Regional planning and the energy efficiency purposes [original]

Regional Planning and the Energy Efficiency Purposes

Case of Tehran Region in Iran

vorgelegt von

Dipl.-Ing.

Mahmoudreza Khalili

geb. in Hamedan

von der Fakultät VI - Planen Bauen Umwelt

der Technischen Universität Berlin

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades

Doktor der Ingenieurwissenschaften

- Dr.-Ing –

genehmigte Dissertation

Promotionsausschuss:

Vorsitzende: Prof. Dr. phil Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper

Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Rudolf Schäfer

Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Frank Schwartze

Gutachter: Prof. Peter Berten

Tag der wissenschaftlichen Aussprache: 20. Juli 2016

Berlin 2018

Acknowledgement

I would like to appreciate all the individuals who motivated and supported me in all phases

of this study. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my dear parents for their

encouragements, supports, and especially for their patience during the long years of my

studies. My special thanks go also to all of my family members for their perennial

encouragements and also to my wife for her supports in preparing the work for submission.

I am grateful to my distinguished supervisor Prof. Dr. Rudolf Schäfer for his scientific

precise advices throughout this study. I am also thankful to Prof. Dr. Frank Schwartze for

taking part in my final presentation and for reporting this work.

With a special appreciation to Mr. Ing. Mohammad Reza Talebi and Mr. Dr. Ali Iranshahi

for their valuable contributions to different phases of the work.

My sincere thanks go to Mr. Dr. Pirouz Hanachee, deputy minister for architecture and

urban development in Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of Iran, for his advices

and supports. I also owe many thanks to the scholars of the urban planning and architecture

research center of Iran, namely Mr. Ing. Sepehri, Mrs. Ing. Nasiri, and Mr. Dr. Saeid Izadi,

who provided me with scientific materials needed in data collection phases. I would also

like to thank Mr. Dr. Asadi in University of Tehran as well as Mr. Ing. Mohammadian in

office for national construction codes in Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of Iran

for their supports in data collection phase.

Last but not the least; I would like to thank my dear friends Mr. Amir Soleymani, Mr. Ing.

Mehrdad Mehran, Mr. Ing. Kian Tavakoli, Mr. Behzad Molla Norouzi, and Mr. Ing.

Ahmad Nasrolahi for their helps and their great camaraderie.

iii

Abstract

The background concepts based on which this research is carried out could be divided into

four categories; first, the climate change impacts are clearly visible in urban regions

throughout Iran, including Tehran Region; second, despite the national regulations set to

reduce the use of fossil energies, the use of those energies are still high in different

consumption types; third, the Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan as the regional plan for

former Tehran Province has paid very little attention to the issues of climate protection and

climate adaptation; and four, there are good capacities in governmental organizations,

which could be utilized in order to insert climate adaptation strategies into the urban and

regional plans.

With the exception of national-wide general approaches e.g. replacing fossil energy carriers

with clean and renewable ones, altering oil-firing vehicles into gas-firing ones, regulating

buildings’ construction based on efficient isolating facades, etc. the issue of energy

efficiency has been neglected in urban and regional development plans in Iran. It means

that the actions needed against the high energy consumption rates, and its effects on climate

change and air pollution have been taken into account only in case of consumption types,

so the authority organizations are only obliged to act accordingly in a sectoral base.

Therefore, there is a perceptible lack of integrated energy management in urban and

regional plans especially in the Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan.

Moreover, the impacts of climate change on this region are also disregarded in

development plans prepared for that. This is due to the lack of integrated urban and

regional planning system working closely with the units responsible for the climate

research and climate projections. Whereas, the existing capacities in both urban

management bodies and the department of environment could be utilized to incorporate the

climate adaptation strategies in urban and regional development plans in Tehran

Metropolitan Region. This study highlights the existing efforts, gaps, and capacities and

tries to bridge the gap in the organizational frameworks of the responsible authorities.

Zusammenfassung

Die Hintergrundkonzepte, auf deren Grundlage diese Forschung durchgeführt wurde,

gliedern sich in vier Kategorien; erstens die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels in urbanen

Regionen im gesamten Iran, einschließlich der Region Teheran, sind deutlich sichtbar;

zweitens trotz der nationalen Regelungen, die den Einsatz fossiler Energien reduzieren

sollen, sind die Nutzung dieser Energien in den verschiedenen Verbrauchstypen immer

noch hoch; drittens der Teheraner Metropolregionplan als Regionalplan für die ehemalige

Teheraner Provinz hat den Fragen des Klimaschutzes und der Klimaanpassung wenig

Beachtung geschenkt; und viertens es gibt gute Kapazitäten in Regierungsorganisationen,

die genutzt werden könnten, um Klimaanpassungsstrategien in die städtischen und

regionalen Pläne einzubringen.

Mit Ausnahme von landesweiten allgemeinen Ansätzen z. B. der Ersatz fossiler

Brennstoffe durch saubere und erneuerbare Energiequellen, die Umwandelung ölbefeuerter

Fahrzeuge in gasbefeuerte Fahrzeuge, die Regelung vom Bau neuer Gebäude auf der

Grundlage von effizienten isolierenden fassaden usw. das Thema Energieeffizienz ist in

Stadt- und Regionalentwicklungsplänen im Iran vernachlässigt worden. Dies bedeutet, dass

die Maßnahmen, die gegen die hohen Energieverbrauchsraten und ihre Auswirkungen auf

den Klimawandel und die Luftverschmutzung erforderlich sind, nur bei den

Verbrauchsarten berücksichtigt wurden, so dass die öffentliche Organisationen nur

verpflichtet sind, entsprechend auf sektoraler Basis zu handeln. Daher besteht ein

offensichtlicher Mangel an integriertem Energiemanagement in Stadt- und Regionalplänen,

insbesondere im Teheraner Metropolregionplan.

Darüber hinaus werden die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf diese Region auch in

dafür vorbereiteten Entwicklungsplänen nicht berücksichtigt. Dies ist auf das Fehlen eines

integrierten Stadt- und Regionalplanungssystems zurückzuführen, das eng mit den für

Klimaforschung und Klimaprojektionen zuständigen Behörden zusammenarbeitet. Die

bestehenden Kapazitäten sowohl in den städtischen Verwaltungsbehörden als auch im

Umweltministerium könnten genutzt werden, um die Klimaanpassungsstrategien in Stadt-

und Regionalentwicklungspläne in der Metropolregion Teheran einzubeziehen. Diese

Studie hebt die bestehenden Bemühungen, Lücken und Kapazitäten hervor und versucht,

die Lücke in den organisatorischen Rahmenbedingungen der zuständigen Behörden zu

schließen.

Table of contents

Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................. ii

Abstract ................................................................................................................................. iii

Zusammenfassung ................................................................................................................. iv

Table of contents .................................................................................................................... v

List of tables .......................................................................................................................... xi

List of figures ....................................................................................................................... xii

List of boxes ......................................................................................................................... xv

List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................ xv

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1

1.1. State of the problem .................................................................................................. 3

1.2. Research questions and objectives ............................................................................ 3

1.3. Methodology ............................................................................................................. 6

1.3.1. Major and minor case studies ......................................................................... 7

1.3.2. Data sources and data collection criteria ........................................................ 7

1.3.3. Comparative data analysis approach for case studies .................................... 9

1.3.4. Quotations and references ............................................................................ 11

1.3.5. Language equivalency .................................................................................. 12

2. Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 14

2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 14

2.2. Definitions and general international concepts ....................................................... 16

2.2.1. Planning ........................................................................................................ 16

2.2.2. Region .......................................................................................................... 17

