ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN POOYA ALAEDINIruuwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/National-Report-IRofIran-201… · The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

FROM SHELTER TO REGENERATION

SLUM UPGRADING AND HOUSING POLICIES IN


POOYA ALAEDINI

FARZIN FARDANESH

Kermanshah City, Western Iran

The Historic Fabric Grows around Religious Buildings

Cover Photo: Historic Fabric of Birjand, Capital City of South Khorasan Province, Iran


FROM SHELTER TO REGENERATION SLUM UPGRADING AND HOUSING POLICIES IN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

2014

From Shelter to Regeneration: Slum Upgrading and Housing Policies in Islamic Republic of Iran Pooya Alaedini and Farzin Fardanesh Published and distributed by Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation PO Box: 19395-4339, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran First Published: 2014 ISBN: 978-964-8921-09-0 Price: US$79.95 Disclaimer The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this publication. Opinions expressed are not necessarily reflective of any official Government position. Designations employed do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, authority, or boundary delimitation. Reproduction of the text is authorised, provided that appropriate reference is made to the source and copies are sent to UDRO.

In the Name of God,

the Compassionate, the Merciful

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Acronyms and Abbreviations APMCHUD Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development CBI Central Bank of Iran FYDP Five Year Development Plan HCAUP Higher Council for Architecture and Urban Planning HFIR Housing Foundation of Islamic Revolution ICHHTO Iranian Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation IRR Islamic Republic of Iran Rial MHP Mehr Housing Plan MHUD Ministry of Housing and Urban Development MO Municipalities Organisation MoI Ministry of Interior MRUD Ministry of Roads and Urban Development NLHO National Land and Housing Organisation NTDC New Towns Development Corporation SCI Statistical Centre of Iran TCRO Tehran City Renovation Organisation UDRO Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation ULO Urban Land Organisation UNCHS United Nations Human Settlements Centre UNDP United Nations Development Programme UN-Habitat United Nations Human Settlements Programme UUHRP Urban Upgrading and Housing Reform Project RSUWG Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group

Note on Conversion of Dates Iran uses the solar Hijri calendar in which the New Year starts on 21st of March. Thus, each Iranian calendar year corresponds to two consecutive years in the Gregorian calendar. For example, 1391 in the Iranian calendar corresponds to 10 months in 2012 CE and 2 months in 2013 CE. In the present text, we either employ a single Gregorian year by adding 621 to the Iranian year or use both corresponding years in the Gregorian calendar.

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MINISTRY OF ROADS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND REVITALISATION ORGANISATION

Secretariat for Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group,

Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development Mohammad Saeid Izadi Deputy Minister and Managing Director, UDRO

Majid Rousta Board Member, UDRO

Secretary, Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group, APMCHUD

Babak Pirouz Advisor, Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group, APMCHUD

Nariman Motstafayi Director General, National Sustainable Urban Regeneration Taskforce Department, UDRO

Zahra Eskandari Dorbati Director General, Planning and Budget Department, UDRO

Mona Erfanian Director General, Applied Research Department, UDRO

Farhad Gholizadeh Director General, Implementation Supervision Department, UDRO

Niloofar Mosleh Officer, Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group, APMCHUD

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Authors Pooya Alaedini University of Tehran

Farzin Fardanesh Shahid Beheshti (National) University

Peer Reviewers Mozaffar Sarrafi Shahid Beheshti (National) University

Guiti Etemad Tarh va Memary Consulting Engineers

Mehrdad Javaheripour Islamic Azad University

Other Contributors Babak Pirouz

Abbas Mokhber

Afshin Mirzababaei

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CONTENTS Foreword.............. ................................................................................................. xi

Preface.................. ............................................................................................. xvii

Executive Summary ........................................................................................... xix

Chapter I. Introduction .................................................................................... 3

A. Historical Background ............................................................................. 3 1 Brief history ................................................................................................ 3 2 Post-revolutionary directions ...................................................................... 6

B. Economic and Social Development ........................................................ 6 1 Level of development ................................................................................. 7 2 Poverty and inequality ................................................................................ 7 3 Main features of economy .......................................................................... 8

C. Geography, Population and Urbanisation ............................................ 10 1 Geography ............................................................................................... 11 2 Demographic characteristics .................................................................... 11

Notes ........................................................................................................... 16 Chapter II. Governance and Planning ........................................................... 19

A. Governance Structure ............................................................................ 19 1 Government structure and urban development ........................................ 20 2 International assistance ............................................................................ 24

B. Local Governance Structures ............................................................... 24 1 City councils ............................................................................................. 25

C. Planning Structure ................................................................................. 27 1 National plans ........................................................................................... 27

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First Five Year Development Plan .............................................................. 27 Second and Third Five Year Development Plans ....................................... 28 Fourth Five Year Development Plan ........................................................... 29 Fifth Five Year Development Plan .............................................................. 30

2 Urban plans .............................................................................................. 31 Higher Council for Architecture and Urban Planning (HCAUP) ................... 31 Physical plans ............................................................................................. 33 Notes ........................................................................................................... 34

Chapter III. Housing and Shelter Policies...................................................... 37

A. Overview................ ................................................................................. 37

B. Typologies of Housing .......................................................................... 38 1 Vulnerability to natural disasters .............................................................. 38

C. National Building Code .......................................................................... 41

D. Housing Needs and Supply ................................................................... 43 1 Housing needs ......................................................................................... 43 2 Housing supply ......................................................................................... 45 3 Housing production .................................................................................. 48 4 Public housing sector ............................................................................... 49

E. Mehr Housing Plan ................................................................................. 52 Notes ........................................................................................................... 56

Chapter IV. Slums: Characteristics and Regulations ................................... 59

A. Slum Typologies .................................................................................... 61 1 Declining areas within the city .................................................................. 62 2 Slums outside official city boundaries ...................................................... 63 3 Slums formed in suburban villages .......................................................... 63 4 Slums recently incorporated into cities ..................................................... 63 5 Squatter settlements ................................................................................ 64 6 Slums formed in and around brownfields ................................................. 64

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B. Tenure in Slums ..................................................................................... 64

C. Statistics on Slums ................................................................................ 66

D. Characteristics of Slums in Selected Cities ......................................... 68

E. Legal Aspects of Tenure and Slum Upgrading .................................... 72 1 Regulations on ownership ........................................................................ 72 2 Regulations concerning tenure security and eviction................................ 73 3 Regulations on slum upgrading ................................................................ 74

Notes ........................................................................................................... 76 Chapter V. Evolution of Slum Upgrading ...................................................... 79

A. Upgrading Deteriorated Fabrics ............................................................ 79 1 Catalytic projects ...................................................................................... 79 2 Addressing problematic urban fabrics ...................................................... 80 3 Urban renewal .......................................................................................... 82 4 Participatory renovation ............................................................................ 83 5 Moving toward regeneration ..................................................................... 87

B. Earlier Informal Settlement Upgrading Activities ................................ 90

C. Financing Urban Upgrading and Renovation....................................... 94 1 Financing renovation of deteriorated fabrics………. ................................. 94 2 Financing informal settlement upgrading .................................................. 97

Notes ........................................................................................................... 98 Chapter VI. Current Policy and Activities .................................................... 101

A. Current Policy...... .................................................................................. 101

B. Recent Activities in Deteriorated Urban Fabrics ............................... 103

C. Current Activities in Informal Settlements ......................................... 107

D. Low-income Housing Provision .......................................................... 108

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Notes ......................................................................................................... 110 Annexes.......................... ....................................................................................... 111

Selected Bibliography ................................................................................... 113

Websites.................................. .......................................................................................................... 113

Annex I: Timeline of Iranian History, Urban Design and Architecture ...... 116

Annex II: World Bank’s Urban Projects in Iran ........................................... 119

Annex III: Councils in Islamic Republic of Iran ........................................... 120

Annex IV: Volumes of Iranian National Building Code .............................. 121

Annex V: Five Year Development Plans ...................................................... 122

Annex VI: Evolution of Activities in Slums ................................................. 123

Annex VII: Informal Settlements in 68 Iranian Cities .................................. 126

Annex VIII: New National Strategy Document on Slums ........................... 129 Index ......................................................................................................... 143

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LIST OF FIGURES UFigure 1 Meydan-e Imam, IsfahanU ................................................................................................................ 1 UFigure 2 Part of Shiraz Historic Fabric, Central IranU .......................................................................................... 2 UFigure 3 Two Achaemenid Monuments Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List:U ........................................... 3 UFigure 4 Meydan-e Imam, IsfahanU ................................................................................................................ 5 UFigure 5 Composition of GDP, 2010U ............................................................................................................. 8 UFigure 6 Population Pyramids in 1996 and 2006U ............................................................................................ 13 UFigure 7 Population Density in IranU ............................................................................................................. 14 UFigure 8 Yazd Historic City, Central IranU ...................................................................................................... 17 UFigure 9 Gorgan City, Golestan Province, North IranU ...................................................................................... 18 UFigure 10 National-to-Local Structure of Urban ManagementU ........................................................................... 23 UFigure 11 Procedure for Approval of Urban Plans in IranU ................................................................................. 32 UFigure 12 Informal Settlement in Tabriz, Northwest Iran U .................................................................................. 35 UFigure 13 Informal Settlement in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan ProvinceU ............................................................... 36 UFigure 14 Building Typologies in Iran, 1986~2006U .......................................................................................... 38 UFigure 15 Use of More Durable Materials, 1986~2006U .................................................................................... 40 UFigure 16 Total Population Compared with Youth Population (15~29 age group)U .................................................. 44 UFigure 17 Share of Housing Expenditures in Total Gross Household Expenditures, 2010U ....................................... 45 UFigure 18 Average Price of One Square Meter of Finished Building in Urban AreasU............................................... 46 UFigure 19 Land Acquisitions vs. Land AllocationsU ........................................................................................... 47 UFigure 20 Urban Housing Production and Dwellings per Urban PermitU ................................................................ 48 UFigure 21 Actual Housing Production vs. Objectives of FYDPsU ......................................................................... 49 UFigure 22 Land, Rent and Dwelling Price Increases in Urban AreasU ................................................................... 50 UFigure 23 MHP Achievements as of March 2013U ........................................................................................... 54 UFigure 24 Sample Apartments Built under MHP Source: MRUD PhotosU .............................................................. 55 UFigure 25 Informal Settlement in Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchistan ProvinceU ....................................................... 57 UFigure 26 Informal Settlement in Bandar AbbasU ............................................................................................. 58 UFigure 27 Formation of Informal Settlements and Deteriorated FabricsU ............................................................... 60 UFigure 28 Estimates for the Size of SlumsU .................................................................................................... 67 UFigure 29 Land Use Averages in Informal Settlements vs. Citywide AveragesU ...................................................... 71 UFigure 30 Navvab Street, TehranU ............................................................................................................... 77 UFigure 31 Real Estate Agent Sign in an Informal Settlement in IsfahanU ............................................................... 78

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UFigure 32 Informal Settlement in Sanandaj, Kurdistan ProvinceU ......................................................................... 99 UFigure 33 Upgrading Projects in Informal Settlements in Bandar AbbasU ............................................................ 100 UFigure 34 Children on a Rooftop in an Informal Settlement in Isfahan ProvinceU ................................................... 111 UFigure 35 Illegal Connection to Power Line, Isfahan Province, Central IranU ........................................................ 112

LIST OF TABLES UTable 1 Urban and Rural Population Growth Rates, 1976~2006U ........................................................................ 12 UTable 2 Average Age of PopulationU ............................................................................................................. 13 UTable 3 Literacy RatesU ............................................................................................................................. 14 UTable 4 Government Ministries in IranU ......................................................................................................... 21 UTable 7 Hazard-prone Informal Settlements in Eight Iranian CitiesU ..................................................................... 71 UTable 6 Recent Activities in Deteriorated Urban FabricsU................................................................................. 103 UTable 7 Recent Activities in Informal SettlementsU ......................................................................................... 107

LIST OF BOXES UBox 1 Law for Organising and Supporting Production and Supply of Housing U ...........................................................51 UBox 2 Eligibility Criteria for Mehr HousingU ...............................................................................................................53 UBox 3 Land Ownership in the Iranian Civil CodeU ......................................................................................................73 UBox 4 National Document on Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal SettlementsU .......................................75 UBox 5 The Navvab ProjectU ....................................................................................................................................81 UBox 6 Role of Community-Based Organisations in UpgradingU...................................................................................84 UBox 7 Role of Youth in Informal Settlement UpgradingU .............................................................................................85 UBox 8 Empowerment Workshops for WomenU ..........................................................................................................86 UBox 9 Information Technology in UpgradingU ...........................................................................................................88 UBox 10 Students’ ParliamentU .................................................................................................................................89 UBox 11 Urban Upgrading and Housing Reform Project (UUHRP) U ..............................................................................91 UBox 12 Key Achievements of UUHRPU ....................................................................................................................92 UBox 13 Key Shortcomings of UUHRPU.....................................................................................................................93 UBox 14 Upgrading and the YouthU ......................................................................................................................... 106

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FOREWORD

Shelter is an essential human need. Yet, in the contemporary urbanising world, provision of adequate shelter has become a major challenge for policy-makers.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the right to adequate shelter has been recognised for all Iranian citizens in Article 31 of the Constitution. Significant efforts have been made in my country to address housing needs—resulting in the overall improvement of the main housing indicators. However, such improvements alone do not sufficiently describe the actual situation in Iran or any other country.

Indeed, against the backdrop of their complex relations with other economic sectors, adequate housing provision and urban development require visionary and interdisciplinary planning. Failing to take this into account leads to informal solutions sought by households in need. Regional ministerial conferences1

1 Such conferences include: the Assembly of Ministers and High-Level Authorities of Housing and Urban Development in Latin America and the Caribbean established in 1992, and the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD) established in 2005.

concerned with human settlements have proven to be effective platforms for

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sharing experiences and lessons learnt in addressing urban development challenges and shelter needs.

Since first held in 2006, the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD) has been particularly instrumental in providing a valuable opportunity to examine the regional dimensions of sustainable development as well as requirements for effective translation of sustainable development policies into concrete actions at the national level.

From Shelter to Regeneration: Slum Upgrading and Housing Policies in Islamic Republic of Iran is a valuable contribution to attempts at describing dynamic interactions among shelter policies, urban development, and slum upgrading in our country. I sincerely hope that this publication stimulates debate among those who are dealing with similar problems across the region. I would also like to express my appreciation to all individuals who have contributed to its preparation.

Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi Minister of Roads and Urban Development

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FOREWORD

A few decades ago, most of the world’s largest urban agglomerations were found in developed regions, but today most large cities are located in developing countries. As the world continuous to urbanise, cities will increasingly face sustainable development challenges. In particular, rapid urbanisation in many developing countries is often accompanied by the proliferation of slums.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation (UDRO) was established in 1995 to address the challenge of slums and deteriorated fabrics throughout the country. Hundreds of upgrading projects are now being carried out for both deteriorated fabrics and informal settlements across Iran. This is in addition to about 140 model catalytic projects aimed at stimulating neighbour development as well as over 10,300 community-based initiatives undertaken to promote extensive stakeholder participation in the upgrading process.

From Shelter to Regeneration: Slum Upgrading and Housing Policies in Islamic Republic of Iran provides a succinct yet thorough description of our country’s experience in shelter provision and slum upgrading in the last few decades. It also

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offers insight into Iran’s urban governance and planning structure alongside its history and socioeconomic conditions.

This publication is intended to stimulate dialogue among specialists and policy-makers across the region and contribute to efforts aimed at addressing issues we are all facing in managing the urban development process in our respective countries.

I would like to express my appreciation for the efforts of all those who have contributed in one way or another to this publication. I would also like to thank in advance those who will read this report and will share with us their views on it.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere hopes that this publication will meet its intended purpose in stimulating further initiatives on housing, urban development, and slum upgrading in the region.

Mohammad Saeid Izadi Deputy Minister

and Managing Director, UDRO

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FOREWORD

Although cities in Asia Pacific rely on the knowledge of their citizens, institutions, and private enterprises in their sustainable urban development efforts, there is still a wealth of experience across the region which must be taken account of, shared, and disseminated for the benefit of all development partners.

Aware of this need, in 2006, ministers responsible for housing and urban development, decided to establish the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD) as a consultative mechanism for the promotion of sustainable housing and urban development in the region.2 Despite improvements, the region still accounts for about 60% of the world’s slum dwellers. There is thus an urgent need to share upgrading experiences for possible replication and adaptation to each context. In this light, in 2008, APMCHUD decided to establish a Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group (RSUWG) to coordinate data collection on slums; monitor progress made in the implementation of APMCHUD recommendations on slums; and share lessons learnt and best practices among member states.3

2 This decision was made in the first APMCHUD meeting in New Delhi, India between 15th~16th December, 2006.

Pursuant to this decision, the

3 Second APMCHUD was held in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, 12~14 May 2008.

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Islamic Republic of Iran has set up a regional network for urban slum upgrading, focusing on the aforementioned activity areas, and has provided the necessary means for the coordination of this initiative. In its later expert meetings, held as part of APMCHUD Conferences or separately,4 RSUWG strove to analyse and disseminate a range of slum upgrading solutions, including tenure security, strengthening of financial networks for slum upgrading programmes, and formalisation of people-based approaches as part of the planning process. It has further worked on mainstreaming the formulation, adoption, and implementation of slum upgrading policies in national development programmes.5

From Shelter to Regeneration: Slum Upgrading and Housing Policies in Islamic Republic of Iran has been prepared by Dr. Pooya Alaedini and Dr. Farzin Fardanesh to record and discuss our country’s extensive experience with shelter provision and slum upgrading. It may serve as a model for national reporting to share experiences from across the region. I would thus like to invite development specialists in the region and beyond to read this publication critically and share their comments with us. Critical dialogue will help us significantly in refining our methods and policies to address urban development challenges of our respective countries.

Majid Rousta

Secretary, Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group Executive Board Member, UDRO

4 To date, one separate Expert Meeting has been held in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, in April 2010. 5 In accordance with decisions made at the Third APMCHUD held in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, 22~24 June 2010.

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PREFACE At the time of this writing, many countries in the Asia Pacific Region are experiencing a period of rapid urbanisation. A number of countries must address the challenge of ‘youth bulge’ and its consequences. Others are dealing with the impact of natural disasters, regional wars, ongoing internal conflicts, and/or significant migration. In a majority of cases, rapid urbanisation has led to the deterioration of urban fabrics and formation of informal settlements. In response, many countries, in both West and East Asia, have adopted upgrading polices and implemented housing projects employing a variety of approaches.

While slums have shrunk by 24 per cent in East Asia and grown by 16 per cent in West Asia in terms of population, they will continue to pose major challenges for many countries across the region in the third millennium.6

This report discusses the experience of Islamic Republic of Iran with slum upgrading and housing provision. It describes the gradual evolution of approaches to and policies on slums and shelter in response to the outcomes of earlier initiatives. Some of the material in this publication were originally presented at and debated on in earlier international meetings.6F

7 They have been updated and expanded and are now presented in this book-length volume alongside additional material. It thus provides a more comprehensive picture of the complex and dynamic interrelations between urban and shelter policies and deterioration of 6 UN-Habitat, State of the World’s Cities 2010/2011: Bridging the Urban Divide, London: Earthscan, 2008. 7 In particular, at the Second Expert Meeting of APMCHUD, June 2012, Tehran, Iran; the 4th APMCHUD, Jordan, December 2012; and the 24th Session of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat Nairobi, April 2013.

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fabrics or formation of informal settlements in Iran. Unless specifically stated, all data and qualitative information on housing provision and slum upgrading in this report have been supplied by UDRO.

The authors would like to express sincere appreciation for the support provided by UDRO, especially Dr. Mohammad Saeid Izadi, Mr. Majid Rousta, and Ms. Niloofar Mosleh, and for valuable suggestions offered by peer reviewers and other contributors. Needless to say, all errors are ours.

The authors are fully aware of the diversity of economic, social, and political conditions across the Asia Pacific Region, which makes any generalisation irrelevant. It is nevertheless hoped that, by describing the experiences of Iran, this report will stimulate further thinking about, debate on, and action toward providing equal opportunities for all urban residents—irrespective of who they are, where they live, or what their income levels are.

Pooya Alaedini

Farzin Fardanesh

October 2014

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 Iran’s long history is marked by periods of prosperity as well as decline and

political struggle. Modern Iran faces a number of challenges, including rapid urbanisation and its consequences.

2 A major characteristic of Iran’s economy since the 1960s has been its strong dependence on oil revenues. While oil revenues provide the hard cash needed for accelerated economic growth, they also result in a number of structural problems that hinder development.

3 Since the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian Government has placed special emphasis on social justice—investing heavily in health care and education and providing a range of direct and indirect subsidies.

4 Iran has a centralised planning structure. Despite recent decentralisation initiatives, most of its planning processes remain top-down. Urban plans are approved and implemented through a hierarchy of processes based on their scopes, scales, and periods of validity.

5 Rapid urbanisation and inefficient functioning of land and housing markets have given rise to speculative activities and rising real estate prices. In the absence of adequate formal housing, the urban poor seek affordable informal shelter—either outside formal city boundaries or within the city in deteriorated fabrics—where sub-standard land divisions, lack of basic services, unregistered plots, and informal transfer of ownership significantly reduce housing costs.

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6 Informal shelter solutions lead to the formation of ‘slum areas‘, where residents have lower qualities of life and fewer opportunities. Slums are often associated with lack of basic services and high population densities, low quality construction, and/or lack of full tenure rights. The physical, socioeconomic, cultural, and legal characteristics of slums significantly limit personal opportunities for growth and deter civic participation.

7 The official definition of slums in Iran is based on location, with reference to official city boundaries, and includes informal settlements and deteriorated fabrics. These two types can be further divided on the basis of their origins into: (i) declining areas within the city; (ii) slums outside official city boundaries; (iii) slums formed in suburban villages; (iv) slums recently incorporated into cities; (v) squatter settlements; and (vi) slums formed in and around brown fields.

8 Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation (UDRO) is the main government agency responsible for slum upgrading in Iran. Based on its years of experience, UDRO’s approach has gradually evolved through five key stages:

Carrying out catalytic projects, comprising limited interventions in deteriorated fabrics aimed at stimulating development and investment;

Addressing problematic urban fabrics, which included, in addition to implementing catalytic projects, land acquisition to merge plots and widen streets to allow for increased vehicular access;

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Urban renewal, carried out with increased attention to socioeconomic, cultural, and demographic issues in both deteriorated fabrics and informal settlements;

Participatory renovation in which a number of influential partners—in addition to the Central Government—were involved, such as local agents, mayoral administrations, the private sector, banks, local cooperatives, social groups, charity organisations and, to some extent, the community.

Moving toward regeneration—with the aim to maximise community participation, Government’s activities are now concentrated on creating a supportive environment for regeneration through stakeholder engagement.

9 UDRO’s current focus is on reshaping existing structures, avoiding direct intervention, delegating significant authority to local agents, reorganising spaces and functions, and planning for the optimal utilisation of existing capacities. A wider range of issues are now taken into account and local capacities and enabling approaches have become important areas of focus.

10 Two key documents adopted by the Cabinet have been instrumental in facilitating and guiding Government activities on slum upgrading. The former, National Document on Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements (2004), introduced an enabling approach to upgrading. The latter, National Strategy Document on Revitalising, Upgrading, Renovating and Enabling Deteriorated and Underutilised Urban Fabrics

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(2014) treats both deteriorated fabrics within cities and informal settlements in the urban peripheries. It is based on the following principles:

Reducing and preventing urban poverty;

Increasing urban resilience through upgrading and retrofitting;

Enhancing identity and protecting cultural values; and

Employing good urban governance in regeneration to promote social cohesion.

11 The above aims are to be achieved through:

Knowledge management and enhancement of intellectual assets concerning urban upgrading and renovation;

A set of plans and soft initiatives with an enabling approach; and

A series of activities to promote and facilitate urban regeneration.

I INTRODUCTION

©UDRO

Figure 1 Meydan-e Imam, Isfahan

Built in the Safavid Period, this complex of magnificent monuments surrounding a vast urban square was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978.

