The Attitude of Tehran’s Citizens regarding Wall Paintings throughout the City: An Empirical Study of Disctrict 19

Abstract

The present study investigates the attitude of the people of Tehran (District 19) towards wall painting depicted in the public spaces of city.The theory of stimulus-response was used to examine people's attitudes. The conceptual model had three processes: attention, accuracy, and acceptance. Also, the functional, aesthetic, and identity effects of wall paintings were evaluated. A survey was used and the population of the study consisted of residents of District 19 in the year 2015/16. The sample size of 500 was calculated through the Cochran formula and a a two-stage sampling method was implemented. The results of the study show an increase in paintings of "Nature and Urban Life" more than any other theme. Attention and perception of wall paintings play an important role on the functional, identity, and aesthetic effects. Of course, the impact of perception component is more than attention. People's perceptions of wall paintings have been analyzed in three themes: "Nostalgic perception" (mainly wall paintings of martyrs, war, and officials), "religious identity perception" (mainly of religious paintings), and "critical perception" (other wall paintings).

Keywords

• attitude
• wall paintings
• painting acceptance
• stimulus-response theory
• district 19
• tehran