2.2.3. Regional Planning ........................................................................................ 19

2.2.3.1. Goals and objectives ......................................................................... 20

2.2.4. Recent and contemporary interrelated concepts ........................................... 22

2.2.4.1. Conurbation ....................................................................................... 24

2.2.4.2. City-region ........................................................................................ 25

2.2.4.3. Megalopolis ....................................................................................... 25

2.2.4.4. Daily urban system............................................................................ 26

2.2.4.5. Urban field ........................................................................................ 27

2.2.4.6. Polycentric urban regions.................................................................. 28

2.2.4.7. Polycentric mega-city regions ........................................................... 28

2.2.4.8. Urban agglomeration......................................................................... 29

2.2.4.9. Extended metropolitan regions ......................................................... 30

2.2.4.10. Functional urban regions ................................................................... 31

2.2.4.11. Metropolitan region........................................................................... 31

2.2.5. Regional planning; countries of origin ......................................................... 36

2.2.5.1. The United Kingdom ........................................................................ 36

2.2.5.2. The United States .............................................................................. 38

2.2.5.3. Germany ............................................................................................ 43

2.3. Contents of regional planning ................................................................................. 45

2.3.1. Population analysis ....................................................................................... 45

2.3.2. Economic development ................................................................................ 46

2.3.3. Land use planning ........................................................................................ 46

2.3.4. Transportation planning ............................................................................... 47

2.4. Regional planning concept in Persian literatures .................................................... 48

2.4.1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 48

2.4.2. Regional and spatial planning ...................................................................... 51

2.4.2.1. Spatial planning of Iran (SPI) ........................................................... 53

2.4.2.2. Islamic spatial planning; basic plan .................................................. 53

2.4.2.3. Eastern axis development studies ..................................................... 54

2.4.2.4. Return of the spatial planning of Iran ............................................... 54

2.4.2.5. National and regional physical plans ................................................ 55

2.4.3. Metropolitan region planning in Iran ........................................................... 61

2.5. Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 61

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3. Energy Efficiency; a tool of climate protection ......................................................... 63

3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 63

3.2. Urbanization and energy usage ............................................................................... 63

3.3. Global climate change ............................................................................................ 64

3.3.1. Climate ......................................................................................................... 64

3.3.2. Climate system ............................................................................................. 65

3.3.3. Climate change ............................................................................................. 65

3.3.4. Climate change indicators ............................................................................ 67

3.4. Climate change impacts on world’s regions ........................................................... 69

3.5. Climate change impacts on urban regions in Iran ................................................... 72

3.6. Energy efficiency and climate protection ............................................................... 75

3.7. Climate adaptive regional development.................................................................. 75

3.8. Energy efficiency and environmental protection in Iran ........................................ 77

3.8.1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 77

3.8.2. Constitutional framework for energy efficiency and environmental

protection ...................................................................................................... 79

3.8.2.1. Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran ..................................... 79

3.8.2.2. Protection and Enhancement of the Environment Act of 1974 ........ 79

3.8.2.3. The five-year economic, social, and cultural development plans ..... 80

3.8.2.4. Expansion and protection of green spaces within the cities act of

1980 ................................................................................................... 87

3.8.2.5. Prevention of water pollution act of 1994 ......................................... 87

3.8.2.6. Sanitary environment bylaw of 1992 ................................................ 88

3.8.2.7. Prevention of air pollution act of 1995 ............................................. 88

3.8.2.8. Farms and orchards land use act of 1995 .......................................... 90

3.8.2.9. National buildings construction codes .............................................. 90

3.8.2.10. Reforming energy consumption pattern act of 2011 ......................... 90

3.8.2.11. Transportation development and management of energy consumption

act of 2007 ......................................................................................... 91

3.8.2.12. General policies, in transportation and energy sectors, set in

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2001 ................................................................................................... 92

3.8.3. Actor organizations in energy efficiency and environmental protection

issues ............................................................................................................ 92

3.8.4. EE efforts in energy consumption types ..................................................... 110

3.9. Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 115

4. Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan (TMRP); a case study ..................................... 118

4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 118

4.2. Tehran Metropolitan Region (TMR) .................................................................... 119

4.2.1. Geographic characteristics ......................................................................... 120

4.2.1.1. Location .......................................................................................... 120

4.2.1.2. Climate ............................................................................................ 121

4.2.2. Development background ........................................................................... 123

4.2.3. Physical expansion pattern ......................................................................... 125

4.3. Rationale behind the Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan ...................................... 128

4.4. Goals and objectives ............................................................................................. 130

4.5. Legal basis ............................................................................................................ 131

4.6. Results; policies and approaches .......................................................................... 132

4.6.1. In population sector .................................................................................... 132

4.6.2. In transportation sector ............................................................................... 134

4.6.3. In land use planning sector ......................................................................... 135

4.7. Requirements for realization of the TMRP........................................................... 136

4.8. Outcomes of the TMRP in practice ...................................................................... 137

4.9. Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 138

4.9.1. TMRP; a regional plan ............................................................................... 139

4.9.2. Energy efficiency and environmental considerations in the TMRP ........... 140

5. Regional planning and climate adaptation in Germany ........................................ 143

5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 143

5.1.1. Regional planning; German interpretation ................................................. 144

5.1.2. Objectives and tasks ................................................................................... 144

5.1.3. Legal bases and structural organization ..................................................... 145

5.1.4. Planning regions ......................................................................................... 148

5.1.5. State spatial and regional planning tools .................................................... 151

5.2. Regional model projects; climate adaptation in practice ...................................... 152

5.2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 152

5.2.2. Westsachsen; a regional model project ...................................................... 155

5.2.2.1. Geographic location ........................................................................ 155

5.2.2.2. Structure of regional administration ............................................... 156

5.2.2.3. Climate ............................................................................................ 158

5.2.2.4. Objectives........................................................................................ 158

5.2.2.5. Climate projections ......................................................................... 159

5.2.3. Vulnerability analysis in Westsachsen Region .......................................... 163

5.2.3.1. Vulnerability against heat waves .................................................... 164

5.2.3.2. Vulnerability against heavy rainfalls .............................................. 165

5.2.3.3. Vulnerability against flood.............................................................. 166

5.2.3.4. Vulnerability against decline in water supply in summertime ........ 168

5.2.4. Recommendations for action ...................................................................... 169

5.2.5. Conclusions ................................................................................................ 172

6. Discussions and Results ............................................................................................. 173

6.1. Regional planning in Iran ..................................................................................... 174

6.2. Legal bases for energy efficiency and environmental protection ......................... 174

6.3. Tehran Metropolitan Region plan ......................................................................... 175

6.3.1. Energy efficiency in the TMRP .................................................................. 176

6.4. Westsachsen Region; a climate adaptive regional model ..................................... 177

6.5. Critical comparison ............................................................................................... 178

6.5.1. Fundamental differences ............................................................................ 178

6.5.2. Climate adaptation ...................................................................................... 180

6.6. Facilitators and inhibiting features on energy efficiency purposes in the

TMRP ................................................................................................................... 181

6.6.1. Central decision-making ............................................................................. 181

6.6.2. Local urban management structure ............................................................ 182

6.6.3. Lack of horizontal relations among local authorities ................................. 184

6.7. Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 184

6.7.1. Capacities in local urban management bodies ........................................... 185

6.7.2. Capacities in Department of Environment (DOE) ..................................... 186

6.7.3. Bridging the gap ......................................................................................... 188

6.7.3.1. New responsibilities ........................................................................ 188

6.7.3.2. New roles for the DOE.................................................................... 190

6.7.4. Further research and open questions .......................................................... 190

References ......................................................................................................................... 192

Appendix: Interview guidelines ...................................................................................... 210

List of tables

Table 1.1: objectives, summarized research questions and hypothesis, and the rudimentary

answers ................................................................................................................................... 4

Table 1.2: transliteration of Persian alphabets ..................................................................... 13

Table 2.1: overview of the concepts discussed in this section regarding the term ‘region’ 23

Table 2.2: standards for classification of metropolitan areas in the US .............................. 41

Table 2.3: list of Iran’s development plans from 1948 to 1978 ........................................... 49

Table 2.4: list of Iran’s development plans from 1983 to 1995 ........................................... 50

Table 2.5: list of Iran’s national development plans from 1999 to 2015 ............................. 51

Table 2.6: an overview of the regional division history in Iran ........................................... 57

Table 2.7: regional divisions addressed in national physical plan ....................................... 58

Table 2.8: contents of regional studies for mega regions under the regional physical plans

.............................................................................................................................................. 59

Table 2.9: the list of development plans in current Iranian national, regional, and local

development levels ............................................................................................................... 59

Table 3.1: urban areas witnessing torrential rainfall and flood in Iran in the last five years

.............................................................................................................................................. 74

Table 3.2: major tasks of the department of environment based on the protection and

enhancement of environment act of 1974 ............................................................................ 80

Table 3.3: energy and environment-related issues in the 2nd 5-year development plan in Iran

.............................................................................................................................................. 81

Table 3.4: energy and environment-related issues in the 3rd 5-year development plan in Iran

.............................................................................................................................................. 82

Table 3.5: energy and environment-related issues in the 4th 5-year development plan in Iran

.............................................................................................................................................. 84

Table 3.6: energy and environment-related issues in the 5th 5-year development plan in Iran

.............................................................................................................................................. 85