FROM SHELTER TO REGENERATION: SLUM UPGRADING AND HOUSING POLICIES IN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

2

©UDRO

Figure 2 Part of Shiraz Historic Fabric, Central Iran

Shiraz has a long history was once been selected as the capital of the country. In the bottom of the picture, the garden and tomb of Sa’di, the prominent 14th century poet, is seen.

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

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Chapter I. INTRODUCTION

A. Historical Background Throughout its long history, Iran has experienced periods of prosperity intermittent with years of invasion, plunder, and decline. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Government has attempted to address Iran’s socioeconomic and urban development challenges by emphasising social justice.

1 Brief history Iran’s history may be traced back several thousand years to the appearance of some of the oldest-known cities under the Elamite and Jiroft Civilisations. The establishment of the Achaemenid Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great in 559 BCE marked the birth of a unified land with a thriving network of urban centres controlled from Pasargadae and Persepolis.

Figure 3 Two Achaemenid Monuments Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List:

Persepolis (Left) and Pasargadae (Right)


4

Following the invasion of Persia by the forces of Alexander III of Macedon and a transitional period of Seleucid rule, Parthians re-established Iranian sovereignty across the Iranian Plateau. They were followed by the Sassanid Dynasty, which created a sophisticated administration, built or expanded many cities across the land, and gave Zoroastrianism the status of official state religion. After the defeat of the Sassanid army by Arab-Muslim forces in 639 CE, Iran became part of the Muslim Empire and the majority of its population eventually converted to Islam.

A series of independent kingdoms controlling Silk Road’s bustling towns during the ninth through the twelfth centuries strengthened the Iranian identity and made Modern Persian a regional lingua franca and a major literary language. Iranian urban centres of this period had large populations relative to medieval standards and fostered significant economic activity as well as sciences and the arts. Between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries, despite large-scale disruptions caused by nomadic invasions from Central and Inner Asia as well as periodic dynastic shifts, Iran’s Silk Road towns remained important commercial and productive centres.

The rebirth of the Iranian nation is generally traced back to the 16th century establishment of the Safavid House, who declared Shi’a Islam the official state denomination and gave considerable patronage to intercity commerce and urban architecture. Possibly due to world-systemic shifts and the rise of European commercial (and eventually industrial) powers, Iran underwent a gradual economic decline starting in the eighteenth century—with implications for its urban populations and their productive activities. The country witnessed a modernist revolution in the first decade of the 20th century, which resulted in the establishment of a constitutional form of monarchy.


5

The Constitutional Revolution together with the discovery of oil in Khuzestan set the stage for Iran’s modern era characterised by centralisation of administration, a petroleum-based industrialisation drive, and unprecedented urban development. Starting in the 1960s, rapid urbanisation due to rural out-migration, high birth rates, and improved life expectancies outpaced the development of modern economic sector in the cities. Slum enclaves began to appear across Iranian urban landscape, and their plight arguably had a significant influence on the 1979 Revolution that established the Islamic Republic in place of the monarchy.

Since the Revolution, the Islamic Republic has faced a number of challenges— including eight years of war with Iraq, volatility and terrorism in the region, the Persian Gulf Wars, and instability in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan. Rapid urbanisation and its consequences have resulted in yet another set of challenges. Annex I provides a timeline of Iranian history with special reference to symbolic urban architecture.

Figure 4 Meydan-e Imam, Isfahan


6

2 Post-revolutionary directions Since the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian Government has placed special emphasis on social justice. It has invested heavily in the social sector over the past three and a half decades. Other than explicit subsidies and transfers, Iran has maintained a very large implicit subsidy system that is untargeted. Recognising this as a problem, the Government has recently replaced a major part of the untargeted subsidies with direct cash transfers to every applicant household.

A number of governmental and non-governmental organisations have been active in providing social security through cash transfers, training, insurance, and other support programs. Major organisations among them include Social Welfare Organisation1

B. Economic and Social Development

and quasi-public Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation. In the early 2000s, the Ministry of Welfare was established to coordinate all welfare-related activities in the country. While this process is still ongoing, the recently-established entity itself has been integrated with two other agencies to form the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare.

A major characteristic of Iran’s economy since the 1960s has been its strong dependence on oil revenues. While oil revenues provide the hard cash needed for accelerated economic growth, they also result in a number of structural problems that hinder development. The availability of significant oil revenues has promoted capital-intensive production and import-based commercial activities that preclude domestic employment generation on the one hand and land and housing speculation on the other. These consequences are manifested in urban areas through housing and land shortages and the growth of slums.


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1 Level of development Based on World Bank figures,2 Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) stood at US$331 billion in 2009, having grown at an average annual rate of 3.1 per cent during the last decade of the 20th century and at an average annual rate of 5.4 per cent in the first decade of the 21st century. However, the latter respectable growth has slowed down in recent years—recorded at 1.8 per cent in 2009 and as negative in recent years. According to figures available from the database of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),3 in 2011, Iran’s GDP per capita stood at US$10,496 in PPP terms.

Furthermore, Iran has a medium level of human development. Its Human Development Index (HDI) improved from 0.437 in 1980 to 0.707 in 2011. In the latter year, its education index reached a value of 0.64, its literacy rate for both sexes stood at 85 per cent, its combined gross enrolment for both sexes was 69.9 per cent, and its public expenditure on education comprised 4.7 per cent of its GDP.4 While average schooling for both sexes was recorded as 7.3 years and the ratio of female to male populations with at least a secondary education was estimated to be 0.682 in the same year, there has been a steady expansion of tertiary level education and female students have outnumbered male students at colleges and universities by a large margin in recent years. UNDP figures for 2011 on health index, life expectancy at birth, and public expenditure on health in Iran are 0.836, 73 years, and 3 per cent of GDP respectively.5

2 Poverty and inequality Based on UNDP figures,6 in 2011, about 1.5 per cent of the Iranian population lived on less than US$1.25 per day. For the same year, inequality adjusted life


8

expectancy was 0.71; gender inequality index was 0.485; and income Gini coefficient was 38.8. Using 2006 Census data from the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI),7 the Gini coefficient for 2007~2008 may be calculated as 0.405. On the same basis, the average income of urban households in the lowest three deciles was less than half of the average for all urban households, while the average income of the highest decile was 15.2 times that of the lowest income decile.8

3 Main features of economy Iran is the second largest producer among the member states of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its economy is thus characterised by a large oil sector. Figure 5 shows the composition of GDP for Iran in 2010.

Figure 5 Composition of GDP, 2010

Source: Based on data from Central Bank of Iran

22.7

10.2

12.6 5.7

51.1

Petroleum Agriculture Industry & Mine Construction Services


9

There is limited information on Iran’s informal economy. By some estimates it may comprise between one fourth and one third of all economic activities. While some efforts have been made toward privatisation, the Government remains the largest actor in Iran’s economy, controlling the petroleum industry, having major stakes across all sectors, and employing a bulk of service sector employees.

Due to fluctuations in oil prices, Iran’s economy experiences a great deal of volatility. All sectors of the economy are affected by oil receipts. High levels of oil receipts usually lead to periods of intense activity across all other sectors but may also lead to undesirable changes in the economic structure and possibly to ‘Dutch Disease’9 accompanied by high rates of inflation or stagflation.

Another problem associated with Iran’s oil-based economy has to do with the distribution of oil revenues. Oil revenues wholly received by the Government are circulated in the domestic economy by the public sector’s direct spending and investment, payment of salaries and wages, and provision of subsidies to either consumption or production. A highly uneven distribution may result in practice. The Government has attempted to remedy income inequality through the provision of untargeted subsidies in the past and direct transfer payments to every household in recent times. Currently, attempts are being made to restrict transfer payments to low-income households. Yet, large transfer payments in an environment of high inflation and low absorption capacity may remain problematic.

Indeed, Iran has experienced two-digit inflation rates throughout the last decade and for 2010~2011 its rate of inflation was officially reported as 12.4 per cent.10 Land and housing prices have increased more drastically over the past 15 years.


10

Measures to address inflation by rushing in imports in an unmanaged manner may have in turn hurt domestic production.

Related to this are problems associated with double digit unemployment rates—officially reported as 13.5 per cent11 for 2010. As mentioned, while the annual growth of GDP picked up in the mid 2000s due to increased oil prices, it has slowed down in the last 3~4 years. Furthermore, due to an array of economic difficulties, including a devastating eight year war in 1980s, economic and planning volatility, high rates of population growth in the past, and trade and financial sanctions in more recent times, per capita incomes have remained stagnant in real terms over the past three and a half decades.

C. Geography, Population and Urbanisation About 54 per cent of the world’s population is reported to currently reside in urban areas. In 1950, only 30 per cent of the world’s population was urban. It is projected that by 2050, about 66 per cent of the global population will be living in cities and towns.

Although Asia is still mostly rural (with only about 48 per cent its population categorised as urban), it is rapidly urbanising. It is projected that by 2050 its urban population will reach 64 per cent of the total. Despite its lower level of urbanisation, Asia is home to 53 per cent of the world’s urban population.12

With 70 per cent of its population living in urban areas, Iran is more urbanised than many other Asian counties. Due to its particular geography, Iran’s population distribution is highly uneven. Yet, its population growth and rate of urbanisation will continue to increase in the future.


11

1 Geography Iran covers a land area of 1.6 million square kilometres and borders Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia in the north; Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east; and Iraq and Turkey in the west. In the south, Iran is in a short distance from the southern states of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. In the north, it shares the Caspian Sea with Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan, and Russia.

Iran’s climate is diverse—including cold, temperate, hot and humid, semi-arid, and arid. Two big deserts cover a large part of Iran. Two significant mountain ranges cross the country, making up the Iranian Plateau. The Caspian region in the north receives significantly higher precipitation than the rest of the country. The diverse climatic conditions mean that a wide range of agricultural produce can be farmed in Iran.

2 Demographic characteristics Iran’s total population was estimated at 74.7 million in 2010 (53.6 million or 71.75 per cent urban and 21.1 million or 28.25 per cent rural) translating into a population density of 45.3 persons per square kilometre.13

Population densities and urbanisation (size and number of urban centres) are much lower in the south and east as compared to north and west of Iran due to the differences in the precipitation rates between the two halves of the country (see Figure 7). Population growth and urbanisation have nevertheless been quite rapid almost everywhere in the past three decades. Based on Census figures,14 Iran’s total population grew at an average annual rate of 2.4 per cent from 33.7 million to 70.5 million persons between 1976 and 2006 (see Table 1 below).


12

Table 1 Urban and Rural Population Growth Rates, 1976~2006

Period Overall Growth Rate Urban Growth Rate Rural Growth Rate

1976-1986 3.8 per cent 5.3 per cent 2.3 per cent



1996-2006 1.6 per cent 2.7 per cent -0.4 per cent


Source: Based on figures from SCI, Statistical Yearbook of Iran, 2008.

The urban population of Iran grew at an average rate of 3.7 per cent from 15.8 million to 48.2 million persons (68.4 per cent of total) in the period 1976~2006. The highest growth rates were registered in the first decade of the period (due to the post-revolutionary baby boom affecting the whole population as well as the war which accelerated rural-urban migration) whereas this growth rate decreased to an average of 1.6 per cent per annum in the period 1996~2006.15

Furthermore, as a result of rural-urban migration and reclassification of expanding villages as towns, the growth rate of the rural population has become negative. The number of cities and towns grew from 614 to 1014 between 1996 and 2006. While over half of these cities/towns have 50,000 or fewer inhabitants, 80 Iranian cities have populations over 100,000 persons, accounting for 17 per cent of the total population of the country.16 Additionally, around 53 per cent of Iran’s urban residents live in cities with 250,000 or more inhabitants and another 17 per cent are found in 100,000- to 250,000-person towns. Based on Census figures, the volume of rural-urban migration in the period 1996~2006 was roughly 4 million persons—with a great potion absorbed by cities of over 100,000 persons.17


13

Table 2 Average Age of Population

Year Total Urban Rural

M & F M F M & F M F M & F M F

1996-7 24.03 24.15 23.9 24.52 24.66 24.38 23.25 23.34 23.17

2006-7 27.99 28 27.98 28.33 28.4 28.27 27.24 27.36 25.16

Source: SCI, data accessed from www.amar.org.ir on May 23, 2012.

While the earlier rapid population growth has subsided and life expediencies have increased significantly in recent years, the Iranian population remains very young. Table 2 provides information on the changes in the average age of the population in urban and rural areas for both sexes during a period of one decade. Figure 6 compares Iran’s population pyramids in 1996 and 2006.

Figure 6 Population Pyramids in 1996 (gray) and 2006 (white)

Source: Based on Census data obtained from the Statistical Centre of Iran


14

Figure 7 Population Density in Iran

Source: Based on Census Results

As indicated in Table 3, literacy levels have been steadily rising in the last few decades. Notwithstanding gender disparities, literacy rates have improved in both rural and urban areas and this rise has been quite steep over the last 20 years.

Table 3 Literacy Rates

Year Total Urban Rural

M & F M F M & F M F M & F M F

1976-7 47.5 85.9 35.5 65.5 74.4 55.6 30.5 43.6 17.3

1986-7 61.8 71 52.1 73.1 80.4 65.4 48 59.9 36

1996-7 79.5 84.7 74.2 85.7 89.6 81.7 69.3 76.5 62.1

2006-7 84.6 88.7 80.3 88.9 92.9 85.6 75.1 81.1 68.9

Source: SCI, data accessed from www.amar.org.ir on May 23, 2012.


15

Against the backdrop of a very young population, the steep rise in literacy levels has been achieved through steady improvements in the percentage of children attending school. Furthermore, normative literacy has increased faster among girls and women in both urban and rural areas and the overall gender literacy gap has narrowed. Tertiary level education has expanded more rapidly for women as compared to men, so that in the academic year 2006~2007 there were 1,346,274 male and 1,482,237 female college and university students in the country.18

An overwhelming majority of Iranians follow the Ja’fari Shi’a branch of Islam (further known as Imami or Twelver Shi’ism) which is also the official state religion. Adherents to Sunni Islam comprise a significant minority while several other religions and denominations, including the ancient Zoroastrian faith, also have small numbers of followers in Iran.

Most Iranians speak Iranian languages, which form a branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Among these, Persian (known as Farsi-ye Dari, Farsi, Dari or Tajiki in the language itself) is the official medium of communication in the country and is used and understood by most Iranians. While no reliable estimate exists, probably around 60 per cent of the population of Iran speak Persian as a first language. Other Iranian languages or dialects spoken in Iran include Caspian dialects, Kurdish languages/dialects, Lori/Bakhtiari dialects, and Baluchi. Turkic (mostly Azerbaijan) is probably spoken by about 25 per cent of the population as a first language. There are also speakers of Semitic languages in Iran, including Arabic and neo-Aramaic. Armenian is spoken by Armenian Christians.


16

Notes 1 Persian: sazman-e tamin-e ejtema’i 2 ‘Iran, Islamic Rep. at a Glance’, accessed from www.worldbank.org on May 24, 2012. 3 Data accessed from www.undp.org on May 20, 2012. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Statistical Centre of Iran, Salnameh-ye amari-e Iran [Statistical Yearbook of Iran], 1387, Tehran: Statistical Centre of Iran, 2008. 8 Pajuheshkadeh-ye Towse’eh-ye Kalbodi, ‘Pishnevis-e sanad-e rahbordi-e behsazi va tajdid-e hayat-e baftha-ye farsudeh-ye shahri [Draft Strategic Document on Upgrading and Revitalization of Urban Deteriorated Fabrics]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2011. 9 The concept of Dutch disease refers to a sharp increase in the price of non-tradables with detrimental impacts on the production of tradables. 10 Central Bank of Iran, Shakhesha-ye eqtesadi [Economic indicators], No. 63, 1389, Tehran: CBI, 2010. 11 Ibid. 12 United Nations, World Urbanisation Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights, (ST/ESA/SER.A/352), Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2014. 13 Statistical Centre of Iran, Salnameh-ye amari-e Iran [Statistical Yearbook of Iran], 1387, Tehran: Statistical Centre of Iran, 2008. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Statistical Centre of Iran, data accessed from www.amar.org.ir on May 23, 2012.

II GOVERNANCE AND PLANNING

©UDRO

Figure 8 Yazd Historic City, Central Iran

Yazd boasts one of the most extensive earthen fabrics in the world.


18

©UDRO

Figure 9 Gorgan City, Golestan Province, North Iran

Enjoying a humid temperate climate, Gorgan is in sharp contrast to Iran’s desert cities like Yazd.

CHAPTER II. GOVERNANCE AND PLANNING

19

Chapter II. GOVERNANCE AND PLANNING

Iran has a centralised administration. Most of its planning processes are thus top-down. However, in the past two decades, a number of efforts have been made to gradually decentralise the governance structure, delegate more responsibilities to local authorities and elected entities, and empower communities to democratically approve decisions. Today, urban plans have to be locally endorsed before final approval at provincial and national levels.

A. Governance Structure Iran was declared an Islamic Republic in 1979 following a national referendum. The Supreme Leader, chosen by Council of Experts (an elected body) has the highest authority within the state. An elected president, head of the executive power, nominates a cabinet of 18 ministers for approval by the parliament.

The president also selects the heads of some highly important organisations, such as Strategic Planning and Supervision (formerly a more independent Management and Planning Organisation), Environmental Conservation Organisation, Atomic Agency, and Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organisation.

The legislative branch in Iran is bicameral, made up of the Majles or Parliament and the Guardian Council of the Constitution. All legislation passed through the Majles must be approved by the Guardian Council in order to become law. In cases of dispute between the two chambers, the Expediency Council reviews the case and has the final say. The judiciary is independent of both the legislative and the executive powers and directly answers to the Supreme Leader.


20

1 Government structure and urban development Administration in Iran is centralised and provincial officials are appointed by the central Government. Currently, Iran has 31 provinces,1 around 300 counties,2 and close to 800 cities with subordinate rural settlements.

Provincial governors3 are selected by the Minister of Interior (MoI) and appointed by the President. They are the most important actors at the provincial level, responsible for coordinating all provincial activities that are executed in a top-down manner. The Municipalities Organisation (MO) was established under the MoI in 2002 to support and coordinate the development of urban infrastructure and delivery of urban services. At the same time, provincial service agencies are controlled by their respective ministries.4

MoI, Ministry of Roads and Urban Development (MRUD), and the Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organisation (ICHHTO) are the main national-level, urban development actors, with local arms in every city. MRUD wields authority over the development of city plans while MoI supervises city administration and funds certain urban projects. ICHHTO plays an important role in planning for urban areas of architectural/cultural/historic value.

MRUD was established in 1953, originally as the Ministry of Development and Housing (MDH). It was renamed Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) in 1974 and its mandate was extended to include planning at national and provincial levels. In a reorganisation of the Government, MHUD was merged with the Ministry of Roads and Transportation in 2011 to form the present MRUD. Other than MRUD and MoI, several other ministries are either responsible for providing services in urban areas or impact urban development through their activities (see Table 4).


21

Table 4 Government Ministries in Iran

Responsibility Description

Responsible for Basic Urban Services

Energy; Communication and Information Technology; Education; Health; Culture and Islamic Guidance; Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare

Responsible for Important Urban Services Industry, Mines and Commerce; Youth and Sport

Other Finance and Economic Affairs; Justice; Agricultural Jihad; Defence; Intelligence; Foreign Affairs

MRUD has several subsidiary agencies with specialised mandates. Those agencies whose mandates relate to slum upgrading and shelter provision are described here.

The main Government body responsible for slum upgrading is the Urban Development and Renovation Organisation (UDRO), which is now reorganised as a holding company and is more appropriately called Urban Development and Renovation Corporation. Founded under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in 1996, UDRO’s projects were initially focused on deteriorated historic fabrics. Since 1999, UDRO has undertaken upgrading projects in informal settlements. UDRO has several provincial subsidiary companies. It is headed by a Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development. Its role was reinterpreted to deal specifically with urban slums by Article 4 of the Law of the Third Five Year Economic, Social, and Cultural Development Plan—leading to the revision of its bylaws and its restructuring after 2004. UDRO’s mission includes the following:

Foreseeing and preventing the proliferation of urban slums;

Identifying and collecting accurate information about slums;

Preparing renovation, upgrading, and enabling plans for urban slums;


22

Institution-building, cultural advocacy, creating the tools, capacity-building, and coordination to realise community-based participatory renovation; and

Providing leadership, supervision, and control for operations, such as community-based development initiatives, catalytic projects, advocating best practices, reorganising, and enabling informal settlements.

National Land and Housing Organisation (NLHO) was initially established according to the Urban Land Law in 1981 as Urban Land Organisation (ULO) under MHUD to manage land ownership in the post-revolutionary period. ULO continued to function between 1987 and 1995. In 1993, however, ULO and the Housing Organisation were merged to establish the current NLHO. According to its statutes (1996), NLHO is a public company affiliated with MRUD. Its mandate includes implementation of Urban Land Law; planning for the housing sector; investment in housing through public-private partnerships; and guiding materials production.

New Towns Development Corporation (NTDC) was established in 1988 to develop satellite towns. Its original ambitious program, which was subsequently downsized, included planning and constructing some 26 new towns around major cities of Iran. NTDC is currently a public holding company, which has developed some 17 new towns near populated cities.

Established in 1979 as a quasi-public organisation, the Housing Foundation of Islamic Revolution (HFIR) continues to play important urban development roles. With some 278 branches across the country, HFIR has been involved in housing provision for low-income groups, preparing and implementing rural development


23

plans, rural housing, and post-disaster reconstruction. Figure 10 summarises the role of various Government agencies in urban development.

Figure 10 National-to-Local Structure of Urban Management

Mayoral administrations

Ministry of Roads & Urban

Development

Supreme Council for Urban

Planning & Architecture

Private sector institutions and corporations: banks,

consulting firms, investors, developers, financial

institutions

Relevant Ministries: Communication and

Information Technology, Energy,

etc

President

Iranian Cultural Heritage Tourism

and Handi-crafts Org

Endowments Organisation

Article 5 Provincial

Com-missions

Provincial Organisations: Water and Sewerage,

Electricity, Gas, Cultural Heritage, Environment, Roads, Endowments

Municipalities Organisation

Ministry of Interior

Provincial governorate:

Deputy for Coordination and

Development Deputy for Strategic

Planning and Supervision

Municipal Councils

Deputy for

Strategic Planning

and Control Planning

Transport, urban development, architecture, housing &

construction

Affiliated organisations: National Organisation for Land and Housing, New

Towns Development Corporation, Urban Development and

Revitalisation Organisation (Corporation), Executive

Organisation for the Construction of

Government Buildings and

Office for Upgrading Deteriorated Urban

Fabric Provincial Physical Development and

Housing Corporation


24

2 International assistance The Government has benefited from the assistance of UN agencies and the World Bank in support of its development initiatives. Iran also hosts a UN-Habitat Office. Drawing on contributions from UNDP, UN-Habitat (then UNCHS), and the Government, project IRA/90/004 was developed in 1990 after the Manjil/Rudbar earthquake to produce about 26 volumes of Persian-language national guidelines and six volumes of English-language manuals.

Furthermore, between 2000~2005, Iran had a record portfolio of World Bank lending, amounting to US$1.355 billion. Noteworthy among World Bank assistance Iran has received in the area of housing are two post-earthquake emergency reconstruction projects (one for Qazvin, Zanjan, Kermanshah, and Hamadan and another for Bam) and an urban upgrading project. The latter project, called Urban Upgrading and Housing Reform Project (UUHRP), was approved in 2004 as a three phase Adaptable Programme Loan for an overall period of twelve years and a total budget of US$330 million. Its purpose was to institute an integrated approach to upgrading informal settlements, and to lay the foundations for and initiate housing sector reforms. Annex II provides a complete list of World Bank’s urban projects in Iran.

B. Local Governance Structures Despite centralisation, three levels of government may be discerned in Iran – national, provincial, and local—with the latter comprising county, city (municipality/mayor), and village levels.


25

At the county level, governorates headed by governors5 are in charge, while cities are managed by mayors working under city councils (see below) as mayoral administrations6. Villages have their respective rural authorities7.

