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Tehran's Empowering Protean Spaces Sara Khorshidifard University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2014 Hidden in Plain Sight: Tehran's Empowering Protean Spaces Sara Khorshidifard University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Landscape Architecture Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Khorshidifard, Sara, "Hidden in Plain Sight: Tehran's Empowering Protean Spaces" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 705. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/705 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: TEHRAN’S EMPOWERING PROTEAN SPACES ! 1 by 2 Sara Khorshidifard 3 4 A Dissertation Submitted in 5 Partial Fulfillment of the 6 Requirements for the Degree of 7 8 Doctor of Philosophy 9 in Architecture 10 11 at 12 The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 13 August 2014 ! ! ! ! ABSTRACT HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: TEHRAN’S EMPOWERING PROTEAN SPACES ! by Sara Khorshidifard The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2014 Under the Supervision of Professor Linda Krause As a recent citizen I noticed Tehran’s urge for new kinds of public spaces. So, I initiated a dissertation that outlined a call for “protean space.” Cities need protean spaces as a means to empower people, places that offer social interaction and support—spaces that are safe, accessible, and intriguing. Protean spaces empower people to create places for personal and interpersonal relationships, make social connections, gain information, and build trust across varied networks. ""! ! ! ! My dissertation examined how planning and design practices can enhance the possibility of protean spaces and therefore increase their number. While my research concerns Tehran, all cities benefit from their creation. Professionals can foster the creation if they could consider the ad hoc ways people—over time and within a given site—create opportunities for self-growth and human contact. Tehran lacks accessible and welcoming public spaces and suffers from inadequate, inflexible, and expensive housing. To renew Tehran’s public spaces, my dissertation mapped Tehran’s marginal possibilities in unconventional urban territories, in the natural residues, ordinary streets, and domestic zones. There, I suggest alternative ways of recycling the city’s fragmented space to foster protean spaces. I studied alternative processes that could enhance and increase protean spaces there. The process draws inspirations from how Tehranis have made places, for example, in patoghs. The process can accommodate Tehranis with better protean spaces for future adaptations. Protean space opportunities exist at the intra-city residual natural landscapes: the leftover green patches on the Alborz Mountain ridges, half-erased river-valley corridors, and underground matrix of abandoned qanats. These sites are currently disconnected from the city’s structure and its people. Mundane sidewalks—readily available, fully public, and free of charge—are opportunity sites. Due to the deficiency and hostility of public spaces, people appropriate sidewalks as ad hoc meeting places, but most sidewalks produce uninteresting and clichéd experiences. Average houses are private sites with public space design possibilities. Tehran’s housing crisis has produced inadequate and pricey """! ! ! ! homes, often poorly constructed and of singularly uninspired design. Despite being unexciting and lacking identity, they offer leftover space possibilities between, below, atop, and inside that could be repurposed. "#! ! ! ! © Copyright by Sara Khorshidifard August 2014 All Rights Reserved #! ! ! ! Dedication ! This dissertation is dedicated to my mother, father, and my husband whose support, encouragement, and constant love have sustained me throughout my life. #"! ! ! ! Table of Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Introducing Protean Spaces ........................................................................... 4 Dissertation Outline ................................................................................................... 7 Research Design .............................................................................................. 8 “Tactile” ............................................................................................................... 12 “Abstract”............................................................................................................. 15 “Surreal/Reel”...................................................................................................... 18 Where is Tehran? ..................................................................................................... 7 Hostilities............................................................................................................. 25 Porosities ............................................................................................................ 28 Spontaneities ...................................................................................................... 31 Chapters Descriptions................................................................................... 32 Sources ..................................................................................................................... 42 ! ! Chapter I: Landscape................................................................................... 43 Unity of Natural, Man-Made, and Human Ecologies ................................... 44 Landscape Urbanism and Landscape Ecology ....................................................... 47 Features of Tehran Land: Patches, Corridors, and Matrices................................... 49 Tehran Landscape Possibilities ................................................................... 55 “Terrain Vagues:” Tehran River-Valleys .................................................................. 55 Flows: The Subterranean Landscape of Abandoned Qanats.................................. 64 Temporary Habitations: Leftover Patches on the City “Roofs” ................................ 70 Theorization: Creating Perfomative Spaces................................................ 80 Sources ..................................................................................................................... 84 ! ! #""! ! ! ! Chapter II: Street .......................................................................................... 87 On the Grey Zone: New Nodes, Corridors, and Linkages .......................... 88 Social Life of Tehran Streets ................................................................................... 91 Tehran Landscape Possibilities ..................................................................107 Porous Spaces ...................................................................................................... 107 Nested Spaces ...................................................................................................... 112 Layered Corridors: The Case for Revitalizing Lalehzar Street .............................. 114 Theorization: Sidewalk Cadenza .................................................................117 Sources ................................................................................................................... 122 ! Chapter Iii: House ........................................................................................126 Introduction ...................................................................................................127 Generic House: Description................................................................................... 129 Housing Evolution: From Subterranean to Generic............................................... 131 Generic House on Reel ......................................................................................... 137 Informal Economies............................................................................................... 144 Public Space Transformations............................................................................... 150 Tehran House Possibilities ..........................................................................152 Theorization: The Opportunistic House......................................................163 Sources ................................................................................................................... 168 ! Conclusions....................................................................................................172 Public Space Renewal in Tehran .................................................................173 Performative Landscapes...................................................................................... 175 Generative Sidewalks............................................................................................ 178 Opportunistic Housing ........................................................................................... 180 Illustrations....................................................................................................181 Performative-Landscape Concepts ....................................................................... 181 Generative-Sidewalk Concepts ............................................................................. 185 Opportunistic-Housing
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