No abstract

No abstract

The 2022 winter was the most polluted season of Tehran in the past five years. Tehran is rated as one of the world’s most polluted cities in World Air Quality Index (AQI) Ranking. Air pollution in Iran’s big cities is the consequence of several economic, technological, management, and socio-cultural factors. But how important is the currency exchange rate? Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, the country has been subjected to sanctions imposed by a varied of international entities, namely the United States. The economic and political consequences of the exchange rate have so far been the central topics of interest to researchers, journalists, and officials. Although multiple factors affect the level of air pollution in cities, this study narrows down its focus on the 2018-2020 period, during which changing in Dollar to Rial have burdened environmental strategies in Iran. National and public entities do not officially reveal the trade volume between Iran and the international community, importing and exporting transactions, and foreign and domestic investments. Therefore, this descriptive-analytical paper examines the experts’ and official debate over the topic in the major national and international newspapers, news agencies, and interviews. Findings reveal political debate and economic consequences, namely a decrease in the Iranian Rial exchange rate against the U.S. dollar, have had undeniable impacts on the national and local actions related to five key areas of public transit, motorcycles, automobiles, petrol, and refineries and power plants, which are five significant pollution factors in Tehran.

No abstract

In the era of visual media, cities, and society are represented, experienced, and interpreted through images. The need for interdisciplinary visual approaches, therefore, is indisputable. By focusing on cinema, this paper aims to develop a conceptual, methodological framework through which theory helps a broad range of researchers in social sciences, humanities, and arts interpret the represented phenomenon. Based on Peirce’s model of signs, the framework provides the basis for a dynamic interpretation of the city and society. This paper shows that Peircean cinesemiotics takes advantage of theory in three ways: First, as the basis that provides scholars with clues necessary for identifying eligible “image-signs”; second, as the guiding framework that helps them reach a final interpretation; third, as ideas are being criticized from visual perspectives. As an example of its application, using Jane Jacobs’ “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” the final part of the paper applies Peircean cinesemiotics to an image-sign from Death Wish (2018) and interprets it as the representation of safety/crime in a neighborhood.