Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation Application Form 2012

Please return the Application Form to the Award Secretariat at [email protected] by 30 September 2012.

A. Profile of the Initiative

Name of City/Community: Name of Province/State: Tehran Name of Country/Region: Africa (Sub-Saharan) Asia and Pacific Geographic Region (Please East and Central Europe select and tick one): North Africa and Middle East North America Latin America & Caribbean Title, name and position of person(s) submitting: 1. 2. 3. Basic City Data: Population size: 8,500,000 people () Surface Area: 686.3 km² Population Density: 10,327.6 person/km2 GDP per capita: 11’202 USD Other: (please specify)

B. Background Information:

The lands of , which were once the village of Abbas Abad, were named after ‘Abbasgholi Khan’ who was one of the relatives of the Chancellor of Mohammad Shah of the Qajar Dynasty. In the beginning of the reign of the Pahlavi Dynasty, parts of Abbas Abad were transferred to the ‘Bank of Agriculture’ and parts of it were given to the Army. In 1960s, parts of these lands were divided and amongst different organizations for the purpose of housing and settlement. Two major north-south oriented streets were added to the site in 1970s, and two other major east-west oriented streets were constructed in the 1980s in order to improve the site’s accessibility and the circulation in these lands within the wider Tehran urban transportation network. Tehran’s has experienced rapid urban growth in the past few decades. Yet, the lands of Abbas Abad have remained a large and almost preserved land surrounded by dense urban fabric. Its development and planning became an important and large scale project in the scale of the urban district. Thus, the Iranian Cabinet approved a law for the establishment of a joint corporate company for the renovation and development of these lands in 1973. All the shares of this company belong to Tehran Municipality. The objective of this company is to develop, construct, and renovate these lands whose area exceeds 5.5 million m2. These lands possess great importance and significance in terms of their physical form and their historical value. It has natural hills and vast spectacular views alongside the hills of Kan, Pardisan, and . Indeed, the hills of Abbas Abad divide Tehran into two parts: the northern mountainous part, and the southern flat lands. Due to the importance of these lands in terms of its natural attributes, views and perspectives, vastness, and appropriate location, several master plans and detail plans have so far been prepared by various Iranian and foreign architectural and urban planning consultants. These plans have enhanced the cognitive and actual significance of these lands in the public view.

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The first plan was designed in 1969 by the Farmanfarmayan consultant group and the Gruen Institute. In this plan, Abbas Abad was defined as one of the ten major districts of Tehran. A modern city center with large and important administrative and touristic facilities were included in the plans and the parceling systems and their land use were revised. A large Mosque could also be seen in the design of the city center. In 1974, the great architect Louis Kahn proposed his plans for the creation of a grand political and administrative center for the Iranian Capital in these lands based on the principles of Iranian ancient architecture (before the Islamic period). In the same year, Kenzo Tange proposed his own plans for the formation of a modern and majestic government center based on modern architectural principles. In 1977, the British Consultants of Lawlin-Davis prepared another master plan for Abbas Abad. This master plan had the following objectives: -Establishment of a national center for the Capital -Formation of a new development center and model town The Iranian Government of the time (Pahlavi Dynasty) had ambitious visions for a new central governmental zone in the city, and the proposed master plans were amongst the greatest architectural and urban design projects of the time. After the Islamic Revolution and its cultural consequences, a large praying space and mosque complex was built in the southern part of the lands in an area of about 60 hectares. The conception and construction of such a large religious complex promoted the cultural and religious aspects of the land use of Abbas Abad lands. In 1980s, the Supreme Council of Urbanism (the highest authority for urban policy making) proposed Green Space and cultural facilities for the land use of these lands. Based on this decision, two new master plans were prepared for the making of a new and efficient city center. Later, the detailed plan was prepared by ATEC and ARCHLOG consultants. The new master plan and detail plan were approved in 1999, and the development and renovation company of Abbas Abad was charged for its implementation. In the same year, Tehran Municipality transferred the lands to different governmental organizations based on the master and detail plan. However, the supreme council for Architecture and Planning rejected the land transfers due to the contradiction of the Abbas Abad master plan with the Master Plan of the . The Abbas Abad master plan was officially canceled in 2001 based on Commission 5 of the supreme council of architecture and planning. The reason that the supreme council of architecture and planning rejected the Abbas Abad master plan was that based on article 13 of the Master Plan of the Greater Tehran, “Based on the opinion of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, The land use of Abbas Abad lands should be of green space and based on cultural programming of the land on national and regional scales”. Thus, the commission 5 committee, appointed Tehran Municipality to redesign the master plan and revise its land use. Basic goals in the latest master plan could be summarized as: Creating an identity for Tehran, organizing the administrative facilities of the Capital, providing land use with pratical, urban, and regional functions, providing green space and improving the quality of the natural environment of Tehran, tackling the problem of the concentration of administrative, economic, and touristic activities in the northern parts of the capital.

