A Comparative Study of the Concept of Aesthetic Perception in Persian Gardens based on Environmental Psychology and Phenomenology Theories

Abstract

The human perception and cognition of spatial beauty within Persian garden architecture are fundamentally shaped by the reciprocal engagement between the individual and the garden environment. Historically, the design principles of Persian gardens—aimed at fostering a virtuous and aesthetic milieu—have sought to deepen this bond, largely by leveraging insights from environmental psychology. Nevertheless, aesthetic perception, as an epistemological construct, finds its conceptual genesis in diverse philosophical realms, most notably phenomenology. Despite phenomenology’s capacity to serve as a cornerstone for conceptualizing aesthetic perception, it has remained an underutilized perspective in architectural design.

By synthesizing the theoretical contributions of environmental psychologists and phenomenologists, this research aims to reconcile their findings to elucidate how philosophical insights can be applied to the aesthetic perception of the core elements of spatial organization in Persian gardens. This study employs a qualitative, descriptive-analytical (non-positivist) methodology, categorized as fundamental and developmental research. Through content and conceptual analysis, the study conducts a comparative investigation of aesthetic perception viewpoints, centered on the spatial constituents of the Persian garden identified via case study methods.

The findings reveal that the integration of these two epistemological domains clarifies the “nature and content of aesthetic perception” and refines the “structural process and hierarchy of aesthetic perception” in evaluating the aesthetic dimensions of Persian garden spatiality. For comparative purposes, the perspectives regarding the aesthetic perception of garden elements are categorized into four distinct approaches: “formal,” “phenomenological,” “symbolic,” and “perceptual.” The results indicate a significant divergence in focus: while environmental psychology centers the aesthetic perception process on the “functionality of elements and the environment,” phenomenology prioritizes the “meaning of elements” and the “lived experience of the environment” within the context of the Persian garden.