1 City councils Councils are elected in rural and urban areas according to the Law for Islamic Councils (1982; revised 1986). Municipalities operate under the supervision of city councils, directly elected by the citizens every 4 years. If a city council is not elected, the Ministry of Interior intervenes and supervises the municipality.8 Almost all municipalities have a city council today. City councils appoint mayors. For villages with populations of more than 100 people or 20 households, rural councils are elected with 5 members. For each rural centre with fewer than 100 people or 20 households, there are 2 representatives but no council. Alternatively, a number of adjacent small settlements may share a common council. Rural areas may have a rural mayor9. Furthermore, larger cities are subdivided into districts, which are managed by district mayors. A historic urban zone may also be defined as a distinct district with its own district mayor. Regulations on planning for and protection of historic urban zones are developed in co-ordination with ICHHTO.

In September 2002, other consultative levels were also formed, namely county and provincial councils. City and district councils send their representatives to county councils. County councils in turn elect a council for the province. Each representative of the provincial councils attends the Provincial Planning Council with the right to a single vote. The Supreme Council of Provinces is formed by the representative councillors from provincial councils. The first Supreme Council of Provinces was formed in October 2002. The lower councils answer to the higher councils, while the Supreme Council answers to the Parliament. The provincial,


26

county and township governors can appeal to the higher councils against the decisions of the lower councils. Drafts for laws and acts can be proposed either by the Government or by the Parliament or by the newly established Supreme Council of Provinces.10 The table in Annex III provides a description of councils and state institutions.

Municipal councils allow for community representation at the local level. Citizens directly elect the councillors who then nominate the mayor. Yet, line agencies in charge of urban service provision in the cities (e.g., water and sewerage, electricity, gas, and communication) are local arms of their respective ministries. Thus, the scope of activities performed by municipal authorities—i.e. councils and mayors—is rather limited. The Municipalities Law, dating back to the earlier part of the twentieth century, originally authorised 53 sets of duties for mayoral administrations. However, in subsequent periods, many of these duties were taken over by the central or provincial organisations, so that in recent years mayoral administrations have only performed 21 sets of duties with another 7 duties managed jointly by them and governmental organisations.11 Since the Third Five Year Development Plan (2000~2004), a number of municipal responsibilities—potentially up to 22, according to one internal study conducted at the MoI—were supposed to be given (back) to mayoral administrations. In practice the scope of this re-delegation initiative has been limited. Yet, the institutionalisation of directly-elected municipal councils in the last decade has resulted in some degree of devolution in light of their authority and responsibility vis-à-vis mayoral administrations and mayors. Whereas prior to the late 1990s, mayoral administrations were integrated in the structure of MoI and the Government, they are now see as ‘public’ institutions that are monitored by municipal councils as representatives of urban residents. The authority of municipal councils has


27

nonetheless been limited due to the legal ambiguities surrounding their position and activities.

C. Planning Structure A hierarchy of processes exists in Iran for the preparation and adoption of plans depending on their scopes, scales, and periods of validity.

1 National plans Iran follows a five-year development planning (FYDP) cycle. The national development plans are the most important documents specifying social, economic and cultural programmes to be pursued over a five-year period. The Vice-Presidency for Strategic Planning and Supervision is now responsible for drafting the five-year national plans as well as other medium- and long-term national initiatives, preparing annual budgets, and monitoring the execution of plans. A total of five FYDPs have been initiated in Iran since the 1979 Revolution and four have been completed. Annex V provides a summary of FYDPs.

First Five Year Development Plan While Iran’s first FYDP for the period 1989~-1993 was not endorsed by the Majles, many of its policies were followed in practice. The mentioned period coincided with the post-war reconstruction efforts. A set of structural adjustment measures was pursued by the Government as the main economic strategy. In the housing sector, initiatives toward privatisation and deregulation were carried out together with measures to prevent informal construction and control rural-urban migration. This period witnessed the largest volume of housing and land subsidies and transfers allocated by the Government in the Iranian history. These subsidies and transfers


28

were for the most part non-transparent and untargeted. During the whole period, 1.5 million formal housing units were built, which amounted to 75 per cent of the planned 2 million units. Furthermore, while annual construction of homes reached 309,000 formal units per annum, the urban population doubled during the period. The price of land, housing, and urban services gradually increased. This was accompanied by the expansion of slums. Slum areas also received population overflows from other parts of their respective cities due to the prevailing socioeconomic conditions. At the same time, a number of ad hoc renovation initiatives were carried out in urban slums and a few studies were conducted on informal settlements in this period.12

Second and Third Five Year Development Plans In the period 1995~2004, coinciding with the second and third post-revolutionary FYDPs, the main housing policy approach was dubbed ‘PAK’. This was an acronym for ‘saving, mass production, and small units’ which means clean in Persian. These were to be achieved through market mechanisms and reduced government intervention. The Government facilitated housing production through freeing the land market; decreasing subsidised land transfers; involving private financial institutions; floating banking interest rates; and increasing the ceiling of housing loans. Subsidies increased based on the type of housing: ‘free housing’ (without floor area constraints) received less subsidies; ‘supported housing’ (74 and 100 square meter units respectively in metropolitan cities and smaller towns) was more subsidised; and construction of ‘social housing’ (50 square meter units) received the highest subsidies. A total of 1.8 million formal housing units or 91.9 per cent of those planned were actually built during this period. Yet, this achievement was mainly due to the success of the free housing subsector, since


29

only 60 per cent of the planned social housing units were actually constructed. Furthermore, the expansion of slums and migration to cities and peripheral urban areas gained the attention of the Government during the Second Development Plan, although the main public policy focus was on physical rehabilitation in the initial stages.13 Noteworthy in this period were the establishment of UDRO to deal with deteriorated fabrics in Iran and the adoption of the National Document on Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements.

Fourth Five Year Development Plan Several important provisions concerning slums were included in the fourth FYDP (2005~2009). One of the most important provisions was that MHUD (UDRO) was required to revitalise deteriorated fabrics and regularise informal settlements through an enabling approach. To undertake this task within ten years, MHUD was allowed to use both public funding and private investment, including investment by foreign entities. The World Bank-financed UUHRP was implemented in this period. Activating its subsidiary Regional Housing Companies, UDRO initiated the rehabilitation of 600 hectares of slums across Iranian cities. In practice, major problems surfaced in coordinating among various agencies relevant to slum upgrading. Yet, one of the most important achievements towards the end of this period was the adoption by the HCAUP of an articulate set of regulations for intervention in deteriorated urban fabrics. Furthermore, concerning shelter, MHUD was required to prepare and implement the Comprehensive Housing Plan (CHP) with the following aims:14

Strengthening housing cooperatives as well as charity and non-governmental organisations;


30

Taking an integrated land management approach for the purpose of housing provision;

Creating a secondary mortgage market;

Increasing mass construction;

Expanding housing capital markets;

Supporting non-governmental players active in the provision of housing to vulnerable groups;

Attracting foreign investment to the housing sector; and

Providing subsidies to builders with the aim of housing provision for low-income groups, white- and blue-collar workers, and female-headed households.

Fifth Five Year Development Plan Article 171 of the Law of the Fifth Plan (2010~2014) required that MHUD and municipalities annually reconstruct and/or revitalise about 10 per cent of physically-deteriorated urban fabrics. The necessary funding for this endeavour was to be included in the annual national budgets as proposed by MHUD. Furthermore, the Government was required to allocate at least 50 per cent of housing funds, credits, and facilities (including funding for housing for the youth and those in need) to renovation of deteriorated fabrics. Article 172 further referred to informal settlements using the term ‘peripheral areas’15. When designated as such by HCAUP and located inside city boundaries, these areas were to be regularised through the formulation and realisation of legal, financial, cultural, and enabling initiatives with the participation of residents. Furthermore, formation of


31

informal settlements outside official city boundaries was supposed to be prevented through exercising a strict control in peripheral urban and rural areas.16

As the fifth FYDP is approaching its final year, the Cabinet has adopted another key document to allow for an integrated community-based approach in regeneration of both deteriorated fabrics within cities and informal settlements in their peripheries (of which more later).

2 Urban plans In February 1973, the Law for Development and Housing was approved and, accordingly, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) was created to manage housing development as well as the development of master plans for urban and semi-urban areas. Higher Council for Architecture and Urban Planning (HCAUP) was also established within MHUD based on the same law.

Higher Council for Architecture and Urban Planning (HCAUP) The HCAUP is presided over by the Minister of MHUD, now MRUD. The Deputy Minister for Urban Development and Architecture is the Secretary of HCAUP, under whom a Director-General manages the Secretariat.17 Other members of HCAUP include the Ministers of Interior, Economy and Finance, Culture and Islamic Guidance, Education, Power, Jihad Agriculture, and Defence. In addition to these ministers, three Vice-Presidents are voting members of the HCAUP: (i) Vice-President for Strategic Planning and Supervision; (ii) Head of ICHHTO; and (iii) Head of Environmental Protection Organisation. HCAUP has four main functions:

Overall urban development policies;


32

Commenting on by-laws affecting zoning, land use, and main urban functions;

Adoption of urban master plans; and

Adoption of urban criteria, regulations, by-laws, etc.

The approval of master plans by HCAUP has an established process: (i) a qualified consultant is commissioned by the provincial Housing and Urban Development Organisation (HUDO), which is the provincial office of MHUD; (ii) after the plan is prepared, it must be approved by the Provincial Planning Council; (iii) it is then reviewed concurrently by the HCAUP’s technical committee and the office of Physical Plans at MHUD, before final submission to HCAUP. In principle, HCAUP does not examine the Detailed Plans (see below). Such plans—as well as modifications which do not essentially change the existing Master Plan—are adopted by Commission for Article 5. This commission is formed at both provincial and county levels. It is headed by the provincial or county governor-general and attended by the head of the Islamic City Council, Mayor, and representatives of MHUD and some other ministries. Figure 11 summarises the procedure for approval of physical plans by HCAUP.

Figure 11 Procedure for Approval of Urban Plans in Iran

HUDO hires a consultant to prepare the plan

HUDO requests to HCAUP to review the plan

HCAUP Technical Committee review

MHUD Physical Plans Office review

HCAUP review and approval

Approval of the plan by Provincial Planning Council The consultant prepares the plan


33

Physical plans Master Plans18 and Detailed Plans19 are regularly prepared for Iranian cities–theoretically every ten years. For small towns, MoI prepares an abridged version of a Master Plan called Guidance Plan20. Together, these plans determine the official municipal boundaries and streets layout as well as land use and building density21 (the ratio of built area to the plot area for each single plot). The municipality then uses these regulations to issue building permits.

In practice however, on the average, a meagre 15 per cent of the adopted Master Plans have been implemented. During implementation, much of the land earmarked for residential construction is hoarded or enters the speculative market, whereas land outside the municipal boundaries attracts informal settlements. Master Plans have been criticised for use of outdated basic data and erroneous forecasts as well as for proposing infeasible wish lists in the form of a maps. Furthermore, due to funding shortages, municipalities increase permissible building density and change pre-determined land use at an extra cost for issuing building permits. This practice actually nullifies the original intention of the urban plans. Despite all this, master and detailed plans remain the most important guidelines for urban development in Iran.

Locational Plans22 and Thematic Plans23 are prepared for certain areas of the city or to address certain issues in the city, respectively. Other types of plans are prepared for areas bigger than that covered by a master plan. These include metropolitan area plan24, provincial physical plan25, national physical plan26, and territorial development plan27. The latter is somewhat similar to the national physical plan but is prepared by the Vice-Presidency for Strategic Planning and Supervision.


34

Notes 1 Persian: ostan 2 Persian: shahrestan 3 Persian: ostandar 4 Kian Tajbakhsh, ‘Municipal Management and Decentralisation Study: Iran’, unpublished report

prepared for World Bank Regional Municipal Management and Decentralisation Project, 2003. 5 Persian: farmandari 6 Persian: sharhdari 7 Persian: dehdari 8 The city councils were initiated after the revolution. They were abolished during the Iran-Iraq war and then revived in 2003. 9 Persian: dehyar 10 Article 102 of the Constitution and article 51 of the Law of Islamic Councils. 11 Gholamreza Kazemian and Navid Saidi-Rezvani, ‘Emkansanjie vagozarie vazayef jaded be shahrdariha [Feasibility of delegating new duties to mayoral administrations]’, in Modiriyate shahri va shahrdariha dar Iran, Tehran: Entesharate sazmane shahrdariha va dehdariha, 2002. 12 Law of the First Economic, Social and Cultural Plan (1989). 13 Law of the Second Economic, Social and Cultural Plan (1994) and Law of the Third Economic, Social and Cultural Plan (1999). 14 Law of the Fourth Economic, Social and Cultural Plan (2005). 15 Persian: manateq-e hashiyeneshin 16 Law of the Fifth Economic, Social and Cultural Plan (2010). 17 http://shahrsazi.mrud.ir/ 18 Persian: tarh-e Jame’ 19 Persian: tarh-e tafsili 20 Persian: tarh-e hadi 21 Persian: tarakom 22 Persian: tarh-e mowze’i 23 Persian: tarh-e mowzu’i 24 Persian: tarh-e majmu’eh-ye shahri 25 Persian: tarh-e kalbadi-e ostani 26 Persian: tarh-e kalbadi-e melli 27 Persian: tarh-e amayesh-e sarzamin

III HOUSING AND

SHELTER POLICIES

©UDRO.

Figure 12 Informal Settlement in Tabriz, Northwest Iran


36

©UDRO

Figure 13 Informal Settlement in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province

Bandar Abbas is home to a major Persian Gulf port and an attractive destination for seasonal workers.

CHAPTER III. HOUSING AND SHELTER POLICIES

37

Chapter III. HOUSING AND SHELTER POLICIES Rapid urbanisation over the past few decades has placed significant pressure on housing provision in Iran. Low-income households face constraints in acquiring land and housing as a result of the inefficient functioning of land and housing markets. Due to high levels of inflation and the scarcity of secure investment channels, land and housing markets have become the subject of speculative activities and hoarding.

A. Overview Housing has been a major concern in the development policies of Iran and, as summarised in Annex V, the Government has taken a number of initiatives to address the growing housing needs in the country.1

Housing policies have been part of FYDPs since 1963. Yet, in the immediate post-revolutionary period, the national planning cycle was temporarily suspended. The prevailing regulatory environment both limited legal ownership of land and ignored land takeovers, including squatting. At the same time various post-revolutionary obstacles, including budget shortfalls, precluded proper management of the housing sector. Supply of new housing dropped from 300,000 to 110,000 formal units per year. This situation was exacerbated by a rapid population growth and a significant volume of migration to the cities—partially as a result of the war.

Starting with the initial post-revolutionary FYDP in 1989, a diverse set of housing policies have been formulated as part of the country’s new five-year planning cycle.


38

B. Typologies of Housing Iran enjoys a wealth of architectural typologies due to its long history and diverse climatic conditions. Nevertheless, a considerable portion of the building stock is built with masonry walls and roofs of steel beams and brick jack arch. The past few decades have witnessed a steady increase in the construction of steel and concrete buildings accompanied by a significant decrease in the construction of earthen buildings, partly due to the building code requirements (See Figure 14 below).2

Figure 14 Building Typologies in Iran, 1986~2006

Source: Based on data from SCI

1 Vulnerability to natural disasters The Alpine-Himalayan seismic belt is one of the most active earthquake zones globally—with a share of 21 per cent of all earthquakes throughout the world.

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39

Located on this seismic belt, Iran is one of the most vulnerable countries to earthquakes.3

The estimated return periods for earthquakes in the Iranian Plateau, with a magnitude of 6, 6.5, and 7 on the Richter scale are 1.5, 4, and 9.5 years, respectively. It has been estimated that 76.8 per cent of Iranian cities are located in high-risk seismic areas. Another 19.8 per cent are located in the moderate-risk zones, while a mere 3.4 per cent are found in low-risk areas. The situation is aggravated since most of the Iranian population live in mountainous regions in the north and west where there is a higher risk of seismic activity. Furthermore, many settlements are prone to landslides and floods. The country is also vulnerable to other types of natural disasters such as droughts. Some of the major past natural disaster events in Iran are listed below:4

In 1990, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale jolted three populated provinces of Gilan, Zanjan and Qazvin. It left some 500,000 people homeless and over 200,000 ruined dwellings. Iran received a US$250 million World Bank loan for post-earthquake reconstruction.

In 1992, Flood affected 15 provinces in central Iran, ruining some 170,000 dwellings.

In 2002, an earthquake (name Avaj Earthquake) with a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale struck four provinces in western Iran—Qazvin, Zanjan, Hamadan and Kermanshah. Some 35,830 dwellings needed to be reconstructed, for which Iran received a US$180 million World Bank loan in 2003.


40

In 2003, Bam, a historic city in Kerman Province witnessed an earthquake, which subsequently required the reconstruction of 60,557 dwellings. For emergency reconstruction of this city, Iran received a US$220 million World Bank loan in 2004.

In 2006, an earthquake struck Lorestan Province in western Iran, as a result of which some 47,200 dwellings had to be reconstructed.

More recently, in 2012, two consecutive earthquakes jolted a vast area in Northwest Iran and damaged some 18,500 dwellings in 306 villages and 5,600 dwellings in 3 cities.

Owing to the low resistance of typical village constructions, earthquakes of low magnitude cause extensive destruction in rural areas. Based on data from HFIR, the number of rural dwellings damaged between 1993 and 2001 was 4.35 times the number of urban dwellings.5 Thus, the use of durable materials and seismic-resistant construction has been promoted in construction,6 which receives subsidised bank financing in rural areas and is implemented under the supervision of HFIR (see Figure 15).

Figure 15 Use of More Durable Materials, 1986~2006


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Low- to medium-income populations in the cities are considered quite vulnerable, since for this group owned dwellings are the most valuable household investments and may constitute additional sources of income through renting. As most of the public post-disaster investment is for reconstruction of ruined dwellings, for the lowest income groups in urban areas, who do not own property, the loss of belongings is more important. Since the urban low-income groups are also unlikely to be under labour insurance coverage, lost employment opportunities after a disaster are the most significant factor exacerbating their poverty.

C. National Building Code The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development was mandated to develop the Iranian National Building Code in 1977. However, despite a number of sporadic efforts, serious attempts to develop a comprehensive code for Iran did not start until 1987, when the Ministry set up a Technical Committee with 21 working groups, each responsible for developing a particular part of the Code. The 21 parts of the code addressed diverse building topics from installations to materials and structures. A 22nd part was later added to cover passive defence requirements. See Annex IV for details of Code volumes.

The Iranian National Building Code has been developed based on Article 13 of the Law for Reforms in Architecture and Building Systems (1977). Article 14 obligates the municipalities to follow the code, while article 15 underlines the right for legal pursuit of non-compliance cases. The code is further mentioned and enforced in Engineering Disciplinary and Building Control Law (1995),7 whereby the municipalities under the jurisdiction of the law are required to accept only the working drawings of licensed engineers who are by the same law made


42

responsible for compliance of their design to the National Building Code. The law also requires that all urban areas be included in its jurisdiction within a period of 10 years. Article 33 mentions the possibility of adapting the code to provincial conditions and the necessity of revising the code every three years. Annex III presents the full list of National Building Code volumes.8 Due to the urgency of its subject matter, the Iranian Code for Seismic Resistant Design of Buildings was separately adopted as Standard 2800.9 The code was revised once after its adoption in February 1987. It covers loading methods for steel and concrete structures and provisions for non-reinforced masonry structures. The recommendations of the code for non-reinforced masonry structures is based on limiting the size (maximum of 2 stories is allowed) and use of concrete or steel vertical and horizontal tie-beams. The resulting structure more or less resembles a reinforced concrete building with less reinforcement steel or a steel frame with lighter components. The code neither allows for the use of adobe, nor covers structures such as reinforced masonry. Evidently, the building regulations in Iran implicitly favour steel and concrete structures and are somewhat biased towards the use of cheaper materials. Thus, modern energy-intensive materials are promoted not only in formal urban construction, but also in rural construction. Furthermore, implementation of the code demands a higher degree of technical skill in the areas of steel and concrete structures, which are not currently available in most parts of Iran. Municipal supervision lacks the capacity to perform any effective form of quality control. This has led to an increased use of energy-intensive, expensive materials for building vulnerable structures that suffer from poor workmanship.10 Lack of knowledge on reinforced concrete construction, for example, has been found to be a major cause of structural failure in the past earthquakes.


43

D. Housing Needs and Supply Despite Government’s efforts, there has been a persistent gap between the number of housing units and the number of households in the country. For example, in 2006, there were 1.5 million more households than the existing housing stock, while at the same time, some 500,000 dwellings were vacant.11 This means that housing shortages notwithstanding, there has been a mismatch between what the market potentially supplies and what lower-income households demand.12

Furthermore, the dual nature of housing demand—for shelter and investment—makes the housing market more susceptible to macroeconomic shifts. In Iran, around 40~60 per cent of the demand for housing has been attributed to seeking an investment opportunity. The high demand for housing as an investment has a reinforcing impact on home prices but a negative effect on the housing possibilities of the low-income groups.13

1 Housing needs As mentioned earlier, Iran’s population has grown rapidly over the past few decades. Although the pace of growth has slowed down in recent years (1.28 per cent for 2006~2011), the population of the youth remains quite large as indicated in Figure 10. In 2011, the youth comprised 31 per cent of Iran’s total population. This percentage was estimated to be as high as 35.3 per cent in provinces with larger rural populations. With a young population, Iran’s housing needs have increased and will remain high in the foreseeable future (see Figure 16).14


44

Figure 16 Total Population Compared with Youth Population (15~29 age group)


Rising housing prices as well as price fluctuations are at least partially due to macroeconomic shifts. Furthermore, affordable housing has become less accessible with increasing inflation rates. The share of housing costs in total household expenditures has been on the rise in Iran, especially among households in the lowest consumption deciles. In 2011, the share of housing expenditures in total gross household expenditures was 31.4 per cent in urban areas. The corresponding figures were 47.3 per cent and 40.7 per cent for the lowest and second lowest expenditure deciles respectively, which indicate the significance of housing costs for low-income groups (see Figure 17). The increase in housing prices is reflected in decreased homeownership rates in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas, the share of homeowners decreased from 69.4 per cent to 62 per cent between 1986 and 2006, while the share of renters increased from 18.3 per cent to 29 per cent in the same period. In rural areas, the share of homeowners decreased to 82 per cent in 2006 from 87.5 per cent in 1986.

0 10000000 20000000 30000000 40000000 50000000 60000000 70000000 80000000

1996 2006 2011

youth population


45

In 2006, 22.7 per cent of urban households could only afford 14~35 square meters of housing. The housing affordability range for another 24 per cent was 43~50 square meters. The average time it would take households in the two middle consumption deciles to purchase a house was estimated at 18 years, provided that they saved one third of their income per month for this purpose. For the lowest consumption decile, this time drastically increased to 100 years.15

Figure 17 Share of Housing Expenditures in Total Gross Household Expenditures, 2010


2 Housing supply Adequate housing supply relies on sufficient supply of land, effective housing production, and a buoyant housing market. Land is a key input for all construction activities. It can seriously affect the finished prices. Between 1991 and 2001, the cost of land was on average 39 per cent of the purchase price of sold buildings and around 67 per cent of total construction costs (see Figure 18).

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46

Figure 18 Average Price of One Square Meter of Finished Building in Urban Areas


As a result of post-revolutionary land legislations, the Government has undertaken significant land acquisitions. Therefore, any shift in Government action on land supply impacts land prices and their relationship to general inflation. In practice, land supply has become increasingly inelastic. Public supply of land has not been responsive to effective demand, addressing requirements of the successive FYDPs instead. Financing for infrastructure is constrained, further reducing supply of serviced land. While trends in the supply of public land have followed those of land acquisitions, the quantity supplied has been a small fraction of land acquired for any given year—often not exceeding 10 per cent (see Figure 19). Furthermore, until 1994, practically most of the land was allocated at the same nominal price regardless of its location. The second FYDP called for a ‘market-based’ approach for land pricing—that is, using the current market price for purchase of private property.

