Over the past 460 years, Tehran’s population has risen from 15,000 to around 8 million, its area has increased from 4 square kilometers to over 750, and the number of its neighborhoods has increased from 5 to 374 (In the comprehensive plan of 1992 the proposed number of neighborhoods was set at 524)
With the explosive growth of Tehran especially in the last three decades, many of the markers of Tehran’s identity which gave its citizens a sense of belonging have been neglected, many compromised and others lost. Amongst them we can count the degradation or loss of neighborhoods-Neighborhoods which, due to their historical background, remind many of Tehran’s older citizens of social and political events, and fond memories of leisure times in the past.
Contemporary Tehran was formed by the fusion of three distinct cores- Shemiranat , old Tehran and ancient Rey. Geographically they form an inverted triangle on a North-South axis, with Shemiranat at the foothills of the Alborz Mountain as its base in the North, and Rey as its apex in the South. These three cores before their fusing and forming Contemporary Tehran had come to life independently, each based on a particular source of water supply (the river flow in Shemiranat, underground aqueducts in old Tehran and springs in the ancient Rey.
Since favorable conditions for livelihood and varied climate existed within this framework made of the three core areas and the parts that were subsequently added, several other villages, some with thousands of years of history, were also present. Along with the three core areas, they have also become incorporated into the development of contemporary Tehran, thus creating a very high potential for the retention of geographical and historical identities for contemporary Tehran.
The Urban Subdivision Review Plan attempts to retrace these villages, each one of which laid the basis for the formation of different neighborhoods in contemporary Tehran. Furthermore, it seeks to indentify other surviving and historical landmarks which can be used to demarcate old neighborhoods-with all of their features which are reminders of authenticity, identity and collective memory around the city. Finally the plan aims to return them to contemporary Tehran.
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