|
Atlas of Tehran Metropolis
Collaborators
Objectives and Methods:
An Atlas for Tehran's
Citizens
Scientific Application
of Atlas
Applications of Atlas in
Urban Planning
Applications of Atlas in
Urban Management
Application of Atlas as
a Source of Information for Citizens
Cartography and Data
Analysis
Synthesized Maps
Collaborators
Atlas of Teheran
Metropolis is realized in Tehran by Tehran Geographic
Information Center (Urban Processing and Planning Co., affiliated with the Municipality of Tehran),
within the framework of a join research program with the research group
"Monde Iranien" (CNRS, University Paris
III Sorbonne Nouvelle, INALCO, EPHE) in Paris.
Director of Tehran
Geographic Information
Center
Seyyed Mehdi Moieni
Planning and direction
Masserat AMIR-EBRAHIMI, Seyyed Mohsen HABIBI, Bernard HOURCADE, Mohammad-Hassan MOUSAVIZADEH, Shahriar
ZARRIN
Data Bank
Arezu BARZEGAR,
Kavrayaneh Co. (Ruzbeh SHAHRESTANI), Homayun RUDBAND
Geographic Data
Analysis
Fofo AMETEPE, Hubert
MAZUREK (©Cabral, IRD Montpellier)
Design and
Cartography
Reza ALIZADEH, Susan
AMIRI, Majid BALOUCH, Masumeh GANBARI-NEJAD, Parastoo Mohammadi, Vahid YUSEF-NIA, Kurosh ZAMANI
Photos
Shahriar ZARRIN
Translation
Masserat AMIR-EBRAHIMI,
Nasser baligh, Mohammad-Hadi
KHALIL-NEJADI, Shahriar zarrin
Text Editing
Parvaneh mahmoudi, Mohammad-Hassan MOUSAVIZADEH, Farshad Nourian, Shahriar ZARRIN
Web Site
Hatratech Co. (Behruz JAMALI, Ali TORKIAN)
Administration
Shahnaz BAKHSHI, Marjan
JONEIDI, Neda KABIRI, Lyda MOGHADAM, Christine RIVIERE
and the whole
scientific, technical and administrative personnel of Tehran Geographic
Information Center
and Monde Iranien
Atlas of Tehran Metropolis
The Atlas of Tehran Metropolis is a research
project on geographic analysis of Tehran,
and its region’s residents, activities and facilities. Although the
metropolitan area of Tehran,
with a population of more than 12 million, is one of the largest
metropolises of the world, no comprehensive research has been carried out
on its geographic and historic aspects. Therefore, not enough knowledge
about Tehran
and its region had been made available. The Atlas of Tehran Metropolis
seeks to provide reliable information on demographic, cultural, economic
and housing aspects of Tehran’s
inhabitants through detailed geographic studies of neighborhood and village
levels. This project includes both the City of Tehran and its region, since it is
impossible to understand this City without considering those who live in
its suburbs and commute back and forth. this
Atlas is both an academic research and a practical project, making it
possible for academicians and urban planners to compare Tehran with other large cities of the
world in order to better understand its features and course of development.
On the other hand, this Atlas lays out the issues and concerns of Tehran’s
citizens, to be easily considered by the region’s urban managers and
political officials.
The term
“Tehran Metropolis”, which is used through the book denotes no
operational or administrative value, and is only used here in its
geographic sense. This term refer to the City of Tehran,
according to the official municipal divisions and the Province of Tehran.
this Atlas contains
information based on the 1996 census of population and housing. This is
displayed at two levels: City district and the region. Although other
studies have been carried out at the township and regional scale, they are
too general to provide a realistic view of Tehran. Also, processing the data at the
scale of city blocks (i.e. 35000 blocks in Tehran) or villages (at the Province)
could provide useful raw information, but they require collection and
processing of data too large to be comprehensible. Therefore, it was
decided to analyze the City of Tehran
at the neighborhood level (112 neighborhoods). The Province is also
analyzed at town (25 towns) and district (63 rural districts) levels. For
this reason, in this Atlas, variables are displayed through the use of two
different scales and two different maps for the City and the Province.