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Currently four methods are used for pricing land allocated by the Government:

1 Market price for small plots arrived at through bidding based on current market value estimations;

2 Negotiated price for mass production of housing through agreement to allocate large parcels of serviced land to housing developers or negotiated share of the equity. This pricing might also include some discounts for developers of rental housing;

3 Allocation of land to individual applicants at ‘finished cost’ price. The latter is essentially the original method of pricing and is used in special cases supported by Government policies; and

4 Long term (99 years) lease of land for Mehr Housing (see below).

Yet, the quantity of land supplied has failed to meet market requirements, and the pricing methods are not reflective of any intention to impact the market.

Figure 19 Land Acquisitions vs. Land Allocations

Source: National Housing and Land Organisation

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3 Housing production The construction sector plays a significant role in the Iranian economy. It employs 11~12 per cent of the working population in the country, and about 40 per cent of those aged 15~29 years. It responds to the demand for housing while addressing a serious problem of unemployment, particularly among the youth and the unskilled. Over the past decade, about 40 per cent of total annual investment has been channelled to this sector, generating more than 8 per cent of GDP. About 90 per cent of annual private sector expenditure on urban construction is in housing. Additions and renovations comprise a fifth of urban projects, accounting for 22 per cent of the private sector expenditure in urban areas. Prior to the recent economic recession, issued permits indicated an increase in urban housing production, accompanied by increases in the number of dwellings per each urban permit. As a result, the annual housing production sometimes exceeded the objectives of FYDPs (see Figures 20 and 21).16

Figure 20 Urban Housing Production and Dwellings per Urban Permit


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49

The construction industry enjoys an abundance of contractors and specialist service companies, a large pool of skilled and unskilled labour, and availability of primary construction materials. Furthermore, housing cooperatives are another group of important players active in housing construction in Iran, but their market share has been steadily decreasing. Notwithstanding the potentials of its construction sector, Iran has several issues to address—particularly public sector control over the production and pricing of construction materials.17

Figure 21 Actual Housing Production vs. Objectives of FYDPs

Source: Ministry of Roads and Urban Development

4 Public housing sector The public sector has a surprisingly small share in housing construction. The average annual share of the Government in housing construction was 0.61-2.9 per cent prior to the third FYDP. MHUD schemes initiated during the third FYDP caused this figure to rise to 5 per cent. The Mehr Housing Plan (see below) has substantially increased the Government’s share in housing construction.

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50

Following the launch of the second FYDP, NLHO started to allocate land using the current market price for purchase of private property. This land pricing policy has created a ‘vicious circle’ whereby land has been supplied according to current market prices, but as a result of the land supply monopoly, land prices have continued to increase. During the periods of large inflows of oil revenues when the relative prices of non-tradables tend to increase, the price of NLHO land also rises without an increase in its supply. Indeed, the Iranian housing market experiences 5-6 year cycles, whereby increases in land prices cause corresponding rises in housing and rental prices (see Figure 22). Housing booms are sustained by attracting investment from other economic sectors. In 2008, the Law for Organising and Supporting Production and Supply of Housing18 was adopted, which requires that MRUD makes land available for housing both inside and outside the cities. Some of its main articles are provided in Box 1.

Figure 22 Land, Rent and Dwelling Price Increases in Urban Areas

Source: Based on data from National Land and Housing Organisation

-40% -20%

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Box 1 Law for Organising and Supporting Production and Supply of Housing (Excerpts)

Article 1 Concerning housing provision, in order to facilitate the access of those in need (especially low-income groups) to adequate housing, improve housing production in qualitative and quantitative terms, encourage investment in housing production using advanced industrial technology, upgrade and renovate deteriorated urban zones and informal settlements, and retrofit existing housing units, the government is required to undertake to provide the required support to making suitable land available, eliminating or reducing the price of land in the cost of housing, offering inexpensive banking facilities, granting tax exemptions, preparing other necessary inputs to the housing sector in the framework of this Law, formulating national building schemes/regulations and monitoring their realisation, and enhancing the capacity of the housing sector (production and supply) to attract investment with the aim to secure housing for those lacking it (once for every household) in accordance with the national building regulations, the housing consumption model, and urban planning and architectural principles.

Article 2 Supporting upgrading/renovation and production/supply of housing in deteriorated urban zones and informal settlements by the non-governmental sector.

…

Article 9 In order to provide part of the needed credit for implementing this Law, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development can, with the endorsement of the government, sell some of the land in its possession through public offering, based on current prices determined by expert opinion.

…

Article 12 The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran shall undertake to make available long-term facilities—as part of the total banking facilities, the amount of which must be determined every year—for the specific purpose of building housing units and upgrading/renovating Deteriorated fabrics and informal settlements as well as granting no-interest rental loans (for temporary resettlement), subject to this Law. Once the housing units are built, these facilities may be transferred to buyers; transfer and repayment conditions shall be approved by the cabinet per the proposal of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance.

…

Article 18 In order to realise the aims and programmes of this Law, the government is required to foresee (in annual budgets) and provide the needed credit (from public income) in the yearly amount of IRR10,000 billion for the remainder of the Fourth Economic, Social and Cultural Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The aforementioned credit is considered 100 per cent allocated, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is permitted to use part of this credit to aid mortgage rates provided by banks or managed funds upon entering into contracts with agent banks in order to create the grounds for the provision of inexpensive facilities and targeted subsidies.


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E. Mehr Housing Plan As mentioned above, by the requirement of the fourth FYDP (2005~2009), MHUD prepared a Comprehensive Housing Plan (CHP) in 2006.19 CHP included action plans for housing finance; urban land; building materials; housing tax system; construction industry; subsidies; energy efficiency; housing for the low-income; social housing; and rural housing.

With a change in the Government, the implementation of CHP was put on hold. Instead, the Government vigorously pursued the Mehr Housing Plan (MHP)20 in accordance with the Law for Management and Support of Housing Production and Supply (2008).

MHP has mostly entailed constructing buildings on publicly-owned land with significant tax and fee exemptions. Hence, the price of each dwelling includes only construction costs and becomes affordable for low-income households. To qualify for Mehr housing, applicants must meet certain eligibility criteria (see Box 2 below).

The cost of each unit has been around IRR270~400 million depending on its location and size. Before the delivery of the dwelling, the applicant has to pay around one third of this cost in instalments, which may take between a few months to a few years. The rest is covered by a subsidised long-term (15~20 years) loan from Bank Maskan.

The Government has guaranteed these housing loans. To expedite the process, loans are also provided to contractors and private sector builders who own a plot of land. Once the dwellings are finished, their ownerships and respective subsidised bank loans are transferred to eligible applicants. Land for MHP has


53

been allocated by National Land and Housing Organisation through 99-year leases.

Box 2 Eligibility Criteria for Mehr Housing

For housing construction, different agencies have been assigned responsibility:

HFIR in small cities with fewer than 25,000 residents;

UDRO in deteriorated fabrics;

NLHO in major cities above the 25,000 threshold; and

New Towns Development Corporation in new towns.

These agencies have outsourced the design and building of low-cost housing using bank financing. Private land owners could also apply for subsidised bank investment to build low-cost housing on their own lands.

1. Applicant households must not have any member in possession of land or dwelling or who has received housing subsidies after 1978.

2. Eligibility is restricted to married couples or single household heads who are either:

· Female household heads over 35 years of age; or

· Disabled household heads over 20 years; or

· Outstanding in academic terms.

3. Applicant households must have lived for a minimum of 5 years in the city in which the application is made (not applicable to migrants from metropolitan areas); and

4. Applicant households must have the ability to pay back the loan and cover other costs in addition to the loan.


54

Under MHP, the Government strove to provide land and funding for construction of more than two million dwellings in the period 2010~2012. These dwellings were to be distributed across the country in big and small cities, new towns, and deteriorated fabrics within cities. By March 2013, over 56 per cent of the dwellings were ready for delivery as shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23 MHP Achievements as of March 2013

Source: Based on data from Ministry of Roads and Urban Development

-

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Permit issued

Foundation Structure Coarse work Finishing

Cities Under 25,001 Cities Over 25,000 New Towns Deteriorated Fabrics Private Owners


55

Figure 24 Sample Apartments Built under MHP Source: MRUD Photos


56

Notes 1 Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Comprehensive Housing Plan, 2006. 2 Statistical Centre of Iran, Salnameh-ye amari-e Iran [Statistical Yearbook of Iran], 1387, Tehran: Statistical Centre of Iran, 2008. 3 Farzin Fardanesh, ‘Study on Earthquake Mitigation and Earthquake Insurance’, unpublished report prepared for the World Bank, 2002. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Statistical Centre of Iran, Salnameh-ye amari-e Iran [Statistical Yearbook of Iran], 1387, Tehran: Statistical Centre of Iran, 2008. 7 Persian: qanun-e nezam-e mohndesi va kontrol-e sakhteman 8 Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Mogharrat-e melli sakhtemani-e Iran [Iranian national building code], Vols. 1~22, Tehran: Markaz-e motale’at va tahqiqat shahrsazi va me’mari-e Iran, 1990~2012. 9 Building and Housing Research Institute, ‘Ayin-nameh-ye tarh-e sakhtemanha dar barabar zelzeleh [Iranian code for seismic-resistant design of buildings]’, 1366, Tehran: BHRC, 1987. 10 Farzin Fardanesh, ‘Study on Construction Sector’, unpublished report prepared for the World Bank, 2002. 11 Ibid 12 Minou Rafii, ‘Housing economics’, in Eqtesad-e maskan, edited volume in Persian published by National Organisation for Land and Housing, Tehran, 2003. 13 Minou Rafii, et al (2006) Analytical and Synthesis Document for the Comprehensive Housing Plan, report in Persian prepared for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, 2006. 14 Statistical Centre of Iran, Salnameh-ye amari-e Iran [Statistical Yearbook of Iran], 1387, Tehran: Statistical Centre of Iran, 2008. 15 Ibid. 16 Central Bank of Iran, Amar-e parvaneh-ha-ye sakhtemani, [Building permits statistics], 1390, Tehran: CBI, 2011. 17 Ibid. 18 Persian: qanun-e samandehi va hemayat az towlid va arzeh-ye maskan 19 Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Comprehensive Housing Plan, 2006. 20 With reference to one of CHP’s strategies to manage the cost of land in the price of housing.

IV SLUMS: CHARACTERISTICS

AND REGULATIONS

© UDRO

Figure 25 Informal Settlement in Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchistan Province

Due to security reasons, the photo was taken from inside a car.


58

© UDRO

Figure 26 Informal Settlement in Bandar Abbas

As a major Persian Gulf Port, Bandar Abbas is an attractive destination for Seasonal Workers.

CHAPTER IV. SLUMS: CHARACTERISTICS AND REGULATIONS

59

Chapter IV. SLUMS: CHARACTERISTICS AND

REGULATIONS As explained before, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, urban planning is highly centralised, with weak inter-disciplinary or inter-sectoral coordination. In this centralised decision-making structure, vulnerable groups—especially the urban poor—are virtually excluded from the decision-making process. Their specific needs are therefore not adequately addressed. Exclusion of the poor urban inhabitants is further aggravated by the fact that they often lack participation skills, information platforms, or trusting relations with local authorities. In the absence of adequate formal housing, the urban poor seek affordable informal shelter. Outside formal city boundaries, sub-standard land divisions, lack of basic services, unregistered plots, and informal transfer of ownership significantly reduce housing costs. Inside the city, in the historic urban fabrics, inflexible conservation regulations or the provisions of Master Plans often lead to reduced investment, high population densities, sub-standard or underserviced housing, and the initiation of a process of urban deterioration. In both areas, a form of low-cost informal housing develops which attracts new settlers such as legal or illegal migrants, lower-income groups, informal workers, etc. Figure 27 shows this process. Although, until recently, deteriorated fabrics and informal settlements were addressed through separate initiatives, the Government has now adopted a new document on Regeneration of Areas Targeted for Upgrading and Renovation which advocates a community-based approach to both deteriorated fabrics and informal settlements (See Annex VIII).


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Figure 27 Formation of Informal Settlements and Deteriorated Fabrics

OUTSIDE THE CITY INFORMAL SETTLEMENT

INSIDE THE CITY DETERIORATED FABRIC

CHALLENGES POPULATION GROWTH URBAN MANAGEMENT

DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

EXCLUSION OF THE POOR

DETERIORATION CYCLE

LACK OF INVESTMENT

DELAPIDATION PROCESS No maintenance Increased population density Sub-standard housing Under-serviced areas

Low Cost Informal Housing

NEW SETTLERS Migrant workers Illegal migrants Informal workers Social difficulties

INADEQUATE URBAN PLANNING POLICIES

INADEQUATE HOUSING POLICIES


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A. Slum Typologies The term ‘slum’ covers a wide range of urban settlements, and its definition often varies from one country to another. It may be thought of as generally referring to urban areas where residents have comparatively low qualities of life and fewer opportunities due to the physical and economic as well as socio-cultural and legal characteristics of the built environment. Slums are often associated with lack of basic services such as access to potable water, health facilities, and other urban infrastructure as well as high density, low quality construction, and/or lack of land and housing tenure. Officially recognised slums in Iran have been divided into two categories: deteriorated fabric1; and informal settlement2. As defined by HCAUP, deteriorated fabrics are characterised by:

Micro land divisions: less that 200 square metre in more than 50 per cent of the lots of the area;

Lack of access: less than 6 metre wide alleys in 50 per cent of cases; and

Lack of stability: structural instability in more than 50 per cent of buildings.

Depending on the existence of one or more of these conditions, the area is considered relatively deteriorated, highly deteriorated, or extremely deteriorated. Furthermore, the National Policy Document for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements addresses urban areas with the following features:3

‘Hastily constructed housing often built by their eventual occupants, mostly without permit to construct…outside existing formal planning…; Concentration of lower income groups…with functional linkages to the main city…; [and]… low quality of life and desperately low urban services…and high population density’.


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A typology of different slums in Iran is given here with reference to their location and origin:

1 Declining areas within the city This type includes areas within the city with or without historic significance. They might have long been low-income neighbourhoods or have become so in a recent downward disinvestment spiral that has caused their steady physical, economic, and social degradation:

1 Poor households have remained in the neighbourhoods with narrow, meandering alleys and old houses;

2 Wealthier households have moved elsewhere in the city with better streets and avenues where they can live in newer houses;

3 Some of the new migrant poor households go to the older neighbourhoods, essentially replacing the wealthier ones who move out.

The municipality does not provide as much services to these neighbourhoods as newly developed, more affluent districts—partly due to the neighbourhoods’ physical attributes and partly due to the Master Plan provisions.

Such areas may contain no monument of historical significance, a single historical monument4, an ensemble5 of connected or disconnected historical monuments, or a relatively vast zone of historical significance6.

Each area warrants a different intervention strategy to exploit its cultural or natural heritage or other assets.


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2 Slums outside official city boundaries This newer type of slum is formed when migrants purchase land in the informal land market in the immediate periphery of the city boundary. Migration to these settlements may take place from outside the urban area—often from rural areas—or from inside the city. Urban peripheral areas are particularly attractive since much of the suburban land in Iran is owned privately, but does not have any official plot division or construction permit. It is thus much cheaper than land available inside the city. Usually a promissory note7 is the only certificate of transaction. Therefore, those who purchase land in these settlements have an ambiguous right of ownership, although they lack construction permits and full titles. Accordingly, on such sites, nocturnal construction takes place which is informal, rushed, and low-quality. These slums are not recognised by the municipal authorities, although they may get some services through other line agencies.

3 Slums formed in suburban villages This type is similar to the previous typology with the difference that the slum has previously been a village with agricultural or related functions. Yet, due to its proximity to the city it has attracted low-income households unable to afford housing in the city.

4 Slums recently incorporated into cities These slums may have formed around a nucleus of former villages or just cheap land outside city boundaries and occupied by low-income households. Incorporating them into the city has been one way to provide them with basic services.


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Considering the origins of this type of neighbourhoods, even when they are incorporated into the city, they are slums since their land divisions are not proper and their housing stock is of poor quality. Therefore, even these types of neighbourhoods go through the downward spiral similar to the old neighbourhoods described above.

5 Squatter settlements Some squatting took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during the immediate post-revolutionary period and the war, due to the relaxed regulatory environment of the time.

The possibilities for squatting have diminished in the larger cities now and very few such cases are reported today.

6 Slums formed in and around brownfields This type includes areas that have been formed in and around semi-active or abandoned workshops and depots. Some of these workshops have been deactivated as a result of urban outgrowth or due to environmental regulations.

These areas may not have any significant populations or may have residential characteristics in common with one or more of the previous categories.

B. Tenure in Slums A relatively significant number of housing units may be found that lack official deeds across Iranian cities, but this situation is not restricted to slum areas. In fact many such dwellings may are located in the more affluent neighbourhoods. The main reasons behind such tenure problems include:


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Slow development of a cadastre system;

Person-based standard format of deeds with inadequate and ambiguous geometrical reference; and

Widespread attempts at overstepping regulations with the hope of paying a low fine to receive deeds.

Lack of parcel-based deeds or a cadastre system has resulted in a large number of tenure disputes that must be settled through an arduous and costly legal process.

Buildings not constructed according to municipality regulations, improper land divisions, or non-conforming construction are dealt with by Article 100 Commission comprising a judge, the MoI representative, and a city councillor. Depending on the level of offence, this Commission determines a punishment ranging from a fine to demolishment of a part or all of the illegal construction. Additional tenure problems may exist in slum areas. The following slum types may have had their genesis in informal land transactions:

Slums located outside official city boundaries;

Slums with rural origins; and

Slums recently incorporated into the cities.

To get proper deeds, owners who only possess promissory notes need to go through a lengthy process at a local Department for Registration of Deeds and Properties or, in cases of dispute, at the courts. Squatter settlements—more prevalent in the past—face a similar but more complicated process.


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C. Statistics on Slums There exist relatively good estimates on the size and population of the two official types of slums—informal settlements and deteriorated fabrics. These estimates may have a great deal of overlap, however. As of August 2014, UDRO has identified some 76,442 hectares of deteriorated fabrics with a total population of 11 million persons across 495 cities. It has also identified another 52,443 hectares as informal settlements with a population of around 6 million persons across 77 Iranian cities.

According to figures on 68 major Iranian cities from the National Taskforce for Enabling Informal Settlements, informal settlements on average constitute around 19.1 per cent of urban areas, 88.7 per cent of which are found within official municipal boundaries. Needless to say, there are significant differences from one city to the next. For example, in Neka, Mazandaran Province, about 69 per cent of the land area is covered by informal settlements, whereas the corresponding figure for Abadan in Khuzestan Province is less than 1 per cent (see Annex VII for further details).

Two sets of estimates are available on the extent of deteriorated fabrics in Iranian cities. One has been calculated for 330 cities and the other for 17 selected cities. The first gives us a figure of 9.2 per cent as the average share of deteriorated fabrics in the entire area of the cities. The corresponding figure in the second is 10 per cent (3 per cent historic, 7 per cent non-historic). A rough estimate of around 10 per cent may also be provided for the share of ‘under-serviced’ areas in Iranian cities.8


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The above figures yield a total rough figure of 28 per cent for the average share of slums in the total area of Iranian cities. Figure 28 shows a breakdown of slum types in Iranian cities.

Figure 28 Estimates for the Size of Slums

Source: UDRO

Again, based on figures from the National Taskforce for Enabling Informal Settlements in 68 major Iranian cities with a total population of over 24 million, some 5.4 million or 26.1 per cent live in informal settlements. Furthermore, in the studied cities, the mean population density of informal settlements is about 109 persons per hectare which is about 2 times the corresponding citywide figures (see Annex VII for more details).

Similarly, based on evidence from a number of cities, the population density of deteriorated fabrics is almost always higher than city-wide averages.

10% 8%

10%

100%

Deteriorated Fabric Informal Settlements Under-serviced Total


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D. Characteristics of Slums in Selected Cities As mentioned, deteriorated fabrics have been defined in physical terms. Consequently, only anecdotal information exists on socioeconomic conditions in such urban zones. Yet, the socioeconomic characteristics of a number of informal settlements have been probed in a few studies alongside their physical features. The results of a detailed social assessment conducted on Bandar Abbas, Zahedan, and Kermanshah, three significant cities in three different parts of Iran, are summarised below:9

1 Migration patterns in informal settlements were found to be different in the three surveyed cities. While a large number of households among residents of informal settlements in Bandar Abbas were more or less natives, there were significant migrant populations in the informal settlements of Zahedan and Kermanshah. In Zahedan, about three quarters of the heads of household had rural backgrounds. Yet, even in Zahedan and Kermanshah the population was found to be very young, which meant that while the household head might have been a migrant, the next generation was more often than not born in the city.

2 High rates of unemployment, underemployment, and employment in the informal economy were observed in the informal neighbourhoods. This situation created a significant poverty trap.

3 An examination of household consumption levels in the surveyed settlements revealed high incidence of poverty. Households in these settlements fell within the lowest consumption brackets among all urban households in their respective cities.


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4 Houses in the informal neighbourhoods were constructed using relatively durable materials in the Iranian context, but they were not built according to standards. Most houses did have kitchen, bath, and toilet, but their overall situation was less than desirable. In some settlements, sewerage water discharge from homes flew directly into the streets and drainage canals.

5 Other than households’ personal savings, there were few sources of housing finance. While a large percentage of households did have accounts at banks, they had not been able to benefit from the housing loan system. Most likely, the full amount of loan from the Bank did not cover the cost of a dwelling in the formal housing market, while houses purchased in the informal market did not qualify for loans. High interest rates due to the high rates of inflation aggravated the situation.

6 A relatively large portion of households owned their homes, but a large number of owners did not have proper deeds. Nevertheless, lack of proper deeds only affected the price of homes, since there existed little threat of eviction against those who did not have deeds. Other things that determined the price of housing units were location and size. Furthermore, there was a positive relationship between ownership and welfare as measured through consumption levels.

7 The local branches of the Ministry of Energy had been able to provide water and electricity to the overwhelming majority of the households in the informal settlements. Several other urban services including those related to street conditions and garbage collection were supposed to be offered by the municipalities. Yet, the municipalities often lacked adequate funds or enough capacity to deliver these services in the informal neighbourhoods.


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8 Security issues faced by informal settlement residents, in particular women and girls, were partially related to the unsatisfactory street illumination as well as the scarcity of security forces.

9 Households in the informal settlements did invest in their dwellings, but they paid little attention to the façade and outside of their homes. There was a relationship between ownership and the tendency to repair one’s home. However, the type of ownership document in the hands of the owners was not important in this tendency.

10 Housing prices, for rent or purchase, had been on the rise in the surveyed neighbourhoods as everywhere in Iran. Thus, even these neighbourhoods had probably fallen outside the affordability range of the homeless poor, migrants, or those starting a family in the city. It is easy to speculate that these households would have to look toward new suburban informal settlements for affordable housing.

11 There was almost a complete absence of social, cultural, or sports centres in the informal neighbourhoods of the three cities. Such centres could help transform the socio-cultural atmosphere in the neighbourhoods and have a positive social impact on the next generation of their residents.

12 While residents of the informal neighbourhoods exhibited high levels of traditional social capital, they lacked modern types of social capital to participate in local-level initiatives. They were more or less estranged from the urban management and were not in reality full citizens yet. In the absence of an empowering milieu, their social capital would not be easily transformed.


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The results of another study, conducted by UDRO on 35 cities, show how informal settlements are underserviced as compared to the main city areas. On the average, land areas occupied by schools, used for green spaces, and allocated to health care facilities were found to be 57 per cent, 32 per cent, and 15 per cent of citywide averages respectively (see Figure 29).

Figure 29 Land Use Averages in Informal Settlements vs. Citywide Averages (Percentage)

Source: UDRO

Another study,10 which has used available information from eight provincial capitals, provides more detailed information on the characteristics of informal settlements in Iran. In particular, it shows that informal settlements are likely to be located in hazard-prone areas (see Table 5).