Table 3.7: tasks given to department of environment by the prevention of water pollution

act of 1994 ............................................................................................................................ 87

Table 3.8: summary of contents of the prevention of air pollution act of 1995................... 88

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Table 3.9: actor organizations in energy efficiency-related issues in national and provincial

levels .................................................................................................................................... 93

Table 3.10: efforts made to reduce the energy usage in national level .............................. 107

Table 4.1: the geographic position and characteristics of Tehran City .............................. 121

Table 4.2: urban zones recognized in the TMR with population share ............................. 127

Table 4.3: population capacity of 8 urban zones for the future development in the TMR

............................................................................................................................................ 133

Table 4.4: contents of Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan .................................................. 140

Table 5.1: programs, model projects, and topics relating to the CC and CA in Germany

............................................................................................................................................ 152

Table 5.2: overview of the organizational bodies in Leipzig-Westsachsen planning

association .......................................................................................................................... 157

Table 5.3: significant climatic data of Westsachsen Region before and after 1961 .......... 158

Table 5.4: guidelines and recommendations for future regional plans in Westsachsen

Region ................................................................................................................................ 169

Table 6.1: current and future vulnerabilities of the natural and social environments in the

TMR against the climate change impacts .......................................................................... 181

List of figures

Figure 1.1: content and comparative analysis as a systematic approach ............................. 10

Figure 2.1: 10 mega regions in national physical plan of Iran ............................................. 58

Figure 3.1: atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide over

the last 10,000 years ............................................................................................................. 68

Figure 3.2: observed changes in global average surface temperature, global average sea

level, and Northern Hemisphere snow cover ....................................................................... 68

Figure 3.3: temperature anomalies projected for 2001-2100 based on temperature changes

from 1906 to 2005 for Central Asia Region ........................................................................ 69

Figure 3.4: temperature changes over Asia between 1980 to 1999 and 2080 to 2099 ........ 70

Figure 3.5: precipitation changes over Asia between 1980 to 1999 and 2080 to 2099 ....... 71

xiii

Figure 3.6: precipitation changes in West Asia in 2080-2099, projected based on

precipitations in 1986-2005 (Jun. to Aug., above) and (Dec. to Feb., below) ..................... 72

Figure 3.7: projected temperature changes in Iran for 2010-2039 based on changes from

1976-2005 ............................................................................................................................ 73

Figure 3.8: projected precipitation changes in Iran for 2010-2039 based on changes from

1976-2005 ............................................................................................................................ 73

Figure 3.9: natural gas supply for households in rural areas ............................................. 108

Figure 3.10: natural gas supply for households in urban areas .......................................... 108

Figure 3.11: insulation of the façade in new buildings according to code 19 ................... 108

Figure 3.12: CNG bus; energy transition in public transport in Tehran ............................ 109

Figure 3.13: CNG taxis; energy transition in public transport in Tehran .......................... 109

Figure 3.14: rationing petrol with chip cards ..................................................................... 109

Figure 3.15: regional trains between Tehran and Karaj Cities .......................................... 109

Figure 3.16: vehicle energy labeling .................................................................................. 109

Figure 3.17: inner city traffic zoning in Tehran ................................................................. 109

Figure 3.18: registered and total number of public and private motor vehicles in Iran in

2001 and 2011 .................................................................................................................... 110

Figure 3.19: produced and total number of motorcycles in Iran in 2001 and 2011 ........... 111

Figure 3.20: total number of CNG and dual-firing vehicles in 2001 and 2011 in Iran ..... 112

Figure 3.21: number of vehicles per 1.000 populations in 2001 and 2011 in Iran ............ 112

Figure 3.22: total number of residential, commercial, and industrial units with natural gas

supply in 2001 and 2012 in former Tehran Province......................................................... 113

Figure 3.23: natural gas pipeline network in the country, length/km ................................ 113

Figure 3.24: CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel use and cement production in Iran from 1990

to 2012 (unit: million tonnes of CO₂) ................................................................................ 117

Figure 3.25: CO₂ emissions per capita for Iran from 1990 to 2012 (unit: tonnes

CO₂/person) ....................................................................................................................... 117

Figure 4.1: the location of former Tehran Province on the map of Iran ............................ 119

Figure 4.2: boundaries of former Tehran Province ............................................................ 120

Figure 4.3: Tehran Province after the split-up ................................................................... 120

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Figure 4.4: Alborz Province ............................................................................................... 120

Figure 4.5: climate zones in Iran based on Köppen’s classification .................................. 122

Figure 4.6: mean temperature and average precipitation diagrams for Tehran City ......... 122

Figure 4.7: population distribution in Tehran Province in 1966 and 1996 ........................ 124

Figure 4.8: share of population for Tehran City and the rest of the Province in 1966 and

1996 .................................................................................................................................... 124

Figure 4.9: geographic zoning of Tehran Metropolitan Region ........................................ 126

Figure 4.10: physical expansion of Tehran Metropolitan Region in 75 years ................... 128

Figure 4.11: future physical structure of Tehran Metropolitan Region ............................. 135

Figure 5.1: the structure of regional planning system in Germany .................................... 146

Figure 5.2: preparation procedures of a regional plan ....................................................... 147

Figure 5.3: 16 states in Federal Republic of Germany ...................................................... 149

Figure 5.4: metropolitan regions in Germany .................................................................... 150

Figure 5.5: the location of Westsachsen Region in Sachsen Free State and in Germany

............................................................................................................................................ 155

Figure 5.6: projections for temperature change for time periods of 2041-2050 and 2091-

2100 based on the mean yearly temperature records from 1961-2005 in Westsachsen,

considering all three scenarios ........................................................................................... 161

Figure 5.7: projections for precipitation change for time periods of 2041-2050 and 2091-

2100 based on the mean yearly precipitation records from 1961-2005 in Westsachsen,

considering all three scenarios ........................................................................................... 162

Figure 5.8: conceptual framework for the vulnerability analysis – Westsachsen Region

............................................................................................................................................ 163

Figure 6.1: the gap in relationship among urban management bodies in the TMR ........... 183

Figure 6.2: organizational chart of the DOE ...................................................................... 187

Figure 6.3: possible utilization of the existing legal and institutional capacities for CA

strategies in the TMR ......................................................................................................... 189

List of boxes

Box 2.1: the major characteristics of EMRs in Asia ............................................................ 30

Box 2.2: criteria for the recognition of a MR, set by the OECD ......................................... 34

Box 2.3: objectives of the act ‘implementation of article 48 of the basic law’ ................... 54

Box 2.4: goals and objectives of the national physical plan ................................................ 55

Box 2.5: the most important focal points of studies in national physical plan .................... 56

Box 4.1: the conductive policies for reforming transportation system in the TMR .......... 134

Box 5.1: tasks and objectives of regional planning in Germany ....................................... 144

Box 5.2: three possible scenarios for development schemes and energy usage affecting the

climate ................................................................................................................................ 159

Box 5.3: high sensitive facilities and infrastructures against flood in Westsachsen model

project ................................................................................................................................ 167

List of abbreviations

BBR Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (Germany)

BMVBS Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung (Germany)

CA Climate Adaptation

CBSA Core Based Statistical Area (America)

CC Climate Change

CNG Compressed Natural Gas

CM Climate Mitigation

CP Climate Protection

DOE Department of Environment (Iran)

DUS Daily Urban System

EE Energy Efficiency

EMR Extended Metropolitan Region

ESDP European Spatial Development Perspective

EU European Union

FRPA Federal Regional Planning Act (Germany)

xvi

FSPA Federal Spatial Planning Act (Germany)

FUR Functional Urban Region

GAW Global Atmosphere Watch

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GHG Greenhouse Gas

HCUDA High Council of Urban Development and Architecture (Iran)

HSE Health, Safety, and Environment

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas

McSA Micropolitan Statistical Area (America)

MHUD Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (Iran)

MMD Multi-Model Data set

MOI Ministry of Interior (Iran)

MOP Ministry of Petroleum (Iran)

MPO Management and Planning Organization (Iran)

MR Metropolitan Region

MRMO Municipalities and Rural Management Organization

MRP Metropolitan Region Plan

MRT Ministry of Roads and Transportation (Iran)

MRUD Ministry of Roads and Urban Development (Iran)

MSA Metropolitan Statistical Area (America)

NECTA New England City and Town Areas (America)

NIOC National Iranian Oil Company

NLHO National Land and Housing Organization (Iran)

NPB National Planning Board (America)

NRC National Resources Committee (America)