Title of Slogan of the Initiative (25 words max.): Renovation and Transformation of Abbas Abad lands into Green Space and Cultural Facilities on National and Regional Scales Start date of the initiative: April 3rd, 2008 Tentative end date of the initiative: May 20th, 2009 Thematic area(s): Banader Park (Naval voyages theme)

C. Summary of the origins of the initiative:

65 hectares of the land was transformed into touristic land use with the theme of ‘travel’. Several parks were designed including: “Water and Fire Park” (which comes from a slogan for life “To start and continue the life, one has to get into water and fire”) Banader park (with the theme of naval voyages and its social and cultural connotations): It must be mentioned that Iran has an area of 1873959 km2 and has 2700 km of coastline in the north and the south. Therefore, communication with the free waters and the naval culture is quite dominant in Iran.

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Flower Garden Solar system Park (with the theme of voyages into the sky) Eco Park Norouz park Digital technology Park Tooshe park

Describe how the initiative came about and what challenges or issues of sustainable development it is meant to address using the following lead questions as your guide (350 words max). In the beginning, the subject was raised in specialized working groups. Necessary executive and cultural infrastructures were provided. The connectivity of this vacant urban land with other parts of the city was established and the transport network was strengthened. Intensive sessions were held with other city organizations such as the organizations of urban water, electricity, gas, security groups, and urban services such as police stations, and.... Fortunately, all these sessions and challenges were overcome swiftly. Yet, providing the necessary water proved to be a difficult challenge which was overcome by dragging water from old Qanats (Underground water levels) which were already in the area.

1. Describe briefly the reason(s) for undertaking initiative including challenge(s) or issues confronting the city/region/community. Include where relevant number of people, enterprises or institutions affected. Abbas Abad lands have always grabbed the attention of different social groups due to the fact that these lands are one of the few vacant lands in the middle of the dense urban fabric of Tehran. Besides, these lands are amongst the most expensive lands in all over Tehran. Having an urban lung with a cultural land use has always been a subject to which specialized urban groups have been widely interested. Therefore, the master plan attempts to satisfy this need of Tehran residents to have a green and cultural space away from the everyday routine and hustle of urban life.

2. Describe the goals of the initiative in terms of desired change or outcome and timeframe for achieving the change or outcome (for example, change in policy, strategy, business model, technology, means of implementation, financing arrangements, measuring and evaluating, etc.) The main goal of this project is to transform these lands which are located in the heart of the dense urban fabric into a green space with high cultural facilities in order to improve the quality of residents’ lives. It has already had some very positive effects on the citizens including: - Formation of a social identity for the citizens for urban managers. - Formation of new relationships between cities and citizens - Sharing the everyday problems of the citizens and public participation in solving social problems. - Discovering real urban problems for urban managers - Devising new strategies for guidance, control, and offering services - Creating new economic and targeted professional opportunities - Providing new opportunities for the participation of private sector in urban projects - Using new construction strategies and modern knowledge of development 3. List the parties and partners to the initiative (specify public, private, non-governmental, individual, etc.) and who is or was the leading partner(s) and the role they each played. -Producers (raw materials and services) -Constructors -Contractors -Engineering Services Companies -Urban Services Companies -Tehran Municipality

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4. Describe the resources used for implementing the initiative including funding/financing strategy or arrangements and Include any significant contributions that are not in cash, for example, in human, technical or managerial resources. This project was exclusively funded by Tehran Municipality.

D. Summary of the innovation for the initiative:

Formation of new theme parks in the area has provided the residents with a unique feeling and experience while frequenting this area. These theme parks also serve as cultural facilities which enhance the cultural and social asset of the capital. This event-based urbanism is a new and unique experience in Iran. It has been designed based on local knowledge and culture and with benefiting from the best practices of other countries. There has been several challenges facing the project, but all of them were overcome due to the importance of this project for the citizens and the unique experience it provides for the visitors. Citizens’ interest in this area could indeed be considered as a long term investment for the economic growth of the area.