Table 5 Hazard-prone Informal Settlements in Eight Iranian Cities

Cities Characteristics Hazards Isfahan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Bandar Abbas, Hamedan, Zahedan (Dominant Type)

Settlements in agricultural plain area with proper access to basic services, located around the main city

Low

Tabriz, Sanandaj, Bandar Abbas Settlements built on steep hillsides, loose soil, rocky ground, or flood plain High

Tabriz, Sanandaj, Kermanshah Near high voltage lines Medium Source: Mohandesin-e Amayesh va Towse’eh-ye Alborz, ‘Emkansanji-e nahadinesazi-e farayand-e behsazi-e shahri dar Iran’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2009.

0.0%

50.0%

100.0%

150.0%


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E. Legal Aspects of Tenure and Slum Upgrading In Iran, land ownership takes one these three legal forms: publicly-owned, privately-owned; or managed by the Endowments Organisation11. Regulations on ownership provide a degree of tenure security and prevent forced evictions.

1 Regulations on ownership Currently, not all privately-owned lands in Iran have proper deeds. Applications for issuing deeds for any property including apartments, buildings, or land should be made to the Department for Registration of Deeds and Properties under the judiciary. The legal process entails surveying of the property and several public announcements on sight and in the press to ensure no alternative claims are made to that land parcel. In practice, many slum residents with claims to their lands have been able to get proper deeds—though after an arduous, costly process. There are also instances in which whole slum areas have become eligible to receive deeds. Private property is protected under Article 47 of the Iranian Constitution which states that: ‘Private ownership, legitimately acquired, is respected. The relevant criteria are determined by law’.

Several articles in the Iranian Civil Code deal with property ownership. In particular, the Code recognises tenure as a potential proof of ownership and acknowledges a degree of validity for unofficial documents referring to ownership rights. Therefore, those who purchase informally-subdivided plots with some sort of promissory notes enjoy a relatively valid right of ownership, although they lack proper deeds and construction permits. Box 3 summarises key articles of the Iranian Civil Code on this matter.


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Box 3 Land Ownership in the Iranian Civil Code

2 Regulations concerning tenure security and eviction According to Iranian laws, it is illegal to occupy any property without acquiring appropriate tenure rights—except for cases already covered in Article 147 and Article 148 of the Properties Registration Law12 concerning issuing deeds for properties for which no deed has yet been issued. The Law on Determining the Registration Status of Properties Lacking Official Deeds13 makes legitimacy of ownership contingent upon proof of original legality of tenure. Thus, any property lacking an official deed may be granted such a document provided that a claimant can produce adequate evidence to convince a special conflict resolution committee of his/her ownership rights. This committee is created for this purpose in each registration zone and consists of representatives from the governorate, judiciary, registration office, housing and urban development office, etc. Likewise,

According to Article 30 of the Iranian Civil Code: ‘Every owner has unlimited rights of occupation and exploitation over his/her property when no exception is made by the law’. Some of these exceptions overriding the aforementioned article are included under the Law of Landlord and Tenant, Law of Urban Land, and Law on Expansion of Streets. Articles 35 states that: ‘Tenure as ownership is proof of ownership unless proven otherwise’. Article 36 clarifies this principle by stipulating that: ‘Such tenure is not valid if proven that it is not the result of ownership or legal transfer of tenure rights’. Iranian Civil Code distinguishes between two types of ownership:

i. Officially registered deeds; or ii. Unofficial documents in form of receipts, written testimonies, transfer of ownership contract, etc.

Article 1287 refers to the former type: ‘Deeds documented at the General Department for Registration of Deeds and Properties, or at notary public offices, or before other official authorities, are considered official within the limit of their competency and in accordance with legal regulations’. Article 1289 considers all other documents as unofficial: ‘Unofficial documents are by definition unendorsed with negative ramifications for those claiming ownership with reference to them’.


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according to Article 9 of Law on Supporting Revitalisation, Upgrading, and Renovation of Deteriorated and Under-serviced Urban Fabrics14 a similar committee is set up in upgrading project areas to resolve conflicts concerning the tenure status of property lacking deed or owner.

3 Regulations on slum upgrading As mentioned, in 2004, a National Document on Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements was adopted by the Cabinet. The key strategies and policies of this Document are cited in Box 4. Another notable document was the Resettlement Framework Document prepared in the same year for UUHRP in line with the World Bank operational policies. According to this document, resettlement should only take place in exceptional cases with adequate compensations paid for financial, social, cultural, and human disturbances.

Decisions regarding resettlement for each city ought to be made by a ‘Special Resettlement Committee’ headed by the Mayor and established at the Provincial Enabling Taskforce.

At the time of writing, the Cabinet has adopted a new document titled National Strategy Document on Revitalising, Upgrading, Renovating and Enabling Deteriorated and Underutilised Urban Fabrics. This document equally addresses deteriorated fabrics and informal settlements and strives to create a flexible framework for regeneration, upgrading, and renovation. The main framework for informal slum upgrading will remain in effect in conjunction with this new document.

Potential effects of the new document will be touched upon when discussing future prospects of slum upgrading.


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Box 4 National Document on Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements (Excerpts)

General

…creation of informal settlement provincial taskforces… Creating a national coordinating institution [National Enabling Taskforce]…. Supporting locally elected institutions in informal settlements as the focal forum for all negations… Establishing a multi-sectoral institution at the city level … Facilitating cooperation and exchanges between public sector and residents… …good governance incorporating participation and consensus building… Encouraging professional NGOs to respond effectively to the needs and demands of informal settlements… Resolve…legal…issues within existing informal settlements towards formal recognition of the permanency of

these settlements With the aim to avoid natural hazards or to appropriate land for public goods or services, achieve resettlement

through a participatory process of negotiation. …using participatory processes for …service provision…

Provision of affordable infrastructure and basic services

Reviewing…building codes …and planning regulations with a view to affordability… Supporting self-built [housing] and self help… Providing adequate land…for low-income housing… …supporting regularisation plans… Creating a national centre for informal dissemination, research…

Financial matters

Assessing all regulations and legislation which limit access of lower-income groups to formal financial facilities… Creating a housing and employment fund [and] micro-credit units with financial participation of local people plus

other public and private resources. Allocating a certain portion of government subsidies to seed capital for micro credit funds… …insurance coverage for…activities…in informal settlements Encouraging effective participation …through…credit [and] facilities… …avoiding …untargeted subsidies… Urgently allocating state funds usually used for the provision of urban infrastructure to informal settlements. …creating public spaces (sports grounds, cultural and leisure centres) within the informal settlements.


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Notes 1 Persian: baft-e farsudeh 2 Persian:sokunatgah-e gheyr-e rasmi or, less accurately, hashiyeh-neshini 3 Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation, Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements, Tehran: UDRO, 2004. 4 Persian: bana 5 Persian: majmu’eh 6 Persian: arseh-ye tarikhi 7 Persian: qowlnameh or pateh 8 Pajuheshkadeh-ye Towse’eh-ye Kalbodi, ‘Pishnevis-e sanad-e rahbordi-e behsazi va tajdid-e hayat-e baftha-ye farsudeh-ye shahri [Draft strategic document on upgrading and revitalisation of deteriorated urban fabrics]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2011. 9 Pooya Alaedini, et al, ‘Informal Settlements in Iran: Examining Conditions in Bandar Abbas, Kermanshah, and Zahedan’, Iranian Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2011, pp. 35-59 (in Persian). 10 Mohandesin-e Amayesh va Towse’eh-ye Alborz, ‘Emkansanji-e nahadinesazi-e farayand-e behsazi-e shahri dar Iran [Feasibility Study of Institutionalising an Urban Upgrading Process in Iran]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2009. 11 Persian:sazman-e owqaf 12 Persian: qanun-e sabt-e amlak 13 Persian: qanun-e ta’yin-e taklif-e vaz’iyat-e sabti-e arazi va amlak-e faqed-e sanad-e rasmi 14 Persian: qanune hemayat az ehya, behsazi, va nowsazi-e baftha-ye farsudeh va nakaramad-e shahri

V EVOLUTION OF SLUM

UPGRADING

©UDRO

Figure 30 Navvab Street, Tehran

Building the Navvab Highway was an ambitious physical intervention which required extensive investment to fund the necessary land acquisition and relocation.


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©UDRO

Figure 31 Real Estate Agent Sign in an Informal Settlement in Isfahan

The sign reads: ’Meysam Real Estate: Sell, Buy, Rent, We accept plumbing work’.

CHAPTER V. EVOLUTION OF SLUM UPGRADING

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Chapter V. EVOLUTION OF SLUM UPGRADING In the past two decades, UDRO has undertaken multiple initiatives to address slum problems, such as physical vulnerability, social instability, or lack of spatial organisation. Learning through experience, UDRO’s approaches have gradually evolved from limited interventions to urban renewal, participatory renovation, and finally the current urban regeneration.

A. Upgrading Deteriorated Fabrics UDRO’s approach to upgrading deteriorated fabrics has gradually evolved in response to the lessons learnt from implementing numerous projects in a period of more than twenty years. Five key phases may be discerned in this evolution. These phases are summarised in Annex VI and further explained below.

1 Catalytic projects Between 1990 and 1993, a main focus of the Government was the reconstruction of war-damaged areas. Despite this, some historic buildings were restored as catalytic projects in historic city centres. At a larger scale, some city centres or cultural axes were renovated. The key player in all these projects was the Central Government. In big cities, municipalities also joined such upgrading projects. The main source of financing for the projects came from the public budget—either from the development budget of the Government or the municipal budget of mayoral administrations. This period coincided with the housing policies of the Government that encouraged the formation of housing cooperatives for medium- and low-income households. An example of this approach is provided in Box 5.


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2 Addressing problematic urban fabrics In the mid 1990s, implementation of catalytic projects was taken up based on an ‘urban development and renovation’ approach—i.e. top-down redevelopment to address the decline of the older parts of the cities and recover valuable land.

The expression ‘deteriorated fabric’—mostly applied to the old city centres—gained widespread usage in this period. Furthermore, the second FYDP specifically referred to the expression ‘problematic urban fabric’1.

The main initiatives included purchasing land to integrate small lots2 and widen streets and alleys. Some of the important cities targeted in this period included Semnan, Gorgan, Yazd, Bushehr, Shiraz, Kashan, and especially Mashhad. In Mashhad an area of 360 hectares around the Shrine of Imam Reza was designated for complete renovation.

Usually, a company, owned by the public sector, was established to undertake such renovation projects. Little attention was paid to the socioeconomic impact of these initiatives. Moreover, it soon became clear that the funds required for land acquisition usually made such large projects too slow and costly to implement. While these projects were in many cases sponsored by the central Government, charismatic mayors with authoritarian management styles, who believed in large-scale urban renovation projects, also played important roles in this period.

Furthermore, despite centralisation and the top-down nature of these activities, no policy-making authority existed to formulate the main strategies and policies based on best practices.

The Navvab Project implemented by the Tehran Municipality is one such example (see Box 5 for further details).3


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Box 5 The Navvab Project

The idea of widening Navvab Street (originally having a width of 5 metres) was included in the Tehran Master Plan of 1970s. However, this idea was not taken seriously until 1990, when the Municipality of Tehran took a bold decision to acquire all properties around this street—in an area 5 kilometres long and 100 metres wide. The acquired land was used to extend a 45 meter-wide highway and build commercial and residential high-rises on the sides. To avoid a monotonous design, five different consulting firms were hired to design the sides of the four different highway sections. A sixth firm coordinated their work and designed the highway. Since the public budget funded only the construction of the highway, the rest of this ambitious project was financed through selling increased building density as well as by issuing bonds.

Almost none of the original residents settled in the new apartments since the municipality had foreseen no resettlement plan for them. They were not informed about the residential component of the project, either. Furthermore new apartments were priced well beyond their affordability. The apartments attracted new residents of a more affluent social class who replaced the former residents.

Air and noise pollution from the highway are found to be major problems. Furthermore, public spaces such as parks and schools demolished during the project were not replaced. With an increased population, this deficiency is even more evident. Crime rates are perceived to have increased. Place attachment of the new residents is remarkably low—some 63 per cent are willing to leave their current dwellings if they find an affordable alternative.

Source: Guiti Etemad, et al, Arzyabi-e trah-e navvab va payamadha-ye an, Tehran: Ma’ani, 2013.


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3 Urban renewal In March 1995, the Government adopted a Decision which mandated MHUD to undertake ‘reconstruction, rehabilitation and renovation’ in old neighbourhoods and deteriorated fabrics in cities with populations of over 200,000.

Pursuant to this decision in 1997, UDRO was established under the MHUD to usher in a new era of policy-making for urban upgrading. UDRO’s managing director was given the rank of a deputy minister. This shows the importance attached to upgrading by MHUD.

As mentioned above, before UDRO was established, urban renovation was concentrated in historic city centres and dominated by Central Government interventions.

After UDRO’s establishment, this policy was pursued vigorously. Historic buildings were purchased and converted. This adaptive reuse policy met with success and paved the ground for interventions at larger scales.

Furthermore, new ideas began to permeate upgrading policy, inter alia:

The notion of ‘balanced and sustainable urban development’ was proposed;

Increased attention was given to social, economic, cultural, and demographic issues in upgrading activities;

Both deteriorated fabric and informal settlements were addressed; and

Terms such as enabling, empowerment, and revitalisation were increasing included in policy-making vocabulary after 1997.


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4 Participatory renovation Between 2005 and 2009, stakeholder participation in renovation and reconstruction of deteriorated fabrics was increasingly emphasised. Thus, in addition to the Central Government, key actors in upgrading projects now included local agents, mayoral administrations, the private sector, banks, local cooperatives, charity organisations and, to some extent, the community. Some of the key points in this approach were as follows:

The role of social groups was recognised and the position of owners and residents was strengthened. In particular, community-based religious groups and mosques became involved in the upgrading process with successful results. In areas where residents belonged to a minority religious group, this principle was also followed.4 Box 6 provides examples of promoting upgrading projects through community- and faith-based organisations.

The need to empower vulnerable groups and involve them in the upgrading process was also taken into account and the participation of the youth5 and women6 was sought. Boxes 7 and 8 give examples of these experiences.

The projects started to pay attention to the residents’ needs. In particular, retrofitting the vulnerable housing stock was put on the agenda.

Other sources of funding in addition to the Government budget were also sought, including private sector investment, bank financing, and bonds.

Furthermore, imprudent interventions in historical fabrics were discouraged. UDRO strove to cooperate with the ICHHTO in this regard.


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Box 6 Role of Community-Based Organisations in Upgrading

Community-based organisations and charities can act as major partners in upgrading projects. Their knowledge of the social situation and their understanding of community needs and priorities can significantly assist the upgrading agencies. Local religious leaders and institutions can also play important roles in motivating people to participate in the upgrading process.

In the informal settlements of Marvdasht, most community meetings have taken place in mosques or other faith-based spaces such as hoseyniehs. For this to happen, local clergies were informed and engaged in the initial phases of the project, in particular in the needs assessment. Once they were informed about the upgrading process and their support was secured, residents’ trust and cooperation was also won.

Source: Mohandesin-e Moshaver-e Pars Arayeh, “Tarhha-ye samandehi va tavanmandsazi sokunatgahha-ye gheri-e rasmi,” unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012.


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Box 7 Role of Youth in Informal Settlement Upgrading

As vectors of development, the youth play a key role in upgrading their informal settlement since they are both aware of their situation and are motivated to change it. Several children and young adults participated in the preparation process of the upgrading plan for their informal settlement in the city of Borazjan. They contributed to the process in three ways: Initially, a group of 15 young local adults contributed to questionnaire design, interviews and surveys. Their knowledge of the vernacular dialect and culture enabled them to relate efficiently with the local population, in particular women and girls. Secondly, a group of children and young adults participated in focus group discussions and community-based capacity-building. A third contribution was made by the children who acted as guides (balaldchi) during the field survey and shared their knowledge of problems with the design group.

Source: Mohandesin-e Moshaver-e Amayesh va Tose’eh-e Alborz, “Jaygah-e nowjavanan va javanan dar barnameha-ye samandehi-e sokunatgahha-ye gheir-e rasmi,” unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012.


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Box 8 Empowerment Workshops for Women

Workshops on Interpersonal Relations, Sar Asyab Dulab Neighbourhood, Tehran

As part of its activities for community empowerment, a series of workshops were held for female homemakers in Sar Asyab Dulab Neighbourhood. To increase attendance, a brochure along with an invitation letter was delivered to each house in the neighbourhood.

During workshop sessions, discussions were facilitated on the techniques for effective social interaction. In the course of discussions, references were made to the upgrading plan for the deteriorated fabric. The facilitator explained the plan implications for residents and answered questions.

As a result of women’s increased awareness, project implementation has progressed more efficiently with almost no resistance.

Source: Activity Report Sheet, Sar Asyab Dulab Upgrading Project, 17 October 2012.


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5 Moving toward regeneration Since 2009, UDRO has slowly moved toward a regeneration approach. This approach aims at maximising community participation. The main activities of the Government are now concentrated on creating a supportive environment for the regeneration of deteriorated fabrics through the activities of local agents, mayoral administrations, the private sector, banks, local cooperatives, and charity foundations. The share of financial sources other than the public budget has significantly increased through the private sector investment, banks loans and bonds. Efforts are made to incorporate the needs of owners and residents in the projects. As its main policy, UDRO now concentrates on both soft (non-physical) and hard initiatives.

Soft initiatives include non-physical interventions such as cultural advocacy, awareness raising, information dissemination, capacity-building and training, supporting or help establishing community institutions, and documentation of activities. Box 9 gives an example of the soft initiatives.

Hard initiatives include physical catalytic interventions by the public sector to facilitate the participation of residents and owners, developers, investors and other actors in the process of regenerating deteriorated fabrics. Such initiatives include pilot projects to serve as rehabilitation models, provision of infrastructure and basic services, widening narrow streets and alleys, building or rehabilitating existing buildings to be used as community centres and improving neighbourhood services such as parks, playgrounds, libraries, and mosques.

Empowerment was also pursued by other organisations. One notable example includes the Students’ Parliament initiative by Ministry of Education.7 A description of this activity is provided in Box 10.


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Box 9 Information Technology in Upgrading

The Renovation Services Office in Niknam and Ahangaran Neighbourhoods held courses on computer applications and internet for the residents. The participants were mainly from the younger generation. As part of their training they were acquainted with social networks and learned how to develop weblogs. They also met with professional webloggers dealing with urban issues. As a result they developed a joint weblog for their neighbourhood to address its needs and problems.

Source: Activity Report Sheet, Niknam and Ahangaran Upgrading Project, October 2012.


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Box 10 Students’ Parliament

Students’ Councils were first established in 1998 to prepare students for democratic participation. These elected councils act as advisors to the director of schools, contribute to all curricular and extracurricular activities and run the school’s journal. Each council elects a representative to attend its respective Parents and Teachers Board.

©IRNA

The Students’ Parliament is elected by students form a list of school councillors for a period of two years. The parliament includes members from religious minorities. The 150 elected members are formally appointed as advisers to the Minister of Education and, as part of their mandate, review the bills of the Ministry before presentation to the national Parliament (Majles).

©ISNA

Source: Naser Mashhadizadeh-Dehaghani and Navid Said- Rezvani, “Seh arse-ye fazaha-ye shahri-e mortabet ba javanan,” unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012.


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B. Earlier Informal Settlement Upgrading Activities The earliest official mention of informal settlement upgrading was made in 1966 in the amendment to the Municipalities Law. This amendment included provisions for property acquisition, eviction, and reconstruction of dilapidated urban neighbourhoods. One of the earliest informal settlement upgrading projects after the Islamic Revolution was undertaken by UDRO in 1999 in the Mallashieh Neighbourhood of Ahvaz, capital of the Khuzestan Province in the southwest of Iran. Residents of Mallashieh had been displaced within the province as a result of the war. They had occupied a hill in the southeast of Ahvaz used for Television broadcasting. Over time, more people had settled in Mallashieh, making it a full-fledged informal settlement and unfortunately home to social disorder, trafficking, and crime. This first experience involved eviction of residents by offering them compensation, housing loans, and replacement lands. It relied on the public budget as its sole source of funding. Community participation was minimal—inasmuch as necessary to convince people to evict peacefully.

Another landmark project on upgrading informal settlements was the Urban Upgrading and Housing Reform Project (UUHRP). It was prepared in 2001~2003 and implemented between 2004 and 2009 with World Bank assistance (See Box 11).

UUHRP succeeded in introducing a new approach to slum upgrading in Iran. The National Document on Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements was adopted partly owing to the need for overall supervision of this project. Accordingly, a National Enabling Taskforce was established with its membership including several minsters and high-ranking officials to supervise and coordinate UUHRP activities as well as other slum upgrading activities.


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Box 11 Urban Upgrading and Housing Reform Project (UUHRP)

Provincial Taskforces were also formed in many provinces of Iran. Most of these taskforces have commissioned studies on their respective informal settlements and how to upgrade them, while some have already come up with upgrading initiatives of their own.

In some cases, such taskforces have also been formed at the city level. The National Taskforce has already provided some training for the members of provincial or city taskforces.

Box 12 shows other key achievements of UUHRP.

The Urban Upgrading and Housing Reform Project (UUHRP) was funded by the World Bank (providing loan to cover 80 per cent of costs) and the Iranian Government (covering 20 per cent of costs). The main purposes of UUHRP was to pilot-test and refine an integrated approach to upgrading underserviced neighbourhoods in 5 Iranian cities, and to initiate reforms in the public management of the housing sector toward a market-led structure.

The upgrading initiatives (Component A) in the 5 cities of Kermanshah, Zahedan, Bandar Abbas, Sanandaj, and Tabriz aimed to improve living conditions in informal settlements based on community priorities, help indigenize an urban upgrading model for Iran, and provide feedback for the institutionalisation of an upgrading structure at the national, provincial, urban levels.

The housing reform activities (Component B) were to prepare a system, the capacity, and the regulatory framework for market-based housing reforms. A third component of the project (Component C) created management capacity for the implementation of the project. All three components were supposed to eventually feed into the second (and ultimately third) phase of a 12-year program. UUHRP was implemented in the 2004~2008 period and was able to disburse only around 50 per cent of its budget before closing after the first phase.


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Box 12 Key Achievements of UUHRP

Project outputs:

UUHRP was able to deliver a set of upgrading activities in the informal settlements of 5 target cities using an integrated approach with significant impact on their urban management orientations. A major change of attitude towards and appreciation for the upgrading approach to informal settlements has been a clear result of the project.

As an important example, while the project spent about US$14 million in Bandar Abbas, it is claimed that the Province put in an additional US$20 million while the mayoral administration spent US$4-5 million on the target settlements.

Project initiatives in the cities have shown some success with regard to beneficiary satisfaction, participation, and sustainability as demonstrated by the case of Bandar Abbas. Sustainability and participation have been enhanced in areas where interactions between the Municipality and the people have been high. Many of the resident priorities have materialized including better street conditions, surface water drainage, canal rehabilitation and access to transport services, garbage collection, and green space for families in which to spend their leisure time.

Project outcomes:

The most important positive impact of UUHRP should be observed outside of its own subprojects, in developing a new orientation to informal settlements at various public sector levels in Iran. It has created a number of institutions at the national, provincial, and city levels that should ensure major future activities concerning informal settlements.

As a result of the project, a specific national budget line was approved for the informal settlements. The heightened attention of the authorities to informal settlements in Iran was revealed in the Presidents’ provincial trips.

The Municipality in particular has significantly increased its activities in the target informal settlements and has in some instances enhanced its quality and quantity of interactions with the communities. In effect, it has fully embraced its responsibilities to the target neighbourhoods, perhaps since they no longer appear so informal. The same may be true for other agencies.

It is claimed that new projects have been formulated for the target settlements and a specific detailed urban plan for the informal settlements is being commissioned since much of the informal settlement areas are not covered by the city’s detailed plan.

Source: Pooya Alaedini, et al, “Upgrading Urban Informal Settlements in Iran: Assessment of Main National-Level Initiatives and Bandar Abbas Experience,” Social Welfare Quarterly, No. 41, 2011 (in Persian).


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Yet, UUHRP was able to disburse only around 50 per cent of its first-phase loan amount. The project was discontinued at the end of its first phase and was thus unable to deliver the full package of its activities. Some of the shortcomings of UUHRP are briefly explained in Box 13.