NRPP National and Regional Physical Plans (Iran)

NTDC New Town Development Company (Iran)

ODPM Office of Deputy Prime Minister of England

OECD The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

xvii

OMB Office of Management and Budget (America)

PBO Plan and Budget Organization (Iran)

PBL Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving (Netherlands)

PDSPC President Deputy Strategic Planning and Control (Iran)

PMCR Polycentric Mega-City Region

PUR Polycentric Urban Region

RPAA Regional Planning Association of America

SELMA Spatial Deconcentration of Economic Land Use and Quality of life in

European Metropolitan Areas

SPI Spatial Planning of Iran

SVR Siedlungsverband Ruhrkohlenbezirk (Germany)

TMR Tehran Metropolitan Region

TMRP Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan

TVA Tennessee Valley Authority

UA Urban Agglomeration

UF Urban Field

UN United Nations

UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

UNDESA United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

UPARC Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran

WMO World Meteorological Organization

1. Introduction

The Iranian national, regional, and local development regulations and their

interrelationships seem to be comprehensive and adequate at the first sight as if there

should be no deficit in planning and in implementation procedures. Nevertheless, the

scientists and scholars of related urban disciplines have been always mentioning that there

is a lack of transparency among different levels of development plans as well as among

their responsible organizations, which makes their efforts not to be fruitful though they are

usually highly financed. Hypothetically, the problem could be lain in decision-making

processes which are mostly top-down and organization-oriented. This means that any of the

planning and implementation legal authorities makes their own decisions and acts

individually though they contribute to the implementation of a development plan in

particular level, where highly coordinated stakeholder participation is needed.

In other words, there is a lack of integrated urban planning and implementation system

bringing all responsible legal bodies together. This makes the development plans which are

usually interdisciplinary and must be implemented through participation of many

stakeholders fail or not get desired goals because each stakeholder is acting according to its

own regulations, for there is very little coordination among them. The present study focuses

on the Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan (TMRP) as a major case study to investigate the

interrelations amongst the local authorities in the region and to look for any energy

efficiency and climate change considerations in such a regional plan.

This study consists of 6 chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the topic of the study and poses the

research questions and hypothesis together with primary and unequipped answers to them.

The methodology of the research is also introduced in this chapter.

The second chapter is dedicated to the literatures related to regional planning. In this

chapter, the regional planning definitions, its contents, and its history and origins are

illustrated. This chapter gives also an overview of recent and contemporary interrelated

concepts pertaining to the urban regions and metropolitan areas around the world. The

background history of regional planning in Iran is also reviewed and its current situation is

analyzed to make the framework for the analysis of the case study coming in the next

chapters.

The third chapter discusses the phenomena of energy usage and CO₂ emissions and their

impacts on the global climate as well as the change of global climate and its impacts on the

world’s urban regions. This chapter presents, then, the climate change impacts on urban

regions in Iran and reviews the legal bases for energy efficiency and environmental

protection in this country. The goal is to investigate the existence of such a legal basis and

to introduce the actor organizations working on energy efficiency and climate issues in

order to look for any given role to them in the case study region.

The fourth chapter deals with the TMRP as the case study. The TMRP is a regional plan

supposed to be implemented in former Tehran Province. This chapter reviews the plan to

grope for any initiative desiring to reduce the use of energy in the region and for any

attention paid to insert climate adaptation strategies in regional development policies.

The fifth chapter introduces a good example of climate adaptive regional development in

Germany. The model project Westsachsen Region focuses on climate change impacts on

social and natural environments and analyses the vulnerability of various elements against

those impacts in the long-term to recommend the adaptation strategies. The goal of this

chapter is to create a conceptual know-how and to clarify the practical meaning of climate

adaptation concept in regional plans in order to make a comparison framework between the

two case studies.

Finally, the sixth chapter deals with finalizing the results of the study. The final analyses of

all chapters will be reviewed here once again and the two case studies will be compared

through the most important two criteria including fundamental planning differences and

climate considerations. Further discussions in this chapter try to analyze the local urban

management system in Iran and the centralized decision-making structure pertaining to the

energy management. The results of the discussions, then, show up in terms of recognizing

the capacities both in urban management system and in the Department of Environment

(DOE) in Iran.

1.1. State of the problem

Iran ranks the third-largest country in oil reserves and the second-largest one in natural gas

reserves in the world, and is the third-largest natural gas consumer worldwide.

Reviewing

global energy consumption statistics highlights that Iran is one of the top energy consumers

despite the fact that its population is not much more than many other countries using less

amount of energy. Natural gas consumption has increased more than two times from 2.22

to 5.51 billion cubic feet in Iran between 2000 and 2012.

This could be, first, due to the

weaknesses in urban-related issues both in planning and implementation phases such as

urban planning and design, regional planning and policy-making, architectural design,

construction engineering, construction materials, and to some socio-cultural problems e.g.

lifestyle etc. and it shows the significance of the matter of energy management within the

country. The second reason is the development of the natural gas supply and the extension

of gas pipelines to more urban and rural areas with increasing populations. Recently, some

national regulations regarding energy efficiency have been set by governmental

organizations responsible for the issue of energy management. However, lack of integrated

energy management policies aiming at bringing together local administrative organizations

in provincial, regional, and county levels makes their policies not achieve the desired goals.

1.2. Research questions and objectives

The objectives, research questions, and a hypothesis have been summarized in table 1.1. In

this table each objective has been equipped with a question or a hypothesis trying to

prescribe the related data source as well as data collection instruments. There is also a

rudimentary and absolutely preliminary answer to each question, which can, at the end of

the study, be proved or be denied through the results of data analysis and its arguments

accordingly.

Adapted from the Energy Information Administration homepage at

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Iran/oil.html on 25.09.2009.

Adapted from the Energy Information Administration homepage at http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-

data.cfm?fips=IR#ng on 13.02.2015.

Table 1.1: objectives, summarized research questions and hypothesis, and the rudimentary answers

Objectives

Questions/Hypotheses

Type

Rudimentary answers

1. Identifying effective

national regulations and

codes on energy efficiency

in regional development

plans.

Are there any national regulations

directly referring to the issue of

energy efficiency in regional

development plans and what are the

impacts of those regulations on

current regional planning model for

Tehran Region?

Question

No, the national regulations

do not refer directly to the

issue of energy efficiency

in regional development

plans, but refer to the

energy consumption types

as a whole.

2. Identifying the urban

development plans acting

in regional levels in Iran.

Metropolitan Region Plan could be

assumed to act as a regional plan.

Hypothesis

Metropolitan Region Plan

functions like a regional

plan in Iranian urban

planning system.

3. Investigating the

situation of energy

efficiency and climate

issues in metropolitan

region plan in Tehran

Metropolitan Region as a

major case study.

How does this planning model deal

with the energy efficiency and

climate change impacts on the

region?

Question

The TMRP pays a little

attention only to the

climate mitigation.

4. Looking for capacities

and opportunities

pertaining to the climate

issues in constitutional and

legal frameworks as well

as in organizational

facilities.

Could the policies and approaches of

an international good example be

localized and applied in Tehran

Metropolitan Region Plan in Iran?

Question

Should be investigated.

Source: own design

The first objective looks at the national regulations and guidelines pertaining to the issue of

energy and energy efficiency and is followed by the question about existence of any

regulation focusing on the issue of energy efficiency in regional development plans.

Reviewing related national development plans and regulations revealed that the first and

the second national 5-year development plans have put emphasize on changing energy

consumption patterns, reducing energy consumption, replacing fossil fuels with clean

energy carriers, and improving the efficiency of energy usage. Having followed the goals

of those plans, the 3rd national 5-year development plan has stressed on the energy

consumption in the buildings and has called for energy efficiency codes and regulations to

be set up by the responsible authorities in order to prevent the buildings from wasting

energy.

There is also a little attention paid to the issue of energy efficiency in the 4th 5-

year development plan, as it tries mostly to emphasize that the old motorized vehicles

should be replaced with the new ones to protect the environment.

The second objective of this research is to seek for the existence of regional development

plans among all development plans in Iranian urban planning system because in such a

complicated system, and as a result of using different terminologies, it is not clear whether

any of the development plans act regionally. Therefore, and first of all, there is a need for

recognition of any plan referring to the regional matters of development. The research has,

in early stages, shown that the TMRP could be assumed as a regional plan for Tehran

Province. “There are no regional planning policies or models for Tehran Region, but the

only plan which proposes a coherent development scheme for Tehran Province is the

Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan.”