Also, some of the Maps on “Territory” and “History”
of Tehran
are viewed at different scales, depending on the subject matter.
The Atlas of Tehran Metropolis
is the brain-child of two university professors. Dr. Sayyed Mohsen Habibi,
Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and professor of urban planning at
University of Tehran, and Dr. Bernard Hourcade, geographer and senior
research fellow at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National
Center for Scientific Research, CNRS) in France and former chairman of the
Research group Monde Iranien (Iranian World) affiliated to CNRS,
University Sorbonne Nouvelle, Ecole Nationale des Langues et Civilisations
Orientales (National Institute of Eastern Languages and Civilizations -
INALCO) and Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (School for Applied Advance
Studies EPHE). This project has been carried out in Iran at the Tehran Geographic
Information Center,
within a framework of a convention of collaboration between the two Iranian
and French institutions. In addition to the authors, the scientific and
executive committee directing the project consists of Shahriar Zarrin,
architect and director of the project, Dr. Masserrat Amir-Ebrahimi,
geographer and Dr. Mohammad Hassan Mousavizadeh who has coordinated all
scientific, technical, administrative and executive stages of the project.
Objectives
and Methods:
Advanced geographic research
for most cities of the world has been carried out before in order to attain
knowledge on demographic, cultural, social and economic characteristics as
well as developments in housing and urban planning. It is difficult to
comprehend the functions of these vast areas and their analysis requires
detailed geographic studies at various scales to understand features,
developments and problems associated with different neighborhoods and
settlement areas.
In this Atlas, statistical data
is analyzed at medium scale : at sub-district level
for the City of Tehran, and at village
(dehestan) and town level for the Province of Tehran
to reveal the main features and dynamics of the metropolitan area. This is
the first time that Tehran
and its metropolitan area are studied in such a scale. Statistical and
cartographic methods used for spatial analysis in this Atlas are similar to
those of Atlas of Iran (Hourcade B. et al. 1998).
An Atlas for Tehran's Citizens
The main goal of this Atlas is
to understand and introduce the Iranian Capital and its Citizens. Hence,
for researches, Urban planners and political officials who run this
metropolis, and also for those men and women who live in Tehran and its suburbs, this is a useful
source of information. While this Atlas is the atlas of Tehran's conurbation, it is also the atlas
of its inhabitants. Therefore, the Atlas of Tehran is also an atlas of Tehran's citizens.
Scientific
Application of Atlas
Modern world is becoming
increasingly urban. Tehran's growth is
talking place within an international context which should be understood
and the place and role of Iran's
capital must be determined in it. Understanding Tehran's social, cultural and urban
geography is a necessity for urban planners, geographers, sociologists and
historians. Through this knowledge they can perform a comparative study on
Tehran Metropolis and compare its transformations with other metropolises
of the world. This geographic research on Tehran's
conurbation makes it possible for the experts to relate experiences and
face the issues in other cities in order to match the methods and
mechanisms used in other cities of the world with Tehran's specific conditions and utilize
them when needed.
Applications of Atlas in
Urban Planning
Tehran's comprehensive plan of 1967 and its reorganization plan of 1991 had
provisions for development of this metropolis's resources and facilities
such as highways, airport, new suburbs, industrial zones, green spaces,
etc. today's urban planning
processes require more rigorous research in order to adapt the general
plans to the needs of various neighborhoods and their residents. Therefore,
geographic and cartographic analyses of Tehran and its urban area are utilized to
gain understanding of the City and to make appropriate recommendations and
alternatives adaptable to different sections of the City regarding its
social, cultural, economic, and structural facilities, and utilities (i.e.
water supply, telephone, roads, sewage,…). Atlas is, indeed, a
necessary means of urban policy making in different parts of the world.
