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Preface
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- Written by: adminudrc-en
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During the past decades, the urbanization system and urban settlements in Iran have gone through massive transformations and changes. These transformations and changes have led to a state of chaos in the spatial-functional and social organization of the cities, particularly metropolises. In the meantime, the boldest change was the rapid increase in population and the migration of habitants of rural areas and smaller towns to larger cities. In the past two decades, the population has increased from 49.4 million people in 1986 to 75.2 million in 2012; while urbanization has also gone through a rapid growth. This rapid growth of urbanization caused urban sprawl and non-balanced settlement of population in urban centers and thus shaped chaotic areas of different sorts. As a result, vast areas of cities throughout the country, particularly metropolises and large cities are areas that are labeled as obsolete, inefficient and informal settlement (marginal settlement). These areas and neighborhoods, that in the new terminology of the National Strategic Bill of Revitalization, Improvement, Renewal and Empowerment of Obsolete and Inefficient Urban Fabrics (communiqué No. 48601/74900 h 25/9/2014) approved by the cabinet under the name of “Target Areas and Neighborhoods for Improvement and Renewal”, has covered a vast part (nearly 15%) of the country’s urban area – 133,000 hectares – and a huge part of the country’s population (37%) – nearly 21 million people.
The chaotic condition of the cities has caused numerous issues and threats for the lives of the citizens, and has brought the quality of urban dwelling to its lowest. The impact of this chaos in different urban lands, in the form of inefficient areas, covers vast areas of the cities and a large number of city inhabitants suffer from the consequences directly or indirectly. The most important problems faced by the cities, particularly metropolises, in the country are:
Urban Poverty; which consists of low income, lack of sanitation-educational and social services, lack of fundamental services (infrastructure and superstructure) including healthy water network, power distribution and other infrastructural and healthcare services, security issues and many other inconveniences caused by urban poverty.
Inefficiency of Transportation System; inefficient mobility and urban dynamism in a structured and uniform urban order
Spatial-functional Inequalities; unbalanced and disharmonious development and unjust distribution of services
Identity Crisis; decline of values, fall of socio-local reverence, and ignorance towards preservation and protection of intangible-natural and tangible heritage
Low Urban Resilience against catastrophes and hazards, diminution of safety, and risk-taking
Qualitative Decline of the Environment; pollutions, water crisis, destruction of ecosystems, shortcomings and unjust distribution of green space