Abstract:
The Iranian government has placed new emphasis on urban renewal through participatory approaches in recent years. The main target areas are called deteriorated urban fabrics, characterized by micro-lots, impenetrability, and lack of sustainability. In Tehran, renovation of deteriorate urban fabrics has been initiated through dedicated neighborhood facilitation offices. This paper analyzes the activities and achievements of the Khazaneh Facilitation Office (KFO) in Tehran based on information obtained from office records and first-hand experiences of the initiative’s manager and facilitators. Findings indicate that contradictions between the city’s detailed plan and deteriorated fabric designations as well as unresolved tenure/title issues can act as major obstacles to renewal. Yet, carrying out enabling initiatives, upgrading the built environment, and providing residents with renovation-related legal, social, and financial services can prove successful in gaining the community’s trust and jump-starting renovation activities. Due to low prices of land in Khazaneh in the initial period of KFO’s activities, the offered incentive package had not been automatically attractive to investors/builders for entering renovation partnerships with home-owners. Additional strategies were thus required, including advocacy and knowledge dissemination, encouraging investors/builders to pool resources, and developing large-scale commercial side-projects to activate renewal. The actual number of renovations directly managed by KFO remained low due to shortages of trusted investors as well as bank loans. Yet, as a result of a subsequent rise in land prices as well as side services provided by KFO, Khazaneh is now experiencing significant renewal activities.
Machine summary:
urban renewal, deteriorate fabric, community participation, neighborhood facilitation office, Khazaneh, Tehran Introduction Urban renewal and inner-city redevelopment activities in Iran have gained new impetus in recent years.
The renovation activities carried out through the facilitation offices are supposed to address the following issues: poverty and lack of financial ability to retrofit or rebuild homes; deficient urban services, scarcity of green spaces, and problematic street networks; high density despite small lots and low-rise construction; low levels of social indicators; existence of tenure/title problems; and/or economic decline and low return on investment in construction.
The steps taken by the facilitation offices must include (TCRO, 2011:60-69): Creating the office and finding effective partners (for example CBOs); Building trust and creating the grounds for participation through, among other things, dissemination of accurate information; Assessing influencing socioeconomic and physical factors and the capacity at the local level for renovation; Conducting deeds assessment and prioritizing community needs; Institution-building, including the enhancement human resources and creation of working groups and neighborhood renovation committees; Identifying residents who want to renovate their homes through various modalities; Monitoring and evaluating the initiatives, including assessment of satisfaction.
The general aims of renewal, facilitated through the neighborhood offices, are: decreasing vulnerability to risk of earthquakes and other natural hazards; providing urban services, including open and green spaces; creating new capacity for urban development based on overarching plans for Tehran; and addressing part of the additional need for housing in the city.