Box 13 Key Shortcomings of UUHRP

While project has ended the isolation of the neighbourhoods and has increased their security, the scale as well as the geographical and substantive scope of the initiatives has been limited. The neighbourhoods are still in need of services that are supposed to be provided by the unfinished initiatives as well as those not planned or not with a full geographical coverage. Furthermore, the institutionalisation of an urban upgrading process and an urban upgrading fund as well as city development strategies are only slowly evolving.

Community mobilisation activities, interactions between the community and service agencies, and other enabling initiatives have been promising (e.g. Municipality-resident interactions, neighbourhood mayor, microfinance groups, etc.). Yet, they have not been adequate in number and coverage to leave a lasting impact. Nor did the enabling activities create the theoretically-desired synergy with the physical improvement initiatives. They nonetheless have set a number of good examples on which to build further efforts.

The main reasons behind UUHRP’s under-performance may be summarised as follows:

UUHRP’s complicated initiatives that required coordination among a great number of actors;

The novelty of the activities in Iran, which meant that neither UUHRP staff nor Iranian consulting firms (only limited number of international consultants were used) nor Iranian authorities were experienced in delivering or facilitating the delivery of the Project’s outputs (especially in the case of soft initiatives such enabling, capacity building, and institutionalisation, but also across the subprojects); and

Difficulty of delivering works in informal settlements due to their nature as well as land acquisition problems.

Source: Pooya Alaedini, et al, “Upgrading Urban Informal Settlements in Iran: Assessment of Main National-Level Initiatives and Bandar Abbas Experience,” Social Welfare Quarterly, No. 41, 2011 (in Persian).


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C. Financing Urban Upgrading and Renovation Upgrading initiatives undertaken in Iran in the last two decades have benefited from a number of funding modalities explained below.

1 Financing renovation of physically-deteriorated fabrics Some of the key initiatives in financing renovation projects are:

1 Subsequent to a preliminary analysis of the extent of physically-deteriorated fabrics in Iran, funds were earmarked in the Budget Law (1994) in conjunction with the Second FYDP. A set of upgrading feasibility studies were conducted by MHUD covering 273 hectares across 24 selected cities (approximately 10 hectares per city). This was the first time specific public funds were allocated for such a purpose.

2 Concurrent with the above studies, some physically-deteriorated fabrics were targeted for renovation in Shush Neighbourhood, Tehran; peripheral neighbourhoods of Imam Reza’s Shrine, Mashhad; and certain areas in Gorgan, Ardabil, Hamadan, Kermanshah, Semnan, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Yazd. The total area targeted was 63 hectares. Around IRR130 billion (in 1995 prices) was allocated from the revenues (through selling land and buildings) of NHLO.

3 Renovation of the peripheral areas of Imam Reza’s Shrine in Mashhad was taken up by the Government as a priority project. As a result, other than the NHLO revenues, purchase of the required land was made possible through issuing bonds in 1996~7.


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4 A certain national budget line was allocated for the first time for the purpose of renovating valuable historic monuments in deteriorated fabrics in 1996~7 based on an edict issued by the Supreme Council of Money and Credit. This initiative did not prove effective, however.

5 Along with the establishment of UDRO in 1997, some IRR10 billion worth of land belonging to NHLO was reserved as capital asset for UDRO’s operations. Funds released from the sales of such assets were allocated to specific projects—mostly opening dead-ends and free up spaces—in the physically-deteriorated fabrics of Sirous Quarters, Tehran; Imam Khomeini Circle, Orumieh; Saheb-ol-amr Underpass, Tabriz; Seyqalan-Takhti historic axis, Rasht; Karim Khan Underpass, Shiraz; and further purchase of land around Imam Reza’s Shrine, Mashhad. Furthermore, restoration and adaptive reuse of a few historic monuments was undertaken under the title of ‘Old Edifice; New Life’8. The aforementioned assets are still being used to fund upgrading projects.

6 In 2001, bonds for a total amount of IRR100 billion were issued based on the permit provided in the Budget Law of 1994 to fund the purchase of land and a few projects in conjunction with the revitalisation plan of Imam Reza’s Shrine in Mashhad as well as renovations concerning the Shahid Beheshti Circle of Tabriz, Imam Khomeini Circle of Orumieh, and a few historical buildings of value in Yazd. Bonds were further issued in 2006 and 2007 for the amount of IRR6,500 billion. Eventually more than 15,000 bonds were issued by municipalities aiming at funding the renovation of the peripheral areas of Imam Reza’s Shrine, the Shrine-to-Shrine Project in Qom, and certain areas of Tabriz and Tehran.


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7 Through the efforts of the Management and Planning Organisation (MPO) (now, Vice-Presidency for Strategic Planning and Supervision) and based on the provisions of the annual budgets laws, IRR10~20 billion per annum were allocated through the Bank Maskan for the purchase of land in physically-deteriorated fabrics in the period 1999~2004.

8 A total of IRR79 billion were allocated in the Budget Law of 2002 for the purpose of purchasing land in physically-deteriorated fabrics as well as other projects undertaken by UDRO.

9 Credit was earmarked in 2004 for private-sector developers for the purpose of upgrading and renovating the peripheral areas of Imam Reza’s Shrine of Mashhad and Sheikh Safi-al-din’s Tomb in Ardabil—one third covered by MPO and two thirds provided through loans from Bank Tejarat.

10 Upgrading some physically-deteriorated fabrics in Tehran was financed by ABC Bank of UAE through Bank Mellat (US$300 million).

11 In light of the ratification of the fourth FYDP requiring the renovation of physically-deteriorated urban zones within ten years, support packages were also approved in the annual budgets laws of 2005, 2006, and 2007. Furthermore, with the adoption of the Law for Management and Support of Housing Production and Supply (2008), the incentive package for upgrading and renovating physically-deteriorated zones, as detailed below, assumed permanency.

Discounts of 50~ 100 per cent on renovations and high-density construction taxes.


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Provision of soft loans and subsidies for renovation and purchase of dwellings in physically-deteriorated fabrics. The Government subsidised at least 6 per cent of interest rate. For each unit under construction, the loan amount was IRR140 million initially. It is currently IRR200 million and may be increased in the near future.

Provision of soft loans and subsidies for the repair of buildings of architectural/cultural/historical value.

Compensating the cost of temporary relocation during reconstruction or retrofitting of buildings in the physically-deteriorated zone.

12 Annual budget allocations comprising special credit to assist renovation of deteriorated fabrics have increased every year since 2008 and reached IRR650 billion in the Iranian fiscal year 2011. This special credit has been used through UDRO to facilitated vehicular access in deteriorated fabrics via tripartite agreements matching provincial and municipal funding in equal terms. Some of this credit has recently been used for advocacy to prepare residents to participate in upgrading deteriorated fabric

2 Financing informal settlement upgrading Credit for upgrading informal settlements in five cities was provided through UUHRP mentioned above. UDRO has continued to fund similar projects in other cities. Furthermore, in Bandar Abbas 350 hectares of new land were added to the city and allocated to UDRO as collateral for the purpose of informal settlement upgrading by presidential decree. Other than these, a microfinance initiative (using linkage banking) was carried out by Bank Keshavarzi that targeted some informal settlements as well as rural areas.


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Notes 1 Persian: baft-e shahri-e mas’aleh-dar 2 Persian: tajmi’ 3 Guiti Etemad, et al, Arzyabi-e trah-e navvab va payamadha-ye an, Tehran: Ma’ani, 2013. 4 Mohandesin-e Moshaver Pars Arayeh, Tarhha-ye samandehi va tavanmandsazi sokunatgahha-ye gheri-e rasmi, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012. 5 Mohandesin-e Moshaver-e Amayesh va Tose’eh-e Alborz, Jaygah-e nowjavanan va javanan dar barnameha-ye samandehi-e sokunatgahha-ye gheir-e rasmi, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012. 6 Activity Report Sheet, Sar Asyab Dulab Upgrading Project, 17 October 2012. 7 Nasser Mashhadizadeh Dehaghani and Navid Saeedi Rezvani, ‘Seh arse-ye fazaha-ye shahri-e Mortabet ba javanan [Three Areas of Urban Spaces in Relation to the Youth]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012 8 Persian: kalbade qadim, zendegie jaded

VI CURRENT POLICY

AND ACTIVITIES

©UDRO

Figure 32 Informal Settlement in Sanandaj City, Kurdistan Province


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Before After

Behesht-e Zahra, Bandar Abbas

Isini Park, Bandar Abbas

Secondary School, Isini, Bandar Abbas

Photos ©UDRO

Figure 33 Upgrading Projects in Informal Settlements of Bandar Abbas

CHAPTER VI. CURRENT POLICY AND ACTIVITIES

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Chapter VI. CURRENT POLICY AND ACTIVITIES This Chapter reviews current policies and activities in both informal settlements and deteriorated fabrics.

A. Current Policy As the main Government agency responsible for policy and coordination, UDRO has focused on reshaping existing structures, introducing new elements, reorganising spaces and functions, and planning for the optimal utilisation of existing capacities. A wider range of issues are now taken into account and local capacities and enabling approaches have become important areas of focus. Furthermore, the Central Government is avoiding direct intervention and is delegating significant authority to local agents. Major efforts are also being made to benefit from private sector funding and financial resources of slum residents. This is in line with the emphasis placed on enhancing the role of owners and residents to address their needs and to solicit the participation of a wide range of stakeholders in the process of urban upgrading. This in turn requires creating the appropriate grounds and the qualitative as well as quantitative requisites and incentives. The main initiatives undertaken to create the grounds for upgrading activities include the formulation of necessary means, enabling, and cultural advocacy. Further tools to jumpstart local development are demonstration pilots on the one hand and provision of services and improvement of infrastructure on the other. Finally, managing the upgrading process strategically rests upon institutionalisation, capacity-building, and coordination. The main players in the process of urban upgrading include the private sector, the Government, the mayoral administrations, and most importantly the people. The newly-adopted


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document on regeneration of urban areas provided in Annex X captures the above approach and complements and enhances UDRO’s earlier strategies and activities in various types of urban slums. The National Strategy Document on Revitalising, Upgrading, Renovating and Enabling Deteriorated and Underutilised Urban Fabrics has been prepared based on these principles:

Reducing urban poverty and preventing its appearance in target zones;

Increasing urban resilience to natural disasters through upgrading and retrofitting;

Enhancing identity and sense of belonging to urban places as well as protecting values in target zones;

Realising good urban governance in regeneration plans with the purpose to promote social cohesion among residents and owners in the targeted zones.

These are to be achieved through:

Knowledge management and enhancement of intellectual assets concerning urban upgrading and renovation;

A set of plans and soft initiatives with an enabling approach;

A series of implementation practices that promote or facilitate urban regeneration plans.


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B. Recent Activities in Deteriorated Urban Fabrics About 76,442 hectares of deteriorated fabric with a total population of 11 million persons across 495 cities has been identified by UDRO. As shown in Table 6 below, in 2014 significant progress has been made towards rehabilitation and renovation of these fabrics.1

The current instruments for the renovation of deteriorated fabrics are: preparation of specific plans for physically-deteriorated zones; provision of loans up a specified amount for each housing unit without any collateral; giving a 50 per cent discount on housing construction taxes; provision of a loan for temporary resettlement; and permit for the construction of additional floor. In conjunction with these activities, around 140 catalytic projects have already been implemented across Iranian cities. Furthermore, about 70 buildings of cultural/historical value have been renovated and retrofitted across Iranian cities, preserving their local identities.2

Table 6 Recent Activities in Deteriorated Urban Fabrics

Unit Amount

Finished Rehabilitation and Renovation Studies City 210 Hectares 52,194

Adopted Rehabilitation and Renovation Studies City 126 Hectares 33,454

Under Preparation Rehabilitation and Renovation Studies City 72 Hectares 12,485

Implemented Catalytic Projects Number 140 Restoration and Retrofit of Monuments of Historic, Cultural Significance Number 70 Demolishing Dilapidated Dwellings Number 250,000 Built Dwellings in Place of Demolished Dilapidated Dwellings Number 850,000 Total Investment for Building Dwellings in Place of Demolished Dilapidated Dwellings IRR billion 204,000

Source: UDRO


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While most target cities are working closely with UDRO in their efforts to upgrade their deteriorated fabrics, mayoral administration in Tehran and Isfahan have established specialised agencies for this purpose.

Being by far the largest city and the capital of Iran, Tehran has its own renovation organisation, namely, Tehran City Renovation Organisation (TCRO). The main initiative undertaken by TCRO to create the grounds for participatory regeneration/renewal activities is the creation of neighbourhood facilitation offices3.

These offices work directly with neighbourhood residents, private sector actors, and other stakeholders to facilitate the renovation of deteriorated fabrics. There are now 58 facilitation offices across Regions 7 to 20 of Tehran’s 22 regions.4

TCRO has a three-pronged approach to renovation of deteriorated fabrics, comprising advocacy (informal, trust, and participation), enabling (improving human resources and increasing human capital), and institutional building toward sustainable participation.5

The facilitation offices, which provide social, urban planning, economic and legal services, are responsible for securing community trust, advocacy and information dissemination, institution building, and ultimately encouraging participation in the renovation projects.6

Facilitation offices are supposed to withhold direct intervention and are instead leading renovation activities indirectly through creating the appropriate grounds and the necessary tools, facilitation, and enabling. This means that the activities must take into consideration in a more serious way the cultural, social, and economic conditions of each community.


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Facilitation offices are the link between the official urban renewal authorities and the residents of communities. Every three facilitation offices have a corresponding Conductor7 at TCRO. The steps taken by the facilitation offices must include:8

Creating the office and finding partners for the endeavour (including CBOs);

Building trust and creating the grounds for participation through among other things dissemination of accurate information;

Assessing internal and external socioeconomic and physical influencing factors and the capacity at the local level for renovation;

Conducting needs assessment and prioritising needs;

Carrying out short-, medium-, and long-term planning toward capacity- and institution-building by, among other things, creating working groups and neighbourhood renovation committees;

Matching residents who want to renovate their homes with builders/investors;

Monitoring and evaluating initiatives, including assessment of satisfaction among residents who are rebuilding their homes, investors, and sellers.

Many facilitation offices have focused on the participation of the youth in the renovation initiatives. Box 9 explains the role of the youth in rehabilitation and renovation of slums.


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Box 14 Upgrading and the Youth

In 2011, the youth (15~29 age group) comprised 31 per cent of the total population of Iran—with this share increasing to as high as 35.3 per cent in provinces with larger rural populations. The Iranian youth enjoy a relatively high and increasing literacy rate. In 2006, for example, the literacy rates for male and female youth were 97 per cent and 95 per cent, respectively.

The young people living in slums face several challenges: lack of basic services; lack of employment opportunities; stigma and social exclusion; non-inclusive environments; lack of entertainment; fear of harassment and crime; dangerous vehicular traffic; inadequate waste management; and a sense of political powerlessness. There is a growing emphasis on the role of youth in upgrading of informal settlements in Iran, as evidenced by the efforts of Tehran Municipality and UDRO. In upgrading projects, UDRO provides training for the youth on basic working skills, handicraft production, and other income generating activities. Training courses provided in informal settlements also target the youth for prevention of high risk behaviours, especially related to drugs and HIV-AIDS. Upgrading projects usually begin with focus group discussions with inhabitants of an informal settlement as part of a needs assessment. Faith-based community organisations are effective entry points for initiating these discussions and building interest and trust. In needs assessment exercises, the special requirements of women and youth are duly considered. Focus group discussions lead to formation of self-help groups who identify local income-generating activities. UDRO supports these community-based organisations and assists the expansion of their activities—e.g., formation of thematic community-based groups, initiation of micro-credit programmes, and creation of neighbourhood weblogs and/or journals. Thus, a strong social network is developed which will guarantee meaningful participation and will subsequently facilitate the upgrading process.

The Municipality of Tehran has developed diverse programmes for organising youth voluntary activities and promotes their participation in settlement management. Shahryaran-e Javan (Young City Assistants) is a network of young people who act as advisers to district mayors. Furthermore, they are often engaged by Neighbourhood Renovation Facilitation Offices established by the Tehran City Renovation Organisation for the renovation of deteriorated fabrics. They act as facilitators who liaise with communities to initiate the upgrading process. Some Facilitation Offices in Tehran have trained the local youth to act as journalists and webloggers and write on the history, identity, and problems of their neighbourhoods. The social network created in this way acts as an agent of change and an advocate of upgrading.


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C. Current Activities in Informal Settlements UDRO has identified informal settlements in 77 cities comprising 52,443 hectares with a population of around 6 million persons. As of August 2014, a number of hard and soft initiatives have been undertaken for upgrading these informal settlements (see Table 7 for a list).

Table 7 Recent Activities in Informal Settlements

Unit Amount

Studies for Enabling and Upgrading of Informal Settlements Finished City 77

Hectares 52,443 Persons 6,000,000

Studies for Enabling and Upgrading of Informal Settlements Under Preparation

City 14 Hectares 4,500

Under Preparation Rehabilitation and Renovation Studies City 72

Hectares 12,485

Implemented Projects for Provision of Basic Services and/or Public Facilities

Number 175 Neighbourhoods 73

Cities 24 IRRbillion 1,030

Community Participation Advocacy Projects Cases 10,300 Source: UDRO

The total credit for the above projects has been IRR1,030 billion. Ten projects are being implemented in the current year. The activities undertaken in the target settlements are threefold: physical upgrading, social and economic enabling, and municipal capacity building. Physical upgrading includes provision of urban services and infrastructure, including schools, vocational training centres, health and medical centres, piped water, electricity, sewerage, street pavement,


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sidewalks, surface water drainage, parks, play grounds, libraries, and sports centres. Enabling activities include microfinance programs, entrepreneurship development, vocational training, health training, and leisure time programmes. Training, information dissemination and institutionalisation are the main capacity-building activities.

D. Low-income Housing Provision As discussed, in the Comprehensive Housing Plan (CHP) prepared in 2005, in conjunction with the requirements of the Fourth FYDP, among other things, certain strategies were formulated to manage the cost of land in the price of housing. While CHP was more or less abandoned, these strategies were turned into a major initiative called Mehr Housing Plan (MHP), which was given full Government support during 2007~2012 as Iran’s main low-income housing programme. MHP has entailed constructing medium-height buildings on publicly-owned land and exempting them from construction taxes and fees. In this way, only the price of construction is reflected in the housing units, which become affordable for low-income households. Yet, MHP has faced several challenges. By October 2013, about 67 per cent of some 2.16 million planned dwellings were ready for delivery. In bigger cities with populations of over 25,000, this percentage rose to about 76 per cent. Of these, over 16 per cent lacked electricity and about 15 per cent did not have water. Furthermore, rapid planning, design, and construction have led to improper location and inadequate design of housing complexes. In addition to these issues, the fixed prices on construction contracts against the backdrop of increasing inflation has resulted in low-quality and vulnerable construction. These problems notwithstanding, carrying out MHP nationwide has had a serious negative impact on the national budget deficit. The new administration has


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criticised the programme, but has committed itself to delivering all dwellings already contracted for by 2015. Furthermore, the new administration is now updating and reviving the Comprehensive Housing Plan. It has been announced that a major component of the Plan will be ‘social housing’, targeting low-income households. Social housing notwithstanding, the following priority action areas must be taken into consideration to enable the housing sector to work for the poor:

Increasing the supply of land by removing regulatory obstacles and drawing on Government’s significant land holdings;

Increasing housing stock for rent by taking advantage of current public housing stock built all over the country;

Revising building codes and standards to allow for substitution of low-cost, energy-efficient materials and appropriate technology for steel and cement without compromising safety;

Encouraging affordable rental housing in urban areas for lower-income populations;

Developing a framework for attracting private investors to housing ventures;

Improving insurance coverage for construction companies; and

Providing more flexible conditions to support the activities of small companies with limited resources.


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Notes 1 Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation, ‘Amalkard-e sherkat-e madar takhassosi-e omran va behsazi-e shahri-e Iran [Performance of Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2014. 2 Ibid. 3 Persian: daftar-e tashilgari 4 Website of Tehran City Renovation Organisation: www.nosazi.tehran.ir (accessed on 18 October 2014). 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Persian: rahbar 8 Tehran City Renovation Organisation [TCRO], Tashilgari: ta’sis va rahandazi-ye dafater-e tashilgari-e nowsazi dar baftha-ye farsudeh-e shahr-e Tehran [Facilitation: establishing and launching facilitation offices of renovation in deteriorated urban fabrics of Tehran], edited by Kaveh Haji and Ali Akbari, Tehran: TCRO, Office for Renovation of Deteriorated Fabrics, 2011.

VII ANNEXES

©UDRO

Figure 34 Children on a Rooftop in an Informal Settlement in Isfahan Province


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©UDRO

Figure 35 Illegal Connection to Power Line, Isfahan Province

VII. ANNEXES

113

Selected Bibliography Alaedini, Pooya, et al, ‘Informal Settlements in Iran: Examining Conditions in Bandar Abbas,

Kermanshah, and Zahedan’, Iranian Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2011, (in Persian).

Alaedini, Pooya, et al, “Upgrading Urban Informal Settlements in Iran: Assessment of Main National-Level Initiatives and Bandar Abbas Experience,” Social Welfare Quarterly, No. 41, 2011 (in Persian).

Central Bank of Iran, Amar-e parvaneh-ha-ye sakhtemani [Building Permits Statistics], 1390, Tehran: CBI, 2011.

Central Bank of Iran, Shakhesha-ye eqtesadi [Economic indicators], No. 63, 1389, Tehran: CBI, 2010. Etemad, Guiti, et al, Arzyabi-e trah-e navvab va payamadha-ye an [Assessment of the Navvab project

and its consequences], Tehran: Ma’ani, 2013. Fardanesh, Farzin, ‘Study on Construction Sector’, unpublished report prepared for the World Bank,

2002 Fardanesh, Farzin, ‘Study on Earthquake Mitigation and Earthquake Insurance’, unpublished report

prepared for the World Bank, 2002. Kazemian, Gholamreza and Navid Saidi-Rezvani, ‘Emkansanjie vagozarie vazayef jadid be shahrdariha

[Feasibility of delegating new duties to mayoral administrations]’, in Modiriyate shahri va shahrdariha dar Iran, Tehran: Entesharate sazmane shahrdariha va dehdariha, 2002.

Management and Planning Organisation, Law of the Fourth Economic, Social and Cultural Plan, 2005. Mashhadizadeh Dehaghani, Naser and Navid Saidi-Rezvani, ‘Seh arse-ye fazaha-ye shahri-e Mortabet

ba javanan [Three Areas of Urban Spaces in Relation to the Youth]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Mogharrat-e melli sakhtemani-e Iran [Iranian national building code], Vols. 1~22, Tehran: Markaz-e motale’at va tahqiqat shahrsazi va memari-e Iran, 1990~2012.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Tarh-e jame’-e maskan [Comprehensive Housing Plan], 2006.

Mohandesin-e Moshaver Pars Arayeh, ‘Tarhha-ye samandehi va tavanmandsazi sokunatgahha-ye gheri-e rasmi’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012.

Mohandesin-e Moshaver-e Amayesh va Tose’eh-e Alborz, ‘Emkansanji-e nahadinesazi-e farayand-e behsazi-e shahri dar Iran [Feasibility study of institutionalising an urban upgrading process in Iran]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2009.

Mohandesin-e Moshaver-e Amayesh va Tose’eh-e Alborz, ‘Jaygah-e nowjavanan va javanan dar barnameha-ye samandehi-e sokunatgahha-ye gheir-e rasmi’ [The role of youth in regularising informal settlements], unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2012.


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Pajuheshkadeh-ye Towse’eh-ye Kalbodi, ‘Pishnevis-e sanad-e rahbordi-e behsazi va tajdid-e hayat-e baftha-ye farsudeh-ye shahri [Draft Strategic Document on Upgrading and Revitalization of Urban Deteriorated Fabrics]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2011.