Therefore, there is a serious need for investigation into

the discernment of the type of TMRP as well as for certain criteria to verify if this plan

could fulfill the requirements of a regional plan. In short, the TMRP could be assumed as a

regional planning approach because its contents match the contents of regional planning.

See article 121-D in Iran’s 3rd 5-year development plan (2000-2004) for more details.

Taken from the interview with Mr. Dr. Ali Iranshahi, the vice manager of inspection and monitoring dept.,

Iran Municipalities and Rural Management Organization on 29.04.2012.

The contents of Regional Planning are categorized into 4 major parts known as demographic, economic,

transportation, and land use characteristics. See Wang, X. and Vom Hofe, R. (2007) for more details.

The third objective, nevertheless, questions the existence of any policy, approach, or tool

trying to address the issue of energy efficiency in this plan. The energy efficiency here

refers to the regional development elements improving different parts of the region in terms

of physical and social infrastructures creating a balanced development throughout the

region, lowering the daily trips, offering low CO₂ transportation facilities, planning for

sustainable land use, and maintaining the natural resources in the region. This question will

also examine the existence of any climate adaptation policy in the TMRP.

As the last objective, this research is tending to learn from good European examples the

methods and approaches in the field of climate adaptation strategies more or less

transferable to the major case study of the research.

1.3. Methodology

The research methodology employed in this study is based on qualitative research and

analysis methods. As this research work required enormous number of pages of text e.g.

books, articles, plans, and reports etc. to get reviewed, and considering the issue of validity

of data collected, a well-designed qualitative method was necessary to be employed.

Therefore, the data collection and analysis methods employed in this study were drawn

from the valuable source book of Miels, M. B. and Huberman, A. M. 1984, which has

focused on the methods of qualitative data collection and on how the process of analysis

can be run beside data collection as a synchronized activity.

Having stressed that a

designed data collection can accelerate the whole process of data collection and analysis,

they put the emphasis on how the conceptual framework in a qualitative research can be

drawn up after the research questions are clarified and on how the sampling criteria should

be developed to result a better instrumentation phase.

Through this methodology the

Miels, Matthew B., Huberman, A. Michael (1984): Qualitative Data Analysis; a sourcebook of new

methods. 2nd Ed. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, California.

They have described the step-by-step activities in which the data needed for a qualitative research could be

gathered and analyzed at the same time to avoid data overload and to facilitate the operation of next steps

according to the results of ongoing analysis.

See Miels, Matthew B., Huberman, A. Michael (1984), pp. 30-41 for more details.

present study came up with a designed procedure of data collection and analysis as well as

a conceptual framework most related to the research questions. Therefore, the process of

data collection was, accordingly, carried out and resulted a comprehensive data collection

for further analyses.

1.3.1. Major and minor case studies

There was a need for a more efficient regional planning model, paying more attention to the

climate change impacts, as a good pattern to provide the present study with the know-how

and with the clues on the up-to-date climate-oriented regional planning, and to enable the

author of this study to run a comparative data analysis. Therefore, besides the major case

study, namely the TMRP, a minor case study was also chosen. This minor case study is the

Westsachsen Regional Model in Germany. The goal is to compare the TMRP in Iran with

this model in Germany to highlight the differences and to understand what are the

weaknesses and deficits of the TMRP.

1.3.2. Data sources and data collection criteria

The process of data collection in international and Persian literatures related to regional

planning and climate protection and adaptation was a time consuming work but those

sources were, at least, available. Nevertheless, the data collection process in field study

faced a very cumbersome limitation in gathering data concerning the TMRP. The TMRP as

the only plan playing the role of regional-oriented development tool for Tehran

Metropolitan Region was neglected after it received its ratification on 2003 and currently

neither the people having worked on the plan are easily available nor the publications

referring to the plan are freely accessible. Therefore, the author of this study experienced a

very tough job looking for the relevant sources of information. The only official and

reliable sources of information are the few publications released by the Urban Planning and

Architecture Research Center (UPARC) of Iran.

The first group of data sources was the related literatures both in international and Persian

contexts. Through the scope of research questions as well as a set of complementary

questions in detail, the literature selection criteria were rationalized and the extraction of

collected documents were done to narrow down the amount of materials and eliminate data

overload. The goal was to get a deep understanding of the conceptual environment of the

topic as well as its situation in the case study in Iran in order to develop a conceptual

framework through which the research could reach its goals. This part was, in fact, the

basis of the research work, dealing with the fundamental concepts of regional planning,

which created and structured the first chapter of the dissertation.

The second source of data for this work was the official plans, reports, studies etc. and

critical ideas reflected in academic and professional environments pertaining to the

research topic and to the case study in Iran. Those information, however, have been subject

to content analysis in the research to reveal their relevance to the research questions.

Interviewing related officials engaged in urban planning departments of local authorities

was the third source of information. A question-based open-end discussion was employed

for the interviews, following the main themes of research questions. The interviewees were

selected from authority organizations having been working on regional-scaled urban

development plans, including the TMRP, as well as their personals.

The official homepages of organizations responsible for regional planning, energy

provision, energy management, and environmental affairs are also to be mentioned here.

These homepages are very good and reliable sources of information pertaining to the

organizational regulations.

The main sources of information regarding the minor case study included the publications

and reports released by the authorities of the Westsachsen Region, the online sources, and

the information presented in KlimaMORO conferences.

1.3.3. Comparative data analysis approach for case studies

Considering the complexity of national and local planning guidelines and regulations in

Iran and the existence of so many types of development plans, the most important objective

of this research is to seek for a clear vision of regional planning approaches in Iran and the

situation of energy efficiency and climate considerations in them. Among all development

plans in Iranian urban planning system the TMRP was selected as major case study, as it

was the sole planning instrument focusing on Tehran Region. Later, the TMRP was

analyzed through content analysis methods and compared with international regional

planning concepts through comparative approaches to prove if it could be assumed as a

regional plan at all. On the other hand, a good example of regional planning with climate-

oriented objectives was needed – as a minor case study – to have a reference model for

policy adaptation. Therefore, the Westsachsen regional model project was selected after the

author of this study took part in KlimaMORO conferences in Leipzig and Berlin. The data

analysis approach employed here is a comparative approach to compare the contents of

both planning models with the concepts of regional planning and climate adaptation as a

whole and to compare the components of the two models with each other. This was done to

show the deficits and weaknesses of the major case study – the TMRP – in dealing with the

climate change impacts on the region.

The reason why the Westsachsen regional model was selected as a minor case study is the

importance of the climate adaptation strategies taken into account for a long-term planning

perspective. Moreover, the author of present study tried to choose a case which was

advanced in terms of climate adaptation and was selected by the KlimaMORO and was also

accessible for data collection. This model functions as an illustrative pattern here to show

how a more efficient climate adaptive regional planning model looks like and what

components and considerations it possesses, and the author of this study does not – by no

means – claim that it is a complete and perfect regional planning model existing. Figure 1.1

highlights the conceptual framework of the comparative methodology employed in this

research.

Figure 1.1: content and comparative analysis as a systematic approach

Source: own design

1.3.4. Quotations and references

The information sources used in this study include Persian, German, and English sources

which have been listed in the last part of the work under References. The citation and

quotation system employed in this study is based on the ‘IM academic paper writing’

presented by Otto-Von-Guericke-University Magdeburg. The direct quotations are in

quotation marks (“”) followed by the footnote reference number. These quotations could

be either at the beginning of a paragraph or at the middle of that and their references on the

footnotes include the name of the author, year of publication, and the page number(s). In

addition, if any complementary word, phrase, or sentence seemed to be necessary to add to

a direct quotation by the author of this study, they were located within [] symbols. The

indirect quotations, however, include only the footnote reference number at the end of the

sentence or paragraph and their references on the footnotes begin with ‘See’ and are

followed by the name of the author, year of publication, the page number(s) and the term

‘for more details’. The subsequent quotations of the same sources listed in footnotes begin

with ‘See loc. cit.’ (loco citato) meaning ‘at the place already cited’ (also known as ‘Ibid’

in other standard academic writing systems).

The sources for tables, figures, and boxes are located under the given case and are followed

by a footnote reference number in case of the need for complementary source information.

The term ‘adapted’ is used where the author of this study has taken the information from a

given source and processed them to feed into the present section of the work. If a figure is

drawn or a table is concluded by the author of this study, the terms ‘own design’, ‘own

conclusion’, or ‘self-collected information’ follow the source information. The photos were

referred as ‘self-captured’.