Describe the innovation for the initiative using the following lead questions as a guide (350 words max).

1. Describe whether the initiative should be considered evolutionary or revolutionary. Evolutionary would imply that innovation evolved over time based on lessons learned from experience and that the changes or outcomes are cumulative. Revolutionary would imply something quite new or something that has been borrowed from elsewhere but never been tried before in the sector or context in question and therefore bears a certain degree of risk.

It is both evolutionary and revolutionary. It is evolutionary in the sense that the current project is the result of long process as mentioned in the background section. Yet, the event-based urbanism is a new and revolutionary approach in urbanism in the modern architectural history of Iran.

2. Describe where the innovation is being applied, for example, in policy, strategy, implementation, financing arrangement, technology, governance and administration, planning and design, etc.

The main innovation is in the field of policy making since the event-based urbanism is quite new and unique experience in Iran.

3. Describe whether the innovation was inspired or borrowed from other experiences and how was the linkage with the other experiences made. Similarly, describe whether other parties have benefited or are benefiting from your innovation and how? As mentioned before, this project was built based on the local knowledge and historical background in Iran but it has also benefited from the successful examples of event-based urbanism in other parts and cities of the world. 4. Describe whether there was or is any obstacles or resistance to the innovation and if so, how it was or is being overcome. As mentioned before, there had been several legal and administrative obstacles from different organizations and also from the high council of planning. Yet, due to the importance of these lands and the unique experience that the new design provides for the people, these obstacles were overcome.

E. Summary of the desired change or outcome and how it is being measured

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Describe how the initiative, and in particular the innovation, is or will be making a qualitative and/or quantitative change and how that change or outcome is being measured (350 words max)

The qualitative and quantitative changes could be analyzed in two ways: 1-Long term changes; - About the long term changes, it should be said that with the completion of this project and other similar projects, it is expected that similar approaches and projects could be done in other cities. For example, the start of similar projects could be seen in the cities of Qazvin, Sanandaj, and Abadan. - The formation of a master plan can guarantee a better implementation process than decisions which are made rapidly and without sufficient study - Using new technologies and creating new spaces through try and error system - Creating a common platform for citizens and decision-makers foe solving the onstacles and problems - Raising people’s expectations from a entertainment space and the necessity for better decision making processes on urban and regional levels to meet people’s demands and expectations. - Creating necessary motives for investment and participation of private sector in urban projects

2-Short term changes; - Creating the platform for people’s participation - Creating working spaces with measurable and defined functions - Sustainable urban growth

1. What change(s) or outcome have you already achieved or hope to achieve. Please describe the nature of the change or outcome in, new urban quality of life, new levels of social, economic or environmental sustainability including new attitudes and behaviour, improved efficiency, effectiveness, accountability or transparency, etc. Please also describe the scale of the change, for example, primarily local, regional, national or global. The new experience that the event-based urbanism for the citizens of Tehran is a unique experience that could be expanded and replicated in other cities and adds to the vitality and mobility of people and contributes to the improvement of people’s lives in Tehran.

2. What measurements or metrics are you using to assess the change? Describe who is doing the measuring and who is using the measurements and how. A complete survey and interviews were done by different research institutes. These forms, questionnaires, and surveys are constantly reviewed in order to find the flaws and improve the overall quality of the project.

3. Describe any specific tools or methods that were developed or applied to improve the chances or attaining the desired outcome or change, for example, new working methods, new data and information, new incentives or disincentives, new means of communications and knowledge, etc.

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As mentioned before, scientific research, surveys, questionnaires, and interviews are constantly conducted to improve the quality of the project.

4. How does the initiative and its intended change(s) or outcomes contribute to a new image or reputation for your city or community? The new event-based urbanism brings dynamism and vitality to the city. It contributes to the formation of a more user-friendly city and enhances the emotional bondage between the city and its inhabitants.

F. Detailed description of the initiative and innovation

Choose any of the above headings or a particular aspect of the initiative that you wish to highlight and that you think best describes the reasons why the innovative aspect(s) of the initiative could be of benefit to other cities, regions, communities or parties (400 words maximum). The formation of the theme parks and the promotion of events in the city strengthens the city-citizen relationship.

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