Plan and Budget Organisation, Law of the First Economic, Social and Cultural Plan, 1989. Plan and Budget Organisation, Law of the Second Economic, Social and Cultural Plan, 1994. Plan and Budget Organisation, Law of the Third Economic, Social and Cultural Plan, 1999. Rafii, Minou ‘Eqtesad-e maskan [Housing economics]’, in Eqtesad-e Maskan, Tehran: Sazman-e melli-

ye maskan [National Land and Housing Organisation], 2003. Rafii, Minou, et al (2006) Analytical and Synthesis Document for the Comprehensive Housing Plan,

report prepared in Persian for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, 2006. Statistical Centre of Iran, Household Income and Expenditure Data, Tehran: Statistical Centre of Iran,

2008. Statistical Centre of Iran, Salname-ye amari Iran [Statistical Yearbook of Iran], 1387, Tehran: Statistical

Centre of Iran, 2008. Tajbakhsh, Kian, ‘Municipal Management and Decentralisation Study: Iran’, unpublished report prepared

for World Bank Regional Municipal Management and Decentralisation Project, 2003 Tehran City Renovation Organisation, Tashilgari: ta’sis va rahandazi-ye dafater-e tashilgari-e nowsazi

dar baftha-ye farsudeh-e shahr-e Tehran [Facilitation: establishing and launching facilitation offices of renovation in urban deteriorated fabrics of Tehran], edited by Kaveh Haji and Ali Akbari, Tehran: TCRO, Office for Renovation of Deteriorated Fabrics, 2011.

UN-Habitat, State of the World’s Cities 2010/2011: Bridging the Urban Divide, London: Earthscan, 2008. United Nations, World Urbanisation Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights, (ST/ESA/SER.A/352),

Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2014. Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation, ‘Amalkard-e sherkat-e madar takhassosi-e omran

va behsazi-e shahri-e Iran [Performance of Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation]’, unpublished report prepared for UDRO, 2014.

Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation, Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements, Tehran: UDRO, 2004.

Vice-Presidency for Strategic Planning and Supervision, Law of the Fifth Economic, Social and Cultural Plan, 2010.

VII. ANNEXES

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Websites Organisation Website address Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development

http://apmchud.com

Central Bank of Iran http://www.cbi.ir/ Higher Council for Architecture and Urban Planning

http://shahrsazi.mrud.ir/

Housing Foundation of Islamic Revolution http://www.bonyadmaskan.ir/ Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation

http://www.ichto.ir

Ministry of Interior http://www.moi.ir/ Ministry of Roads and Urban Development http://www.mrud.ir Municipalities Organisation http://www.imo.org.ir/ National Land and Housing Organisation http://www.nlho.ir New Towns Development Corporation http://ntoir.gov.ir/ Statistical Centre of Iran http://www.amar.org.ir/ Tehran City Renovation Organisation http://nosazi.tehran.ir Tehran Municipality http://www.tehran.ir The World Bank http://www.worldbank.org/ United Nations Development Programme http://undp.org United Nations Human Settlements Programme

http://unhabitat.org

Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation

http:// www.udro.org.ir/

Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group http:// www.rsuwg.ir/


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Annex I: Timeline of Iranian History, Urban Design, and Architecture

Historic Period Years Age/Culture/Kingdom Sample Urban Design and Architecture Artefacts

Prehistoric c. 7000 B.C. Mesolithic Historic Caves Archaeological remains c. 6500-6000 B.C. Domestication of

Animals, Agriculture Ali-Kosh, Dehloran Kamar-band Cave, Behshahr

Archaeological remains

c. 5000-3000 B.C. Copper Age Tappeh Gawra Tappeh Musyan Shahr-e Sukhteh

Decorated pottery Engraved seals Pazyryk carpet

Ancient Historic c. 3000-1150 B.C. Bronze Age/ Elamite Ziggurat of Choghazanbil Tappeh Hesar

Stone vessels

c. 1150-700 B.C. Early Iron Age/ Luristan/ Medes

Tappeh Sialk Engraved bronze articles

c. 700 B.C. Mannai Ziwiyeh Site Hassanlu palaces

West Urmiah & engraved objects Ziwiyeh gold, bronze and ivory objects

645 B.C., Destruction of Susa by Assyrians, Formation of Persian States Ancient Historic 559-333 B.C. Achaemenid Pasargadae

Persepolis Naqsh-e Rostam Tombs

Artefacts in silver, gold, and bronze

333 B.C., Conquest of Persia by Alexander III of Macedon—Hellenistic Period 333-248 B.C. Seleucid Kangavar Temple

Khurra Temple Seleucid Coins

c. 250 B.C.- 224 C.E. Parthians Rabat-e Safid Bistun Bronze statue of Shami

Coins

Historic 224-642 C.E Sassanids Sarvestan Palace Firouzabad Palaces Qasr-e Shirin Palaces Damghan Palaces Takht-e Suleyman Takht-e Taqdis Naqsh-e Rostam Taq-e Bostan Bishapur

Castings in silver, gold, and bronze Silk weaves Decorated vessels

635-642 C.E., Conquest of Iran by Moslems

VII. ANNEXES

117


Islamic Empire 661-819 C.E. Umayyad Caliphs Abbasid Caliphs

Tari-khaneh, Damghan Grand Mosque, Nayin Grand Mosque, Nishapur

Metalwork Textiles Korans

Persian and Persianate Moslem States

. 819-1055 C.E Safarids Taheris Samanids Ghaznavids Buyids

Gunbad-e Qabus Pir-Alamdar Gunbad-e Ali, Abarquh Davazdah Imam, Yazd Part of Grand Mosque of Isfahan

Metalwork Textiles Korans

1000-1157 C.E. Seljuks Grand Mosque of Isfahan Grand Mosque of Qazvin Grand Mosque of Ardistan Grand Mosque of Zawareh Shrine of Bayazid, Bastam

Metalwork Bronze engraving and inlaying Textiles Korans Bookbinding, illuminating, and illustration

C.E. 1218 Conquest of Iran by Genghis Khan Mongols 1218-1334 C.E. Il-Khanids Mausoleum of

Uljaitu,Sultaniya Grand Mosque of Yazd Grand Mosque of Kerman Grand Mosque of Tabriz Grand Mosque of Varamin Abu Samad Tower, Natanz

Metalwork Textiles Korans Bookbinding, illuminating, and illustration

C.E. 1370-94 Conquest of Iran by Tamerlane 1370-1502 C.E. Teymurids Part of Imam Reza

Complex, Mashhad Khargird Madrasa Blue Mosque of Tabriz

Metalwork Textiles, Brocades Korans Bookbinding, illuminating, and illustration

C.E. 1501 Establishment of the Safavid House by Shah Isma’il Unification 1502-1736 C.E. Safavids Mausoleum of Sheikh

Safi, Ardebil Imam Reza Complex, Mash-had

Metalwork Textiles Korans Bookbinding,


118


Naqsh-e Jahan (Imam) Square and its Surrounding Monuments Chehel-Sotun Palace Bridges of Isfahan Churches of Jolfa, Isfahan Cahar-baq Madrasa

illuminating, and illustration Behzad’s Miniature Paintings Sahnameh, Khamseh, etc. manuscripts

1722-29 C.E. Conquest of Iran by Afghan tribes 1729-1925 C.E.

c. 1790-1906 C.E.

Afshar Zand Qajar

Karim-Khan Citadel, Bath, Bazaar and Mosque, Pars Museum, Narenjestan Garden, Golshan Garden, Qavam House in Shiraz Ganjali Khan Bath, Bazaar and Mosque in Kerman Aqa Bozorg Mosque, Feiz Square and Bazaar Complex, Fin Garden Kashan Golestan Palace, Mosque and Bazaar in Tehran

Metalwork Textiles Korans Bookbinding, illuminating, and illustration Kamal-ol-Molk Paintings Sahnameh, Khamseh, etc. manuscripts Historic hotographs

1906 C.E. Constitutional Revolution Modern History 1906-1925 C.E.

1925-1978 C.E.

Qajar Pahlavi

Sepahsalar Madrasa, Niavaran Palace, Saad’Abad Palace Azadi Museum Avicenna Mausoleum in Hamadan Ferdowsi Mausoleum, Nader Shah’s Tomb in Mashhad

Classic Paintings Historic Photographs Modern arts

. 1978~today Islamic Revolution

VII. ANNEXES

119

Annex II: World Bank’s Urban Projects in Iran

Project Name ID

Commitment Amount in US Dollars

Product Line Approval Date

Northern Cities Water Supply & Sanitation Project P076884 224 IBRD/IDA 26-MAY-2005

Bam Earthquake Emergency Reconstruction Project

P088060 220 IBRD/IDA 28-OCT-2004

Ahwaz & Shiraz P071191 279 IBRD/IDA 25-MAY-2004

Urban Upgrading P073433 80 IBRD/IDA 25-MAY-2004

Earthquake Emergency Recovery Project P080802 180 IBRD/IDA 03-JUN-2003

Tehran Sewerage Project P069946 145 IBRD/IDA 18-MAY-2000

Tehran Transport Emissions Reduction Project P005174 2 GEF Project 05-OCT-1993

Tehran Drainage Project P005216 77 IBRD/IDA 28-MAY-1992

Earthquake Recovery Project P005210 250 IBRD/IDA 14-MAR-1991

Teheran Urban Transport Project P005205 42 IBRD/IDA 07-AUG-1973

Ghazvin-Vakilzadah Project P005184 22 IBRD/IDA 17-OCT-1967

Tehran Solid Waste Management Project P076055 70 IBRD/IDA N/A

http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=217672&piPK=95916&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=223661&category=regcountries&regioncode=6&countrycode=IR&sortby=PROJECT_NAME&sortorder=ASC�

http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=217672&piPK=95916&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=223661&category=regcountries&regioncode=6&countrycode=IR&sortby=PROJECTID&sortorder=ASC�

http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=217672&piPK=95916&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=223661&category=regcountries&regioncode=6&countrycode=IR&sortby=PRODLINETEXT&sortorder=ASC�

http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P088060�












120

Annex III: Councils in Islamic Republic of Iran

Political Subdivision Type of Settlement

Governing Official

Type of Council Minimum Requirements for Council Elections

Number of Councillors

Deh/ Rusta Village A rural settlement Dehdar

2 representatives for small villages

or a village council

Population of 100 people or 20 households

5

Dehestsan Rural Agglomeration

Includes a number of

villages Bakhshdar Rural Council Number of villages

in agglomeration

Bakhsh County Districts

Includes some cities and rural agglomerations

Bakhshdar County District Council

Number of rural agglomerations and cities with a minimum of 5

Mahalleh Neighbourhood/ Quarter

The smallest portion of a city

Shahrdar District Mayor Quarter Council Existence of at

least 7 quarters 7

Mantaqeh District

Includes some neighbourhoods

or quarters Shahrdar

District Mayor County District

Council Existence of at least 7 districts 7

Shahrak Town

A very small urban

development Shahrdar

Town Mayor Town Council Existence of at

least 500 subdivided plots

5

Shahr City

An urban settlement with

over 10,000 population

Shahrdar City Mayor City Council 7

Shahrestan County

Includes some cities and townships

Farmandar County Council Number of

townships and cities with a

minimum of 5

Ostan Province

Includes some cities and counties.

Ostandar Local

Governor Provincial Council

Number of counties with a minimum of 3

Keshvar Country Jomhuri-e Eslami Islamic Republic

President Ministers

Supreme Council of Provinces Number of

provinces (30)

VII. ANNEXES

121

Annex IV: Volumes of Iranian National Building Code Part Title Year

Adopted First Revision

Second Revision

1 Definitions 2 Administration 2005 3 Building Fire Protection 2001 4 General Building Requirements 2008 5 Building Materials & Products 1990 2003 2010 6 Design Loads for Buildings 2001 2006 7 Foundations 1990 2009 8 Masonry Buildings 2005 9 Design and Construction of Concrete

Structures 1989 2006 2009

10 Design and Construction of Steel Structures

1989 2005 2008

11 Industrialised Construction 2004 12 Safety and Precautions in

Construction 1993 2001 2006

13 Electrical Installations 1993 2003 14 Mechanical Systems 2001 2012 15 Elevators and Escalators 2001 2008 16 Plumbing systems 1993 2003 2012 17 Natural Gas Piping 2002 2008 2010 18 Acoustics and sound Control 2001 2011 19 Energy Conservation 1991 2002 2010 20 Signs and symbols 2005 21 Passive Defence 2012 22 Maintenance


122

Annex V: Five Year Development Plans Periods Key Points on Shelter Provision and Slum Upgrading

1963~1967 Third Development Plan

· Some informal settlements around Tehran and Mashhad were cleared during this period

1968~1972 Fourth Development Plan

· Creating savings funds for housing · Elaborating master plans for upgrading old neighbourhoods · Prioritising Government investment for low-cost housing and

clearing up big cities from slums

1973~1977 Fifth Development Plan

· Building 16,000 low-cost dwellings for slum-dwellers and 30,000 rural houses

· Building satellite towns for industrial workers around the cities

1979~1989 Early Post-Revolutionary Period

· Prevailing regulatory environment · Limited legal ownership of land · inadequate attention to urban development

1989~1993 First Development Plan

· Initiatives toward privatisation and deregulation · Measures to prevent informal construction and control rural-urban

migration · Largest volume of housing and land subsidies allocated by the

Government 1995~2004 Second Development Plan Third Development Plan

· PAK housing policy: saving, mass production, and small dwellings · Attention paid towards slum areas · UDRO established

2005~2009 Fourth Development Plan

· Revitalising informal settlements through an enabling approach · Government was required to initiate the reconstruction and

renovation of deteriorated fabrics

2010~2014 Fifth Development Plan

· Extensive Upgrading Initiatives · Mehr Housing Plan

VII. ANNEXES

123

Annex VI: Evolution of Activities in Slums Timeframe 1990~1993 1994~1996 1997~2004 After 2005 Since 2009

Upgrading city centres/cultural

axes

Problematic urban fabrics/ Integration of

small lots

Urban renewal Renovation and reconstruction of

deteriorated fabrics with an emphasis on

sustained participation

Moving toward regeneration

Main approach

Reconstruction of war-damaged areas; renovation of old city centres

Renovation and reconstruction of aged urban areas through purchase of land

Promoting endogenous development; preventing uncontrolled expansion of cities; improving previous large-scale interventions; institution-building; formulating redevelopment regulations

Continuing and improving on previous policies; return of attention to old parts of cities as well as areas generally thought as deteriorated and inefficient; retrofitting and improving safety

Sustainable and widespread participation of citizens though the creation of appropriate grounds and activities to jump start local development process

Main players Central Government and mayoral administrations

Central Government with the participation of mayoral administrations and other stakeholder institutions through the formation of companies owned by the public sector

Central Government with the participation of mayoral administrations, cultural and heritage organisation, banks, and other public and private stakeholders

Central Government through local agents, mayoral administrations, private sector, banks, local cooperatives, and charity organisations

Central Government as policy maker and monitoring authority, mayoral administrations for management of implementation, and the private sector as the main actor


124

Timeframe 1990~1993 1994~1996 1997~2004 After 2005 Since 2009 Upgrading city

centres/cultural axes


small lots





Location Scale City centres Aged inner city

neighbourhoods

City neighbourhoods and special zones

Neighbourhood/areas designated as deteriorated fabric

Structural axes of neighbourhoods in specific areas

Financing General Government budget/mayoral administrations

Public private partnership banks

General Government budget/limited sources of other partners

Private sector, banks, participation bonds, general Government budget

Private sector, participation bonds, general Government budget

Social aspect

Encouraging owners and residents/developing housing cooperatives for medium- and low-income households

Pushing natives out; lack of attention to the role of residents and owners as well as planning for new residents

Increased attention given to the quality of life of residents and encouraging them to participate; strengthening the role of housing cooperatives in the deteriorated fabric

Stressing the role of social groups; strengthening the position of owners and residents and giving attention to their needs

Emphasis on the participation of all social groups

Physical aspect

Uncontrolled, horizontal expansion of cities; declining city centres

Widespread destruction of target zones; exacerbation of spatial problems

Addressing spatial disorganisation and benefiting from all available capacity

Addressing spatial disorganisation and benefiting from all available capacity

Addressing spatial disorganisation of major structural axes of urban centres

VII. ANNEXES

125

Timeframe 1990~1993 1994~1996 1997~2004 After 2005 Since 2009 Upgrading city

centres/cultural axes


small lots





Conservation aspect

Formation of the Cultural Heritage Organisation; grounds for increased attention to cultural values Taking old urban fabric to be problematic; destruction and reconstruction

Increased attention given to existing structures; striving to reequip old structures; promoting ‘new life in old structure’

Withholding intervention in historical zones and striving to interact with relevant organisations, especially Cultural Heritage Organisation

Withholding intervention in historical zones and striving to interact with relevant organisations, especially Cultural Heritage Organisation


126

Annex VII: Informal Settlements in 68 Iranian Cities No

Province

City Informal Settlements

Popu

latio

n

City

Are

a (He

ctar

es)

Area

(Hec

tare

s)

Slum

Are

a/City

Are

a (%

)

popu

latio

n

Slum

Po

pulat

ion/

City

Po

pulat

ion

(%)

Perc

enta

ge w

ithin

th

e city

bou

ndar

ies

1 East Azerbaijan Capital 1191043 23000 1500 6.5% 300000 25.2 100

2

West Azerbaijan

Capital 520000 7570 1180 15.6 146000 28.1 79 3 City 1 181465 2226 982 44.1 63767 35.1 90 4 City 2 135780 2184 270 12.4 39997 29.5 80 5 City 3 150703 2308 321 13.9 37522 24.9 80 6 City 4 114153 2215 621 28.0 38572 33.8 100 7

Ardebil Capital 391455 5715 810 14.2 99485 25.4 90 8 City 1 473711 1148 157 13.7 22264 4.7 90 9

Isfahan Capital 1602110 17789 2363 13.3 221000 13.8 65

10 City 1 223071 5294 552 10.4 66449 29.8 90 11 City 2 208647 8955 510 5.7 24453 11.7 100 12 Alborz Capital 1386030 16200 729 4.5 19032 1.4 75 13 Ilam Capital 153328 1718 202 11.8 31860 20.8 100 14

Bushehr Capital 161674 8289 413 5.0 11977 7.4 100 15 City 1 93072 1485 314 21.1 14796 15.9 67 16

Tehran City 1 357389 1870 1173 62.7 138650 38.8 100 17 City 2 230147 2688 119 4.4 32489 14.1 100 18 South

Khorassan Capital 157848 2612 189 7.2 35033 22.2 98

19 Razavi Khorassan

Capital 2410800 29506 3877 13.1 821286 34.1 91 20 City 1 121300 1829 196 10.7 12631 10.4 80 21 City 2 213231 3307 373 11.3 19326 9.1 60 22 North Capital 186297 2902 524 18.1 70321 37.7 88

VII. ANNEXES

127

No

Province


Popu

latio

n

City

Are

a (He

ctar

es)

Area

(Hec

tare

s)

Slum

Are

a/City

Are

a (%

)

popu

latio

n

Slum

Po

pulat

ion/

City

Po

pulat

ion

(%)

Perc

enta

ge w

ithin

th

e city

bou

ndar

ies

Khorasan 23

Khuzestan

Capital 1100000 22000 3592 16.3 342075 31.1 85 24 City 1 235819 3290 264 8.0 48588 20.6 80 25 City 2 109597 1933 817 42.3 31836 29.0 100 26 City 3 122112 1265 275 21.7 46378 38.0 100 27 City 4 27715 943 377 40.0 13877 50.1 100 28 City 5 67466 771 236 30.6 24210 35.9 95 29 City 6 143734 1448 454 31.4 52641 36.6 100 30 City 7 219627 66250 600 0.9 54248 24.7 100 31 Zanjan Capital 349713 5593 256 4.6 69653 19.9 100 32 Semnan Capital 126780 2414 280 11.6 14710 11.6 100 34

Sistan & Baluchestan

Capital 567449 4846 1260 26.0 237000 41.8 92 33 City 1 73098 2300 872 37.9 46293 63.3 93 35 City 2 136956 3163 2180 68.9 44148 32.2 95 36

Fars Capital 1711186 18951 1725 9.1 184612 10.8 90 37 City 1 124350 2500 336 13.4 14724 11.8 100.0 38 Qazvin Capital 351318 3347 115 3.4 98285 28.0 53 39 Qom Capital 959000 12307 240 2.0 85000 8.9 95 40

Kurdistan Capital 325618 3561 536 15.1 173672 53.3 100

41 City 1 143953 1516 204 13.5 24141 16.8 50 42 City 2 92992 800 144 18.0 29036 31.2 100 43

Kerman Capital 515114 12220 1590 13.0 57082 11.1 80

44 City 1 170217 4400 1463 33.3 51853 30.5 88 45 City 2 139219 6819 390 5.7 19633 14.1 90 49 Kermanshah Capital 794863 9597 739 7.7 270979 34.1 80


128

No

Province


Popu

latio

n

City

Are

a (He

ctar

es)

Area

(Hec

tare

s)

Slum

Are

a/City

Are

a (%

)

popu

latio

n

Slum

Po

pulat

ion/

City

Po

pulat

ion

(%)

Perc

enta

ge w

ithin

th

e city

bou

ndar

ies

47 City 1 58566 306 123 40.2 15468 26.4 80 48 City 2 40848 517 96 18.6 12955 31.7 100 46 City 3 50296 344 101 29.4 14670 29.2 100 50 City 4 92591 1115 241 21.6 38225 41.3 100 51 Kohgiluyeh &

Boyerahmad Capital 100558 2391 879 36.8 27586 27.4 74

52 Golestan Capital 272838 4465 1687 37.8 56958 20.9 100

53 City 1 127167 2059 227 11.0 38150 30.0 85 54

Gilan Capital 557366 14671 789 5.4 83604 15.0 100 55 City 1 65614 1079 564 52.3 26886 41.0 85 56

Lorestan Capital 382640 3695 212 5.7 47000 12.3 99 57 City 1 244981 3569 318 8.9 69911 28.5 100 58

Mazandaran

Capital 261293 2846 171 6.0 28000 10.7 50 59 City 1 46291 841 580 69.0 34200 73.9 100 60 City 2 199698 2799 343 12.3 35373 17.7 100 61 City 3 201335 3036 693 22.8 80422 39.9 100 62

Markazi Capital 446760 5345 397 7.4 114735 25.7 100 63 City 1 165000 2053 244 11.9 18140 11.0 70 64 Hormozgan Capital 421955 5500 1295 23.5 117172 27.8 100 65

Hamadan Capital 520678 7252 597 8.2 97900 18.8 80 66 City 1 156289 2630 254 9.7 25002 16.0 77 67

Yazd Capital 432194 14074 2563 18.2 85416 19.8 50

68 City 1 58872 3181 862 27.1 30743 52.2 95 Country Total/

Average 24,174,980 426,812 49,556 19.1 5,400,100 26.1 88.7

VII. ANNEXES

129

Annex VIII: New National Strategy Document on Slums

National Strategy Document on Revitalising, Upgrading, Renovating and Enabling Deteriorated and Underutilised Urban Fabrics

Introduction Prepared by the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development (Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation) in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation based on Article 16 of the Law on Supporting Revitalisation, Upgrading, and Renovation of Deteriorated and Underutilised Urban Fabrics, and approved by the Honourable Cabinet by virtue of Article 138 of the Constitution, the present document is aimed at securing the collaboration and participation of all relevant agencies in the process of sustainable regeneration of urban areas and neighbourhoods targeted by urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation plans with the purpose of protecting citizen rights, enhancing living quality, regaining urban identity, effecting local governance, and moving towards the establishment of leadership, integrated management and unified procedures concerning all relevant agents at national and local levels through an approach based on Iranian-Islamic urban planning and architectural guidelines. The present document is the main reference for common definitions, goals/objectives, principles, strategies, and policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation as well as regularisation of informal settlements and enabling of their residents in the framework of two sets of measures—one preventive and the other related to the sustainable regeneration process of urban areas and neighbourhoods targeted by revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation plans. As the realisation of social justice is emphasised in different articles of the Constitution as well as the Vision Statement of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 2025, while poverty alleviation and social inclusion are among Government priorities, there is no rational justification for the inadequate attention given to the destiny of a large section of the country’s urban dwellers, who suffer from deficient housing, insufficient urban services/infrastructure and lack of a healthy social environment, and who are facing relative poverty and widespread unemployment. That is why the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has taken significant steps toward urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation. Relevant experience from more than one decade of continuous activity shows that


130

through relying on physical initiatives without any focus on the causes behind the formation and proliferation of urban informal settlements and on adopting preventive measures, it will be impossible to address the complex revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation issues. Since urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation involve the adoption of multifaceted policies on urban development and provision of housing and infrastructure as well as on making social and economic services available to the residents of target areas, the task cannot be accomplished by only one government agency. Addressing the issue on a large scale and in an effective manner entails the joint commitment of relevant government agencies and municipalities and concerted national, provincial and local efforts. It also requires the cooperation and participation of people as well as non-governmental and private actors. Thus, the focus of this document is on creating effective mechanisms for establishing unified procedures and ensuring coordination and collaboration among relevant authorities and organisations. Realisation of viable settlements is not possible without providing adequate access to infrastructure and services as well as social security and employment. If residents do not mobilise their social and economic capitals—that is, their spirit of social collaboration and individual creativeness as well as their assets (land, goodwill, cash, non-cash assets, etc.)—measures taken by government agencies in this respect will not be fruitful. Therefore, in this document, social participation as well as financial contribution of the people and the private sector is highlighted as a central tenet, while government agency initiatives are directed towards paving the ground (creating the means, institution-building, capacity-building, and enabling) based on priorities. As urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation constitute a multi-dimensional and inter-sectoral matter, this document is of an inter-sectoral/national nature with local characteristics, and thus has a long-term outlook in accordance with its strategic outlook. Definitions i. Revitalisation: The purposive process comprising a set of measures aimed at protecting and enhancing the quality of target zones and neighbourhoods while preserving their authenticity and integrity.