The arrangement of Persian sources in references conform the following order:

Name of the author (year of publication): transliterated title of the source (Penglish),

(English translation of the title), publisher, place of publication, ISBN.

هلجم ای رشان .عبنم ناونع :)رشن لاس( هدنروآدرگ ای فّلوم مان و یگداوناخ مان ،راشتنا لحم ،نابزیم ی

.کباش

The online sources in references are accompanied by the links leading to the internet pages

of their origin. The date of accessibility is also mentioned.

The online articles read and used in this research are divided into two categories. First, the

articles archived in international journal homepages, which are freely accessible for

download. Those articles have been cited accordingly and listed in the references as

“Available online” in addition to the date accessed. Second, the articles archived in

international journal homepages without free access for download but with possibility to

have a glance at their preview or to read them up online. Those articles have been listed in

the references as “Reviewed online” in addition to the date accessed.

1.3.5. Language equivalency

The Persian words and names of places presented in this work are given in phonetic

transliterated form (āvānevisi,

یسیوناوآ

) and in some cases in Romanized form, meaning that

the Persian word is written with Latin alphabets. An exception here is the names of the

people i.e. the interviewees written based on the most accepted form of writing Persian

names with Latin alphabets in order to avoid any misunderstanding. The source for the

Persian transliteration is the ‘Ensyclopædia Iranica’. The table 1.2 highlights the

transliteration alphabets and symbols used.

Moreover, the English title of Iranian organizations and ministries were taken from their

official websites and were not translated by the author of this study.

Table 1.2: transliteration of Persian alphabets

Consonant

Vowels

ﺀ )

ر r

ف f

آ ā

ب b

ز z

ق q

ُو u

پ p

ژ ž

ک k

ِی i

ت t

س s

گ g

َ- a

ث ṯ

ش š

ل l

_ُ o

ج j

ص ṣ

م m

ِ_ e

چ č

ض ż

ن n

ﮫ a

ح ḥ

ط ṭ

و v

وَ ow/aw

خ ḵ

ظ ẓ

ه h

یَ ey/ay

د d

ع (

ی y

ذ ḏ

غ ḡ

Source: adapted from Encyclopædia Iranica

Adapted from Encyclopædia Iranica at http://www.iranicaonline.org/pages/guidelines on 24.02.2015.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Introduction

The concept of regional planning has a long historical background. Human settlements

including urban and rural areas locate, generally, on the context of a country, a state, or a

region. They play, anyhow, the role of neighbors and have always common interests and

conflicts. Generally, if a neighbor settlement is wealthier, it is also more capable of

attracting and hosting investments and, therefore, exploiting the common natural resources

in the state or the region. The more the prosperous settlements use the resources and

become richer, the more other ones get poor and dependent on the riches. This process can

continue as far as creating unbalanced development across the state or the region. Therefore

and generally speaking, a kind of planning for redistribution of the resources throughout the

region and among all settlements is necessary to avoid polarized and unbalanced

development. This planning scheme, known as regional planning, aims at dealing with

regional problems and shortages caused by various forms of activities, which can affect all

settlements in the region as well as other neighbor regions in a short or long-term. These

public problems in character relate to the social, economic, cultural, and environmental

issues. Therefore, the term “regional planning” also refers to the issues e.g. population,

economy, mobility, and environment. Regional planning attempts try to overcome the

challenges of imbalanced development through controlling the current and future activities

involving the population and its economy, making use of natural resources, and using

transportation facilities in regional environment. The outcomes, then, would bring about

more control over the development activities to decline imbalanced development through

more efficient resources usage and less damage to the environment. Regional planning

focuses on four major areas of development activities including demographic, economic,

transportation, and land use planning. There are several methods and approaches to

regional planning, based on the objectives of the plan as well as the urban development

system in which those are applied. However, what really matters is the level of efficiency

to which they perform.

From the beginning of the 20th century onwards and because of the growth of urban areas

on an unprecedented scale along with the growth of industrial units, there were some

special terms defined by the geographers and town planners, and later by different urban

planning and political systems, to deal with the phenomenon of uncontrolled urban growth.

Those terms such as Conurbation, Urban Agglomeration, City-Region, Metropolitan

Region, Metropolitan Area, Megalopolis, Extended Metropolitan Areas, Polycentric Urban

Regions, Polycentric Mega-City Regions, Daily Urban System, Urban Field, and

Functional Urban Regions were considered during the 20th century as well as the first

decade of the 21st century to characterize the greater urban areas in order to tackle their

emerging specific socio-economic and environmental problems.

These particular scientific terminologies concern with the factors of urban size, urban

activities, urban and regional accessibilities, local and suburb areas, and urban surroundings

having practical relations with each other on a regional background. Showing the evolution

of urban development and planning atmosphere and themes, those terms also reflect the

current viewpoint of many urban and regional planning systems in the world. However,

most of those special terms have been linked practically to the concept of regional planning

in the last 5 decades. Regional planning concept lays also the basis for this research; so

some of the most related terms mentioned above would also be shortly introduced.

2.2. Definitions and general international concepts

2.2.1. Planning

Planning, scientifically, refers to the issue of controlling ongoing activities to make them

release the desired results. Planning refers to the issue of changes and of wishes to control

the changes. A human society changes by the time and needs to be controlled to have better

results out of those changes. The changes in a society can include cultural, economic,

demographic, political, and environmental ones and the interrelationships among them.

Therefore, planning could be assumed as a formal and disciplinary activity by which a

society guides and controls changes in itself, through the application of scientific

knowledge (Alden, J., and Morgan, R., 1974). Planning is mostly concerned with the future

and focuses on the relation of goals and decisions while seeking to get comprehensiveness

in policy and program.

Planning is also a series of continuous actions for overcoming the

future economic and social problems.

The development of human activities could improve the whole process of changes and their

results, and can provide new experiences and tools by which a progressive change cycle

can be reached. “When such ‘development’ is guided by purposive human action

responding to a carefully conceived strategy, then the term ‘planning’ is appropriate.”

The

changes in a human society happen in various levels and in relation to its components.

Certainly, the changes happening in a small village are different in scale and character than

what happens in a capital city or in a country as a whole. They also vary based on the

available opportunities, natural limitations, and socio-economic characteristics existing on

the ground. “Planning is a scientific charting and picturing of the thing […] which man

desires and which the eternal forces will permit.”

Therefore, a successful planning is the

See Friedmann, J. & Alonso, W. (eds.) (1964), p. 61 for more details.

See Ziari, K. (2009), p. 11 for more details.

Bromley, R. et al. (1989), Regional Development and Planning. In: Gaile G. L. & Willmott, C. J. (eds.)

(1989): Geography in America, p. 351.

MacKaye, B. (1928), p. 147.

one which defines a very clear objective and makes the optimum use of potentials and

restrictions because “the basic achievement of planning is to make potentialities visible.”

Another significant factor in planning is the evaluation of the plans made in the past for the

particular project, situation, or problem. This reveals the weaknesses of the old plans and

provides the planer with the new knowledge and tools, for example, what the undesired

impacts of the plan were and how to deal with them in that particular situation in order to

prevent them from emerging in the future plans. Based on these concepts, planning for the

development of a city, urban area, or a region is a deliberate continuous scientific activity

taking economic, demographic, and environmental issues into account to have the optimum

outputs and to minimize the negative effects of the plan on the whole human settlement for

which the plan is made.

2.2.2. Region

First of all and as to how a regional plan can be called and applied for a particular spatial

and geographical environment, the term region should be defined as a precondition for

assessment of its problems and characteristics. There have been several definitions offered

by the scientists from different disciplines, referring to the particularities of the region e.g.

its function, its territory, its administrative framework, its cultural structure, etc., of which

each represents its own conditions and requires its own planning applications.

However, a region with all relevant components is always problematic for the planners to

define. Region as an unclear word, not describing exactly the physical characteristics of a

space to which it refers, such as largeness, location, accessibilities, etc., and not clarifying

the characteristics of its components, remains basically to be defined by the purpose of its

use. The largeness of a region and its population size, the physical accessibility and

economic networks within it, its connections with the adjacent regions, its cultural

diversity, and its geographic and climatic characteristics are taken into account by different

MacKaye, B. (1928), p. 147.

groups of scientists working on related topics. “For most planners and regional scientists

today, the region represents merely a taxonomic category, a functional subunit of national

space.”

