Traditional Iranian cities have an orthogonal network of streets which does not conform to the maze of irregular, twisting lanes postulated for the ideal Islamic city. The grid system did not develop from an outgrowth of streets around rectangular religious buildings or from the orientation of Iranian houses to maximize seasonal usage, but rather it is due to irrigation systems. The orthogonal network of water channels corresponds to the slope of the land. Passageways follow these channels to reach various plots of cultivated land. Cities have expanded along the existing streets and water channels. The basic morphology of traditional Iranian cities was created fields and orchards.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.