Industrial and mining development in resource-based cities frequently disrupts the historical spatial organization and place identity of these urban settlements. The city of Sirjan, historically significant as a caravan trade junction with a place-based spatial structure centered on its bazaar axis, entered a new phase of sudden population growth with the establishment of the Gol-e Gohar industrial-mining complex beginning in the 1990s (1370s SH). This study aims to explain the role of mining development in the transformation of spatial organization and local community demands in Sirjan, and to propose a framework for place-based tourism planning, addressing the question of how place-based development can influence tourism planning.

Data were collected through a combination of library-based studies and field research, including observation and open interviews with residents and Gol-e Gohar personnel during a research field trip conducted by the Nazar Research Institute to Sirjan (2025/1404 SH).

The findings indicate that Gohar Park, as the complex's most significant tourism project, is alienated from the city's context in climatic, economic, cultural-identity, and semantic dimensions; despite its large scale, it fails to respond to the genuine demand of the local community for accessible, inclusive leisure space. In contrast, the city's historical in-fabric capacities—the bazaar axis, caravanserais, inns (saras), and restored historical buildings—provide a natural foundation for a place-based approach. Accordingly, this study proposes a framework grounded in four principles—endogeneity, inclusivity, local community participation, and the reinforcement of place identity—for tourism planning in Sirjan. Realizing this framework, alongside the redefinition of a ritual pathway anchored in the bazaar axis, also requires enhancing residents' "landscape literacy."