Based on this definition a region can be seen as a division unit within national

administrative structure which politically eases dealing with the whole country’s affairs. In

defining and characterizing a region in order to plan for its development, however, it is also

necessary to note its capacities and functions. Generalizing, “a region may be identified as

a unit of geographical and socio-economic boundaries having a political and administrative

identity.”

Therefore, if the region is assumed as part of the national spatial structure or

unit in which many spatial activities are considered, the functional aspect of that region

should also be taken into account. A region, however, consists of geographical location,

climatic characteristics, natural biodiversity, and cultural environment as well. Considering

all these factors in a region, Lewis Mumford in his prestigious book The Culture of Cities

has noted that a region consists of, first, natural and geographical elements like air, water,

and place, and second, factors created by the humans like economy and politics, and he

refers a region to the term life-conditioned environment (Mumford, 1938: 304). He also

considers a region as a unit which could be seen from two viewpoints; man-made

habitation area with its functions, and climatic and physical interactions.

However, the

characteristics of a region reflect its identity which differ a region from those of the others.

But whatever the components and characteristics of a region could be, Mumford believes

that there are some special qualities remaining the same in any region. He puts the

emphasis on three aspects which are first, the specific geographic characters of the region,

including soil, climate, vegetation and technical exploitation; second, the balance between

different parts of a region in which if a part changes, the other parts should also receive

compensating alterations; and third, of a natural regions, they have no marked physical

boundaries.

The natural balance in a region is of special importance, as the current

generation is confronting with, for example, climate change and its consequences, which is

the result of alterations in climatic conditions, made by the man and his activities.

Friedmann, J. & Weaver, C. (1979), p. 31.

Kalantari, Kh. (2001), p. 27.

See Mumford, L. (1938), p. 310 for more details.

See loc. cit., pp. 312-315 for more details.

Therefore, comprehensively and “rationally defined, the locus of human communities is the

region. The region is the unit-area formed by common aboriginal conditions of geologic

structure, soil, surface relief, drainage, climate, vegetation and animal life: reformed and

partly re-defined through the settlement of man, the domestication and acclimatization of

new species, the nucleation of communities in villages and cities, the re-working of the

landscape, and the control over land, power, climate, and movement provided by the state

of technics.”

As to how a region might be identified and of what it exactly comprises, there are lots of

criteria based on required purposes and actions. Nevertheless, clustering two or more urban

areas having the same characteristics and/or problems is the basic idea of defining a spatial

geographic unit as a region. “A region may be defined which embraces two homogeneous

regions in order to solve their distinctive problems through complementary action.”

Although homogeneity can bring out the potentials for bilateral actions, but the differences

between two urban areas may also produce opportunities of better planning in the same

region. “A region may be defined which embraces two markedly separate polarized nodes

in order to fulfill their potential.”

Conceptually, embracing two or more urban nodes

means to unify their separate identities and to bring them together as a region to share their

problems and resources – no matter of their individual official boundaries.

2.2.3. Regional Planning

Based on the given image above for a region and from the urban and regional development

viewpoint, a region includes rural and urban settlements which are connected to each other

through a network of roads, which are dependent on each other through the flow of goods

and products, which have population and human power exchange, which have the same

regional climate, and which, finally, share local and traditional sense of life. Regional

planning, then, means to conserve this collective characteristics and forms of lives

Mumford, L. (1938), p. 367.

Alden, J., & Morgan, R. (1974), p. 3.

See loc. cit.

throughout the region through an equal development of each part while conserving also the

environment as well as natural resources. Regional planning can be defined “as a particular

type of structural solution to the problem of societal self articulation. In other words, in

order to overcome the problems it is experiencing or to realize the goals it has set for itself,

society or groups within society may institutionalize the planning of supra urban spaces

[regions].”

Therefore, regional planning could also be defined as “the process of

formulating and clarifying social objectives in the ordering of activities in supra-urban

space.”

Benton Mackaye (1928) has illustrated the regional planning in general as an attempt to

visualize the coordinated actions within a region, which aim at achieving general human

living purposes.

Those coordinated actions within a region could be assumed as all

actions necessary to develop all parts of a region including cities, villages, agricultural

lands, forests, etc., to prevent them from gradual abandonment while their population could

migrate to larger urban centers for getting better life conditions. “Regional planning is the

conscious direction and collective integration of all those activities which rest upon the use

of the earth as site, as resource, as structure, as theater. To the extent that such activities are

focused within definite regions, consciously delimited and utilized, the opportunities for

effective co-ordination are increased. Hence regional planning is a further stage in the more

specialized or isolated processes of agriculture planning, industry planning, or city

planning.”

2.2.3.1. Goals and objectives

Regional planning aims mostly at equally distributing the development actions to all local

settlements in the region. It aims at improving life conditions for inhabitants of every

settlement to prevent the imbalanced development. It imposes the control on metropolitan

Alden, J. & Morgan, R. (1974), p. 2.

Friedmann, J. & Weaver, C. (1979), p. 119.

See MacKaye, B. (1928), p. 153 for more details.

Mumford, L. (1938), p. 374.

development as well as centralization of the economic and social opportunities. “It does not

aim at urbanizing automatically the whole available countryside; it aims equally at

ruralizing the stony wastes of our cities.”

Therefore, “regional planning asks not how

wide an area can be brought under the aegis of the metropolis, but how the population and

civic facilities can be distributed so as to promote and stimulate a vivid, creative life

throughout a whole region.”

According to Mumford (in Sussman ed. 1976), regional

planning has two important characteristics; first, it includes cities, villages, and permanent

rural areas, considered as part of the regional complex, and second, it considers balanced

environment and a settled mode of life.

A very common and important aspect of regional planning, referred by most of the regional

planning thinkers, is the climatic and natural environment of the region, which should be

taken into account when planning for the region. If this aspect is good conserved, it can

provide future generations of human beings with natural resources as well. With this

conceptual background and in highlighting the meaning of regional planning, we have to

note that whatever the planning efforts offer to a region, the natural environment of the

region should be conserved because “the ability to provide for current and future human

well-being depends on protecting natural capital from systematic overuse; otherwise, nature

will no longer be able to secure society with these basic services.”

This should be done

through replacing the balance naturally existing in a region by a richer environment, and a

sort of carefully balanced intellectual human activities on a high cultural basis.

On the

other hand the action of planning in a natural environment should be aware that it is not

possible to plan for the nature before having obeyed what the nature imposes.

Calling the three major aspects of geographic, economic, and political as “cardinal” to any

plan, Stuart Chase in his contribution to the book Planning the Fourth Migration (Carl

See Mumford, L. (1976), Regions – To Live In. In: Sussman, C. (ed.) (1976): Planning the Fourth

Migration: the neglected vision of the regional planning association of America, p. 90 for more details.

See loc. cit. p. 90 for more details.

See Mumford, L. (1976), Regional Planning. In: Sussman, C. (ed.) (1976): Planning the Fourth Migration:

the neglected vision of the regional planning association of America, pp. 203-204 for more details.

Munier, N. (ed.) (2006), p. 2.

See Mumford, L. (1938), p. 314 for more details.

See MacKaye, B. (1928), pp. 146-149 for more details.

Sussman, ed. 1976) also points out that the economic region, which means an area unit with

its naturally existing soil, climate, topography, and racial mixture, is the best unit for

planning. The issue of natural regional balance also reminds that a region itself as part of a

country, and of the earth as a whole, is also a part of wider regional balance. Therefore,

regional planning should conduct the development of the region in a way that considers its

relations with other regions as well.

Regarding the preparation and the implementation of a regional plan and focusing on step-

by-step and participatory character of regional planning, Mumford divides the regional

planning into 4 stages including survey, drafting the social needs and goals, imaginative

reconstruction and projection, and participatory implementation by the political and

economic agencies after getting the community’s acceptance.

2.2.4. Recent and contemporary interrelated concepts

In this section, the most related and important concepts pertaining to the term region are

presented. Following concepts refer to the fundamental and conceptual bases and criteria

according to which a region is classified. These concepts illuminate the characteristics of

particular urban regions to give an overview of what the regions need to be planned in the

future. In other words, the regions with different names here are seen as planning units and

not necessarily as implementation bodies, though many institutions for applying the plans

could be established in any of those planning units. Table 2.1 gives an overview of those

concepts with their important characteristics and each concept is defined and discussed in

upcoming pages.

See Mumford, L. (1938), pp. 376-380 for more details.

