From the passageway to urban third place: Explaining the capacities of third place in strengthening the economic resilience of urban sidewalk corridors (Case study: Sarzendegi Pedestrian pathway, District 2 of Tehran Municipality)

Boochani, Mohammad Hossein; Salehi, Mehdi; Bahrampouri, Azin; Saberi, Fahimeh; Samadi-Foroushani, Marzieh

doi:10.22034/uep.2026.575597.1841

From the passageway to urban third place: Explaining the capacities of third place in strengthening the economic resilience of urban sidewalk corridors (Case study: Sarzendegi Pedestrian pathway, District 2 of Tehran Municipality)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Mohammad Hossein Boochani ¹

Mehdi Salehi ²

Azin Bahrampouri ¹

Fahimeh Saberi ¹

Marzieh Samadi-Foroushani ³

¹ Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran

² Department of Urban Planning, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran; Mayor of District 2, Tehran Municipality, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, University of Eyvanekey, Eyvanekey, Iran

10.22034/uep.2026.575597.1841

Abstract

Urban planners have recently considered urban sidewalk corridors as an important tool for recreating public spaces. However, operating many of these spaces shows that their continued vitality and economic dynamism in the long term face challenges and, in some cases, involve dependence on urban management resources. This situation highlights the need to pay attention to the concept of “economic resilience” at the microeconomic scale and at the level of pedestrian-oriented public spaces. Meanwhile, the concept of the “third place,” as a platform for voluntary social interactions, informal relationships, and the collective experience of people, can provide an analytical framework for understanding the socio-economic dynamics of public spaces. However, the conceptual link between third-place characteristics and the economic resilience capacities of urban sidewalk corridors has been less explored in the literature. This study aimed to explain the capacities of third-place components in strengthening the economic resilience of sidewalk corridors. The research approach was explanatory-analytical, and its strategy was a case study of the Sarzendegi pedestrian pathway in District 2 of the Tehran Municipality. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with a panel of experts, and the extracted mechanisms were evaluated. Expert consensus was then reached using the modified Delphi method. Facilitating voluntary social interactions, strengthening collective identity, the spatial functional flexibility, and event-based programming were considered potential capacities supporting the dynamics of micro-activities and the relative continuity of economic interactions on urban sidewalks. Accordingly, by providing a prioritized conceptual framework, the research aimed to explain the mechanisms linking third-place characteristics with economic resilience capacities at the scale of sidewalks. The results can be used to guide the planning, design, and management of urban sidewalk corridors, especially in the exploitation phase, as an analytical basis for strengthening the socio-economic dynamics of these spaces.

Keywords

District 2 of Tehran

economic resilience

public space vitality

third place

urban sidewalk corridor

urban regeneration

Subjects

Urban planning

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