Urban Identity and Iranian New Towns

Abstract

In an era when urbanization on a large scale and at a rapid pace has become a dominant trend, particularly in developing countries, the fundamental issue of urban spaces identity is always being ignored. This is an important issue in two respects. First, it refers to the weakening of the identity elements over time, coinciding with the new development; second, it regards the lack of attention to identity stimulants, and failure in using them in a figurative and semantic manner in a small-scale structure to the macro-scale of urban tissues. The relative identity crisis is particularly apparent in new towns and it is one of the obstacles to attract population into these soulless towns. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the identity of 10 new towns in Iran to achieve a conceptual-cognitive framework for reviewing the above mentioned problem. We conducted this research based on qualitative and quantitative methods and by the use of the Goeller matrix and of a qualitative survey questionnaire. Findings indicate that in terms of selected measures, the new town of Baharestan achieved the first place and the other two towns “Andisheh and Pardis” occupied the next ranks. Results indicate that among new towns under investigation, the new town of Baharestan got the highest rank because its principles of identity were inspired by the principles of the Isfahan School.

Experiences, characteristics, and features of developing new towns between 1898 and 1970

“…In this era, the role of governments in developing these cities, the proportional limit of the garden city population, and the transfer of additional population to new towns had been emphasized. However, most new towns remained theoretical and only a few of them were built (Gatarić et al, 2019;Ziari, 2015;Harati & Zivyari, 2012;Nasiri, 2014;Vongpraseuth et al, 2020;Olds, 1994;Sarvar et al, 2016;Pazhuhan et al,2015;Wang, 2022) .…”

“…During this period in the United States, new towns were emphasized without having a role in responding to the problems of metropolitans. In developing countries, many cases of new town planning had been performed during this period (Belford, 2011;Forsyth & Peiser, 2019;Harati & Zivyari, 2012;Nasiri,2014;Vongpraseuth et al, 2020;Olds, 1994;Sarvar et al, 2016;Pazhuhan et al,2015) .…”

“…The creation of new capitals of Chandigarh, Brasilia, and Islamabad in the developing countries also occurred in response to these goals. During this decade, with the emergence of new phenomena such as the polarization of the residential centers model, the disintegration of regional balance, and the creation of gaps among districts, solving these problems and paying attention to decentralization were among the new goals of new towns (Ziari, 2015;Harati & Zivyari, 2012;Nasiri,2014;Sarvar et al, 2016;Pazhuhan et al,2015;Wang, 2022;Azizi & Arbab,2010) .…”

“…In different countries of the world, new political, mining, oil, industrial, and surplusable towns have been built to attract the surplus population, control population and physical growth, perform decentralization and spatial organization of mother cities, and provide housing and regional development. According to the nations' policies in building new towns, each country has special experiences in this field (Harati & Zivyari, 2012;Ziari, 2015;Pazhuhan et al, 2015;Kim, 1977;McDonald, 1975 ;Helbock, 1968 ;Van Leynseele & Bontje, 2019;Berechman, 1976;Sarvar et al, 2016;Smith, 1966;Simpson, 2010;Leonard & Downie,1972;Atash & Beheshtiha, 1998 ;Wilson, 1986;Nasiri,2014).…”

“…The organized local groups maintained their traditional powers for about 15 years after starting their operations. In particular, they received local taxes from the New Town Development Organization that allowed them to run the government facilities in their area (on the condition of repaying the relevant loans from local taxes) (Pazhuhan et al, 2015;Nasiri,2014) .…”