage for showing modern aspects. Isfahan's Chaharbagh Street has also been associated with evidence related to the experience of "modernity" that makes the flow of the flaneur in it thought-provoking. A street with a cultural and social collection of the firsts that became a frame of seeing and being seen and was distinguished from other streets. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to describe experiencing modernity in Chaharbagh Street in the form of a historical narrative. Accordingly, the two main narrations are described and explained with emphasis on the two axes of the street and the flaneur. The method of data collection has been literature review. The necessity to address this issue is highlighted by the following points: Firstly, the need for a historical view of Chaharbagh Street in the context of a modern object and a point of identity and heritage which is one of the first roots of modernity in this city, and then the transformation of the modern subject (flaneur) and the suspension in the first presence, sitting and looking at this street due to the changes of contemporary urbanization. The results show that the obvious experience of modernity was realized in the Pahlavi era with physical manifestations such as theater, cinema, cafe, shop, and passage and three types of the public, buyer and avant-garde flaneur. However, these changes and innovations did not create a pleasant feeling for everyone and the modern appearances of the city and its street as a traditional city were considered strange patches. After the Islamic Revolution, the experience of modernity was formed in the format of large and cheap commercial spaces, as well as a new type of cafes and cinemas, which led to the growth of buyer flaneur, especially women. Modernity led to the expansion of the female public sphere and allowed them to develop a new and seemingly independent identity, a woman who was often confined to the private sphere and whose entry into the public sphere without a male companion was considered a disgrace, at least found opportunities to stroll. In addition, the public flaneur had more opportunities than the avant-garde flaneur and has been present in Chaharbagh as a spectator to see and being seen to this day. They use this place for hanging out, doing optional activities, making friends, having fun, and spending time. Also, with the re-emergence of Chaharbagh as a pedestrian street in the last decade, it has been turned into a cultural pathway, and it led to the formation of the adventurous flaneur in a state of resistance which is not aligned with its dominant discourse. Young people and adolescents who, on the one hand, seek to be seen beyond their social reality and, on the other hand, take steps in Chaharbagh to react to the existing order and conquer the public space.