VII. ANNEXES

131

ii. Rehabilitation: Repeated, comprehensive strengthening and upgrading of target urban areas and neighbourhoods with minimal intervention. ii. Renovation: The holistic process in economic, socio-cultural and physical terms, aimed at restoring proper living conditions based on new relations and establishing a dynamic balance in target urban areas and neighbourhoods. iv. Urban Regeneration: The process of comprehensive development in economic, social, environmental and physical terms aimed at enhancing the quality of life across target urban areas and neighbourhoods in connection with the rest of the city. v. Target Urban Areas and Neighbourhoods: Areas that are the subject of regularisation plans of this Document based on approved initiatives for their revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation. vi. Informal Settlements: Neighbourhoods and urban areas with characteristics described in Article 2 of the National Document on Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements—hastily constructed inside or outside city boundaries without legal compliance, suffering from a serious lack of services and urban amenities, and often having tenure problems. vii. Regularisation: Regenerating target urban areas and neighbourhoods through reanimation, revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation that enable residents and enhance the quality of their lives and activities in the settlements. viii. Enabling: Increasing the socioeconomic and cultural capabilities of residents to manage their lives and participate in the process of regularising target urban areas and neighbourhoods.


132

ix. Endogenous Development: A type of urban development that aims to achieve harmony, balance, and sustainability through optimised use of development capacities existing within city limits and that is based on the principle of providing residents with healthy and safe lives (in accordance with standards), enabling them, and enhancing their wellbeing. x. Historic Urban Districts: Section(s) of city reflecting cultural-historic values, formed through the interaction between human beings and their surrounding environments in the course of time and distinguished from other zones by apparent characteristics and constituent structures (designated as cultural and historic districts by the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation). xi. Problematic: Areas in need of revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation—areas located in historic urban districts, irregular inner-city zones built up in recent periods, city zones created by municipal incorporation of rural settlements through urban sprawl, and informal settlements found within city limits—are targeted by revitalisation, upgrading, and renovation plans. The prominent characteristics of these areas are as follows: -Residents have lower per capita incomes and higher unemployment rates as compared with the city averages. -As compared with the city averages, housing units are not durable, population density is high, and there are also environmental problems. -Residents have inadequate access to urban services and infrastructure. -As compared with the rest of the city, social aberrations are apparent and further encouraged. -Historic and cultural identities have been neglected—social dignity and social esteem have declined in these areas—giving rise to an underclass substitution effect. Current trends indicate that if preventive measures are not taken and policies, plans and initiatives of the Government and mayoral administrations on urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation

VII. ANNEXES

133

remain small scale, occasional, and indifferent to social, economic and environmental dimensions of the issue, we will witness further growth of these areas as well as exacerbation of their problems. The most important factors contributing to the current situation and the expansion of irregular urban areas in the country may be subsumed under three related categories as follows: a. The rapid urban population growth trend in the country during the recent five decades as well as lagging national economic growth and distributive justice has led to increasing rates of urban unemployment and relative poverty of the three lowest income deciles. b. Ineffectiveness of some government policies and plans as well as real estate and monetary/financial markets in responding to demand by low-income and poor strata for settling inside the nation’s cities has resulted in their inclination toward residing in informal settlements or irregular urban zones. c. The Government and urban management agencies have given inadequate attention to irregular urban areas and neighbourhoods, focusing instead on creating new urban areas and devising regulations beyond the affordability range of some sectors of the population—hence, lack of timely remedy to exit the vicious cycle of socioeconomic poverty and physical deterioration. Vision Improving socioeconomic and environmental conditions for the residents of target areas and neighbourhoods in such a way that: -Housing standards and per capita public space, urban service and infrastructure will have been realised on a par with city averages. -Physical and functional transformations will move toward improvement, upgrading and sustainable development. -Households’ sense of hope and comfort will become evident, so that they can mobilise themselves, in material and spiritual terms, and advance toward a better future. Central Goals The Document’s simultaneous goals of preventing and addressing the problems of target urban areas and neighbourhoods are as follows:


134

1. Anticipating and preventing the expansion of urban irregular areas and neighbourhoods in economic, social, environmental and physical terms; 2. Realising the enhancement of a culture of citizenship, community participation, and collaboration; 3. Enhancing construction quality, safety and sustainability, and providing residents with satisfactory infrastructure and services; 4. Improving social conditions for residents and creating employment and income-generation opportunities for them, by taking into consideration development capacities of target areas and neighbourhoods; 5. Sustainably preserving and revitalising cultural and historic heritage as well as cultural identity of cities; 6. Realising sustainable life styles through urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation measures. Guiding Principles Revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation of this Document’s target areas and neighbourhoods are based on the following guiding principles: 1. Focusing on preventive policies; 2. Emphasising balanced distributions of population and activities through spatial planning—taking into account sustainable development capacities within cities; 3. Applying participatory and demand-based approaches (avoiding top-down approaches) that involve the maximum number of residents in various revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation activities across target areas and neighbourhoods; 4. Identifying, protecting and safeguarding existing values, preserving urban identities, and emphasising local and sustainable development of resident communities; 5. Realising Government-municipality collaboration in budgeting and financing social and urban services as well as urban infrastructure development and improvement (street networks, infrastructure and superstructure) together with the development of equipped public spaces located in target areas and neighbourhoods;

VII. ANNEXES

135

6. Removing investment obstacles, establishing incentive structures, providing technical and financial assistance, pilot-testing and promoting best practices, planning catalytic projects, and preparing revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation plans with a view to systematise the relevant measures taken by the Government and mayoral administrations; 7. Constructing suitable housing units in accordance with urban, neighbourhood and physical identities in target urban areas and neighbourhoods drawing on the support of the Government and municipalities,; 8. Emphasising the leading role of urban management (councils, mayoral administrations, and rural administrations) in devising and implementing revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation plans; 9. Investing in revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation of residential and non-residential commercial buildings used by local residents, the private sector, and the employed; 10. Formulating and implementing local community development plans, improving residents’ subsistence, and addressing social problems in parallel with physical revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation of target areas and neighbourhoods; 11. Preserving and nurturing cultural identities and social capitals of target areas and neighbourhoods through an approach that instils a sense of belonging to the place, enhances community solidarity and promotes by extension the effective participation of residents; 12. Sharing the gains and the added values—which are created in urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation—with local residents of urban areas and neighbourhoods; 13. Avoiding intervention by government, municipal, and other public sector agencies in target areas and neighbourhoods solely aimed at generating income; 14. Avoiding intervention in target areas and neighbourhoods that results in large-scale resettlements of residents. Strategies The following strategies are adopted and implemented to prevent the formation and proliferation of urban irregularity; revitalise, upgrade, and renovate irregular urban areas; and realise the desired vision:


136

1. Carrying out revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation measures within a coordinated urban development policy framework—giving priority to endogenous development; 2. Addressing real estate and capital market failures in response to demand by urban low-income strata; 3. Preparing revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation programmes and projects based on residents’ actual demands—commensurate with the socioeconomic and physical characteristics of each target area or neighbourhood—in order to improve quality of life and strengthen and nurture the identity of target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 4. Securing the participation of residents and employed persons in revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation activities across target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 5. Procuring land in target areas and neighbourhoods—excepting approved public and service land-use—with priority given to the private sector (first), mayoral administrations (second), and executive agencies (third) that are the subject of Article 5 of the Law on Management of National Services. 6. Improving economic, social, and environmental conditions for residents of target areas and neighbourhoods; 7. Identifying, preserving, strengthening and leveraging the physical, social, economic and environmental capacities of historic-cultural places and areas in revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation of target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 8. Formulating an appropriate financial system to realise revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation projects and plans for target urban areas and neighbourhoods. Policies Policies for each strategy and for the realisation of its goals are given below: Strategy 1: Carrying out revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation measures within a coordinated urban development policy framework—giving priority to ‘Endogenous Development’ 1. Creation of appropriate institutional and legal frameworks for managing target urban areas and neighbourhoods as part of the country’s integrated urban management;

VII. ANNEXES

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2. Emphasising ‘endogenous development’ by taking account of existing capacities inside city boundaries and preventing urban sprawl that leads to destruction of natural resources with devastating environmental impacts; 3. Exploitation of under-utilised plots or problematic land-uses as reserve land for urban revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation initiatives in the framework of urban development plans; 4. Emphasising poverty reduction and creating links between physical and socioeconomic development initiatives in the context of strategic plans for urban development; 5. Providing low-income households with affordable living spaces by taking into account settlement patterns—giving attention to necessary car parks and observing lot size requirements in preparing and implementing urban development plans; 6. Improving capabilities and capacities of mayoral administrations and Islamic City Councils (in terms of financial budgeting, human resources, organisational structure, and institutional development) in order to improve urban services and infrastructure in target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 7. Making construction regulations as well as issuance of construction permits simple and transparent; 8. Emphasising accurate and complete observance of building codes with the purpose of strengthening construction and retrofitting existing buildings against earthquakes in target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 9. Taking account and utilisation of existing physical possibilities with the aim to realise the required land use through supportive programmes and incentive packages; 10. Preparation of draft guidelines by provincial General Offices of Roads and Urban Development for designing and using suitable construction materials and its submission for approval to legal authorities in charge of building codes—taking into account climatic, architectural and urbanisation characteristics of target areas and neighbourhoods. Strategy 2: Addressing real estate and capital market failures in response to demand by low-income urban strata


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1. Emphasising timely implementation of land development plans within city boundaries in order to supply urban land according to demand and affordability; 2. Preparation of low-cost, quality housing plans by MRUD—and paving the way for their implementation based on earlier experiences and capacities of municipalities, cooperatives, the private sector, local institutions and beneficiaries—under the Law for Organising and Supporting Production and Supply of Housing; 3. Promoting utilisation of modern construction technologies in order to build low cost, standard and affordable housing units for low-income groups as quickly as possible; 4. Creating appropriate mechanisms to render required technical and consulting services to residents of target urban areas and neighbourhoods for quality construction in the process of revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation of their housing units; 5. Formulating required interventions with the aim to encourage and support large-scale builders to construct homes in target urban areas and neighbourhoods. Strategy 3: Preparing revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation programmes and projects based on residents’ actual demands—commensurate with the socio-economic and physical characteristics of each target area or neighbourhood—in order to improve quality of life and strengthen and nurture the identity of target urban areas and neighbourhoods 1. Avoiding designs and plans for large-scale intervention that lead to the disintegration of physical, social and economic fabrics and extensive displacement of residents in urban areas and neighbourhoods targeted for revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation; 2. Policy-making and planning for target urban areas and neighbourhoods through city-wide approaches; 3. Recording and prioritising residents’ needs—through participatory planning approaches—based on their actual demands; 4. Planning measures for amalgamating or subdividing lots as necessary in order to address problems faced with small-grained urban fabrics and to motivate reconstruction on the scale of urban blocks in target urban areas and neighbourhoods—while protecting the identities and financial stakes of local communities;

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5. Prepare plans to address inaccessibility problems in old urban areas and neighbourhoods through upgrading the street networks with minimal destruction while observing relevant regulations; 6. Planning measures needed in revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation plans to ensure the satisfaction of those residing next to major reconstruction sites and requiring temporary resettlement; 7. Complying with obligations to produce new housing spaces that are affordable to owners and tenants in the target urban areas and neighbourhoods—on the basis of upstream urban plans and prior to the implementation of revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation initiatives in deteriorated and under-utilised urban fabrics. 8. Making use of new technologies, methods and equipments as well as mixed or dynamic land-uses with the aim to avoid unwarranted street widening in target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 9. Protecting urban landscape and preventing visual pollution by making use of local and indigenous elements. Strategy 4: Securing the participation of residents and employed persons in revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation activities across target urban areas and neighbourhoods 1. Facilitation by Islamic City Councils of neighbourhood councils, community-based institutions, local renovation offices, cooperatives, and other renovation actors; 2. Delivery of educational programs—in order to nurture a culture of citizenship and encourage community participation—by the implementing agency and local authorities with the support of mayoral administrations; 3. Giving priority to target urban areas and neighbourhoods in the allocation of government resources for financing urban infrastructure and basic services as catalytic initiatives; 4. Supporting the establishment of cooperatives—for those urban blocks that need land amalgamation and readjustment—as representatives of real estate owners to public legal offices, such as real estate registry departments, in the process of land readjustment, aggregation and parcelling; 5. Giving priority to local CBO (especially cooperatives) projects and benefiting from the legal framework facilitating the formation of County Development Cooperatives.


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Strategy 5: Facilitating investment and creating appropriate incentive structures aimed at the private sector, especially residents and real estate owners in target urban areas and neighbourhoods 1. Facilitating the allocation of state-owned land for public use (institutional, athletic, medical, cultural) in target urban areas and neighbourhoods through a variety of methods—such as sale through instalments or rent-to-own; 2. Laying the grounds for granting necessary low-cost banking facilities and discounts on construction permit duties to residents and builders of residential, commercial, administrative, or service units as well as to buyers—within the framework of the Law on Organising and Supporting Housing production and Supply and other relevant regulations and guidelines; 3. Facilitation of new titling by county real estate registry departments based on Article 10 of the Law; 4. Supporting the establishment of systems by mayoral administrations that provide up-to-date information to the public on construction guidelines and recent changes in urban master plans—comprehensive and detail—as well as revitalisation, upgrading, and renovation plans across target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 5. When private customers exist, avoiding procurement of real estate in target urban areas and neighbourhoods by mayoral administrations and executive agencies that are subject of Article 5 of the Law on Management of National Services—except for approved public and service land-use. Strategy 6: Improving economic, social, and environmental conditions for residents of target areas and neighbourhoods 1. Preparation of specific programmes for the provision of public education, health, and medical services as well as recreational facilities by relevant agencies and submitting them for approval to county and provincial taskforces; 2. Expanding technical-vocational and basic skills training and creating small and sustainable enterprises in order to enhance the economic wellbeing of resident households; 3. Preparation of integrated databanks by relevant agencies for job-seekers residing in target urban areas and neighbourhoods in order to facilitate their employment;

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4. Supporting collaboration and pooling of small capitals among residents through legal financial institutions with the aim to generate employment and reconstruct, upgrade and renovate homes in target urban areas and neighbourhoods; Strategy 7: Identifying, preserving, strengthening and leveraging the physical, social, economic and environmental capacities of historic-cultural places and areas in revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation of target urban areas and neighbourhoods 1. In each city/region’s cultural or historic areas (as designated by the Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organisation), specific guidelines for intervention (physical, economic, social, environment, etc.) and supervision will be prepared (with an approach entailing the protection of cultural and historic heritage and enhancement of quality of life for area residents) with the collaboration of MRUD and the respective mayoral administration based on ‘approved regulations for protection of national historic fabrics’. The guidelines will be approved by the Supreme Council of Architecture and Urban Planning of Iran. 2. Combining urban design with urban revitalisation in historic and cultural sites through an approach that aims to preserve their physical–environmental identities as well as their effects on other urban elements while allowing them to assume new functions; 3. Promoting tourist/historic attractions of target urban areas and neighbourhoods through a socioeconomic revitalisation approach as well as physical improvement of their public spaces and by attracting investment and designating appropriate land-uses in compliance with relevant guidelines and regulations; 4. Avoiding large-scale physical interventions and emphasising the preservation of unity in the physical-structural and social systems by making use of an approach aimed at regaining community identities through shared social memories, maintaining and optimising population densities, and protecting neighbourhood centres with the participation of residents in target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 5. Revitalising historic-cultural sites in target urban areas and neighbourhoods through redefining their roles and functions and by taking into consideration urban economic needs;


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6. Planning for the conservation and revitalisation of historic landmarks—individual, complex, area or site—located in target urban zones, as well as elements directly related to them, with a focus on integrating their economic structures with those of their respective cities; Strategy 8: Formulating an appropriate financial system to realise revitalisation, rehabilitation and renovation projects and plans for target urban areas and neighbourhoods 1. Creating a specific line for development of target urban areas and neighbourhoods in the capital budget of mayoral administrations—to be financed through municipal taxes such as renovation duties; 2. Creating an independent budget line in annual budget laws—based on Article 13 of the Law on Supporting Revitalisation, Upgrading, and Renovation of Deteriorated and Under-utilised Urban Fabrics (approved in 2010)—for urban development in target urban areas and neighbourhoods; 3. Using tax revenues and proposing revisions to guidelines and regulations; 4. Issuing participation bonds and making use of other legal financial instruments; 5. Benefiting from existing capacities of legal financial institutions.

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Index

Achaemenid Monuments, 3 Ahvaz, 90 Alexander III of Macedon, 4 Ardabil, 94, 96 Asia Pacific Ministerial

Conference on Housing and Urban Development, xii, 115

Bandar Abbas, 68, 71, 76, 97, 113

Bank Keshavarzi, 97 Bank Maskan, 52, 96 Bushehr, 80 CHP, 29, 52, 56, 108 Commission for Article 5,

32 Constitutional Revolution,

5, 118 construction sector, 48, 49 councils, 25, 26, 34 Cultural Heritage,

Handicrafts, and Tourism Organisation, 19

deteriorated fabrics, xiii, xix, xx, xxi, xxii, 29, 30, 31, 53, 54, 59, 61, 66, 67, 68, 74, 79, 82, 83, 87, 94, 95, 96, 97, 101, 103, 104, 122

earthquakes, 38, 39, 40, 42 Elamite and Jiroft

civilisations, 3

Environmental Conservation Organisation, 19

Expediency Council, 19 Gorgan, 80, 94 Guardian Council, 19 Hamadan, 24, 39, 94, 118,

128 HCAUP, 29, 30, 31, 32, 61 Housing, 20, 21, 22, 24,

29, 31, 32, 37, 38, 41, 43, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 56, 70, 90, 91, 96, 108, 113, 114, 115, 122

Housing Foundation of Islamic Revolution HFIR, 22, 115

ICHHTO, 83 Iranian languages, 15 Isfahan, 1, 5, 71, 94, 104,

117, 126 Islamic Revolution, ii, 3, 6,

90, 118 Kashan, 80, 118 Khuzestan, 5, 66, 90, 127 land acquisitions, 46 land legislation, 46 land prices, 46, 50 land supply, 46, 50 literacy levels, 14, 15 Majles, 19, 27 Mallashieh, 90 Mashhad, 80, 94, 95, 96,

117, 118, 122

Meydan-e Imam, 1, 5 MHP, 52, 54, 55, 108 Ministery of Interior

MoI, 20 Ministry of Development

and Housing MHD, 20

Ministry of Housing and Urban Development MHUD, 20, 21, 31, 41,

56, 113, 114 Ministry of Roads and

Urban Development MRUD, 20, 49, 54, 115

Municipalities Law, 26, 90 Municipalities Organisation

MO, 20, 115 National Building Code, 41,

121 National Document on

Strategies for Enabling and Regularising Informal Settlements, x, xxi, 29, 74, 75, 90, 131

National Land and Housing Organisation NHLO, 22, 50, 53, 115

National Strategy Document on Revitalising, Upgrading, Renovating and Enabling Deteriorated and Underutilised Urban Fabrics, xxi, 74, 102, 129


144

Navvab Project, 80, 81 New Towns Development

Corporation NTDC, 22, 53, 115

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC, 8

Orumieh, 95 Parthians, 4 participation, xiii, xx, xxi,

30, 59, 83, 87, 90, 101, 104, 105, 123, 124, 129, 130, 134, 135, 136, 139, 141

Pasargadae, 3 Persepolis, 3 Persian, 3, 4, 5, 11, 15, 16,

24, 28, 34, 56, 76, 98, 110, 116, 117

planning structure, xiv, xix population, xvii, xx, 4, 7,

10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 28, 37, 39, 43, 48, 59, 61, 66, 67, 68, 103, 107, 120, 126, 134, 141

precipitation rates, 11

Provincial Planning Council, 25, 32

regeneration, xxi, xxii, 31, 74, 79, 87, 102, 104, 123, 129

Regeneration, 59 Regional Slum Upgrading

Working Group RSUWG, xv, xvi

Renovation, 21, 59, 74, 94, 103, 104, 107, 110, 114, 115, 123

Seleucid, 4 Semnan, 80, 94, 127 Shiraz, 80, 94, 95, 118,

119 Silk Road, 4 slum areas, xx, 64, 65, 72,

122 Slums, xx, 59, 61, 63, 64,

65, 66, 67, 68, 123 Supreme Council of

Provinces, 25, 26, 120 Tabriz, 71, 95, 117 tenure security, 72, 73 UNCHS, 24

UNDP, 7, 24 UN-Habitat, xvii, 24, 114 Upgrading, 24, 59, 72, 74,

79, 90, 91, 94, 96, 97, 106, 107, 119, 122, 123

Urban Development and Revitalisation Organisation, xiii, 76, 114, 115

urban fabrics, 29, 30, 59, 80

Urban Land Law, 22 Urban renewal, xxi Urban Upgrading and

Housing Reform Program UUHRP, 24

urbanisation, xiii, xvii, xix, 5, 10, 11, 37

World Bank, 7, 24, 29, 39, 40, 74, 90, 114, 115, 119

Yazd, 80 Zoroastrianism, 4

Semnan City, Semnan Province, Central Iran

Modern Streets and Parking Built Inside the Historic Fabric

Currently, many countries in the Asia-Pacific Region are experiencing a period of rapid urbanisation. A number of countries must address the challenge of the “youth bulge” and its consequences. Others are dealing with the impact of natural disasters, regional wars, ongoing internal conflicts, and/or significant migration. In a majority of cases, rapid urbanisation has led to the deterioration of urban fabrics and formation of informal settlements.

From Shelter to Regeneration: Slum Upgrading and Housing Policies in Islamic Republic of Iran provides a succinct description of Iran’s experience in shelter provision and slum upgrading in the last few decades and describes the gradual evolution of approaches to and policies on slums and shelter in response to the outcomes of earlier initiatives.

It also offers insight into Iran’s urban governance and planning structure alongside its history and socioeconomic conditions. Its aim is to stimulate dialogue among specialists and policy-makers on how to address shelter and slum challenges in the urban development process.

Originally presented at and debated on in international meetings, the material has been updated and expanded and is now presented in this book-length volume.

Regional Slum Upgrading Working

Group P O Box 19395-4339,

Tehran, I R Iran

Price: US$ 79.95

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