Aplications of Atlas in Urban Management
For those involved in
management of the city and its districts, such cartographic analysis of
statistical data allows deeper studies for a general as well as precise
issues, hence facilitating the decision making process. The making of this
Atlas gives a useful experience for building a comprehensive Geographic
Information Systems (GIS), necessary for more detailed management of the
City.
Application of Atlas as a
Source of Information for Citizens
Inhabitants of Tehran's metropolitan
area were mostly born elsewhere or are children of those who were not born
in the capital. Thus, their identity is unique, new and constantly
changing. The real identity of Tehran's
citizens and their social-cultural characteristics, especially in new
neighborhoods, are neither well understood nor considered.
For a harmonious development of
Tehran, it is necessary to know about the
past and present situation as well as the evolution of its neighborhoods
such as Lavizān, Gīshā, Farahzād, Abbās abād and nearby cities and
suburbs such as Karaj,
Eslāmshahr, Varāmin, Hashtgerd and the surrounding rural areas.
In the past, individuals had enough knowledge about their village or place
of birth; and this Atlas may create a new relationship between the citizens
of Tehran
and their environment so that they can say "This is my
neighborhood."
Cartography
and Data Analysis
For easy comparison of data in
the Atlas of Tehran Metropolis, each variable is displayed in a single page
on two maps at different scales, one for the City of Tehran
and one for the Province
of Tehran. However,
due to significant differences and variations between the City of Tehran and its
metropolitan area, most statistical classifications are not similar. In
these cases, different colors are used to display the classifications of
data relating to the City of Tehran
and the province.
The data, in most cases, is
classified into less than 5 classes and the class limits are rounded.
Statistical classification of data was automatically performed by Cabral®
software (developed by Hubert Mazurek, engineer of cartography in the Institute of Research
for Development – IRD - Paris)
and then rechecked by the authors to make the most important features of
each map highlighted. Technically, basic statistical data were first
processed in Excel (Microsoft) software and then initial maps and
statistical classification of data are produced by Cabral. These maps are
later redesigned, using Adobe Illustrator, for sake of publication. In some
cases, a variable is displayed in two different forms: relative (percent)
and absolute (amount), in which color ranges are used to show percentage
and circles display amounts.
Synthesized
Maps
Analysis of various data
provides a picture of the city's complexity, but this, per se, does not
reveal those fundamental characteristics that are necessary for
understanding the situation and reality of the Metropolis. Factor analysis
makes simultaneous processing of a multitude of variables possible and
shows how these variables may combine to identify a neighborhood or how
different neighborhoods poses relatively similar characteristics.
For each chapter and as a
conclusion, a new typology is shown through factor analysis and
classification of different variables together, revealing the dynamic
aspect of the reality. Such typology makes it possible to pose new
questions and reveals dynamic trends and general tendencies. This, in turn,
highlights the need for more profound and vigorous research, including
further field studies in order to better understand Tehran's citizens and inhabitants.
Atlas of Tehran Metropolis
presents a new image of Tehran
which differs considerably with the conventional one. The old North-South
contrast is, of course, not obviated, but has become more complex than ever
because of simultaneous existence of two other realities: "The center
and the periphery". Today a great urban center and new peripheral
areas in city scale, as well as several suburbs (with more than a quarter
varied of the Capital's population) are formed. Tehran's new suburbs are greatly and are
not necessarily inhabited by society's lower classes. These primary
analyses indicate that long strides are needed to really understand the
dynamics of this metropolis and its residents. this project is the first step in developing a geographic
databank on Tehran and its surrounding area, leading to a geographic
information system (GIS) for the City of Tehran.
Tehran, 2 December 2004
Masserat Amir-Ebrahimi
Sayyed-Mohsen Habibi
Bernard Hourcade
Mohammad-Hassan Mosavizadeh
Shahriar Zarrin
|