Table 2.1: overview of the concepts discussed in this section regarding the term ‘region’

Related concept

Key characteristics

Conurbation

Industrial development, transformation of countryside, connection

of neighbor factory towns.

City-region

Larger city with its surrounding urban and rural areas under the

same political influence, expansion of a major city to embrace

other smaller towns.

Megalopolis

Economic activities and power, rapid urbanization.

Daily urban system

Central city with commuting work power from the surrounding

rural areas.

Urban field

Powerful core regions with weak peripheries, need for

decentralization of economic activities.

Polycentric urban regions

Collection of two or more urban nodes enforced by the need for

services, globalization, and economic dependence.

Polycentric mega-city

regions

Physically separate and functionally networked mega-city regions,

global economy and information transfer played a key role creating

these regions.

Urban agglomeration

The population size of a whole urbanized area regardless of

administrative boundaries of local urban centers, several towns

with their suburbs.

Extended metropolitan

regions

Urban cores with adjacent large and medium-sized cities,

economic growth and demographic changes, environmental

problems.

Functional urban regions

Defining regions based on their function not only in the region but

also in interregional levels, the population, employment rates, and

commuting rates are key issues.

Metropolitan region

Balanced development of suburbs around the core metropolitan

cities as well as the coherent development of the metropolitan

region, economic and environmental aspects are significant, core

population size of at least one million, commuting rate of at least

10%, metro population of more than 1.5 million inhabitants.

Source: own conclusions from the sections 2.2.4.1. to 2.2.4.11.

2.2.4.1. Conurbation

This term was first introduced by Patrick Geddes in his book Cities in Evolution in 1915.

His idea concerned the new technologies of the time and their influence on the industrial

development speeding up the growth of the urban areas. He believed that the rapid growth

of larger urban areas swallowing their surrounding countryside brings about, actually, a

transformation, not an appropriate development. He recommends, then, the term

Conurbation meaning the connection of neighbor factory towns through their expansion in

particular directions. In this definition, the rural areas around the urban centers connected

are not included.

See Geddes, P. (1915), pp. 25-36 for more details.

2.2.4.2. City-region

City-regions have been being considered in many countries from the mid-20th century

onwards. City-region refers to a “city or conurbation plus its sphere of influence”

and

includes not only the core city but also all its surrounding urban and rural areas under the

socio-economic and political influence of the core city. “We have defined ‘city–region’ to

refer to: a strategic and political level of administration and policy making, extending

beyond the administrative boundaries of single urban local government authorities to

include urban and/or semi-urban hinterlands.”

A city-region could also result from “an

urban development on a massive scale: a major city that expands beyond administrative

boundaries to engulf small cities, towns and semi-urban and rural hinterlands, sometimes

expanding sufficiently to merge with other cities, forming large conurbations that

eventually become city-regions.”

The Cape Town city-region in South Africa with nearly

100 kilometer extension and the Bangkok city-region expected to expand another 200

kilometer by 2020 are examples of such large city-regions (UNICEF, 2012).

2.2.4.3. Megalopolis

The term Megalopolis was first used by Oswald Spengler in his book Der Untergang des

Abendlandes

in 1918. In this book, he mostly speaks of world’s history, human beings

and their culture, and of the ancient cities and megalopolises powered and controlled by

economies or blood races. Twenty years later, Lewis Mumford recalls the term in his

prestigious book The Culture of Cities in 1938. The main ideas he points out are related to

the history of the formation of human settlements beginning with Eopolis (rise of the

village community) and ending with Nekropolis (the city of the dead). He completes,

actually, the picture after his precedents like Oswald Spengler and Patrick Geddes. He

refers to the megalopolis as a mass of power, economic activities, and dominant producers

Hall, P. (2002), p. 116.

Tewdwr-Jones, M. & McNeill, D. (2000), p. 131, In: European Urban and Regional Studies 2000, 7: 119.

UNICEF (2012): The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an increasingly urban world.

This book was translated by Charles Francis Atkinson with the title of The Decline of the West in 1926.

thinking only of their benefits.

He looks at the megalopolis as “the beginning of the

decline.”

However and from more technical and morphological point of view, this term

was first used by Jean Gottmann in 1957 in his article Megalopolis or the urbanization of

the Northeastern seaboard in Economic Geography and then deeply introduced in 1961 in

his book Megalopolis to describe the rapid and vast urbanization of the Northeastern

seaboard of the United States. He describes this megalopolis as “continuous stretch of

urban and suburban areas from southern New Hampshire to northern Virginia and from the

Atlantic shore to the Appalachian foothills.”

He believes that such a region, which has

been developed in a long process of socio-economic growth and has challenged the classic

differentiations between city and country, needs a new name able to describe the region’s

current powerful political, economic, and cultural stance, so the term megalopolis is

appropriate.

He reviews, then, the existing problems in the megalopolis and calls for

special treatments and revision of the old concepts of urban and regional development

caused, mostly, by the economic and demographic factors.

2.2.4.4. Daily urban system

The term Daily Urban System (DUS) was first used by the Greek architect and urban

planner Constantinos A. Doxiadis in the 1970s, who founded the field of human settlement

sciences. The DUS represents an expanded urban area including a central city and its

surrounding rural areas whose population commute to the central city for work (Bretagnolle

et al, 2001). Therefore, two major concepts have to be identified to define a DUS, which

are the core city as the employment center and the commuting hinterlands or rings to be

allocated to each center.

See Mumford, L. (1938), pp. 284-292 for more details.

See loc. cit., p. 289.

Gottmann, J. (1961), p. 3.

See loc. cit., pp. 3-4 for more details.

See Coombes, M. G. et al (1979), p. 565, In: Environment and Planning A, 1979, volume 11, pages 565-

574 for more details.

2.2.4.5. Urban field

The Urban Field (UF) concept was first introduced by John Friedmann and John Miller in

the mid of 1960s to address the weaknesses of American spatial structure of urban life of

the time. They criticized the metropolitan region conception comprising of metropolitan

core region and intermetropolitan peripheries, and stressed that the core regions have

gained high levels of economic and cultural development and left the peripheries

economically, demographically, socially, and politically decaying (Friedmann & Miller

1965). They believe that the concentration of economic activities and population in

metropolitan cores has absorbed the productive population and investment capitals of the

periphery.

The most significant part of the UF concept, thus, is the decentralization of

economic activities, which gives the periphery areas the chance to regain their capabilities

in terms of socio-economic strengths. Therefore, the UF can be defined as “an enlargement

of the space for urban living that extends far beyond the boundaries of existing

metropolitan areas – defined primarily in terms of commuting to a central city of

‘metropolitan’ size – into the open landscape of the periphery.”

In this way, the UF can

also be viewed as the extension of functional metropolitan influence with less dominance

because once the economic activities are decentralized to the peripheral cities within the

field, the proximity factor plays a key role for better interactions, and the whole urban field

remains a coherent region.

In other words, the UF can be defined as the sphere of

influence of the urban center because there is an urban field in the hinterlands for any

particular function of the urban center (Martin, 2000).

See Friedmann, J. & Miller, J. (1965), p. 313, In: Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 31:4, 312-

320, for more details.

See loc. cit., p. 313.

See loc. cit., pp. 314-315 for more details.

2.2.4.6. Polycentric urban regions

Polycentric urban region (PUR), which is considered as a spatial planning concept, is a

collection of separate urban nodes having economic interchanges among them. The

changes of urban functions of early 1990s made the concept and implications of urban

monocentricity out of date. Globalization, economic dependence on advanced services,

informationalization, and decentralizing employment into multiple centers have paved the

road to welcome new emerging urban forms; polycentric cities (Hall, 1997: 316-319). “The

monocentric model […] is apparently no longer suitable for exploring the evolving spatial

patterns in urban North America, Europe and Japan. Even adaption of the standard

monocentric model will not do anymore.”

Dieleman and Faludi (1998) believe that PURs

are mostly located in Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, and include small and

intermediate-sized cities with a high population density, which are close to each other and

have a high rate of daily commuters. These characteristics make the whole region as a

single functional unit called polynucleated metropolitan region. “A PUR can be defined as

a region having two or more separate cities, with no one centre dominant, in reasonable

proximity and well-connected.”

According to Bailey and Turok (2001), this concept has

been developed, in north-west of Europe, in highly urbanized urban regions lacking such

world city urban centers.

2.2.4.7. Polycentric mega-city regions

The term Polycentric Mega-City Region (PMCR) refers to the mega-city regions

comprising of some administratively independent but functionally dependent bigger and

smaller cities. The PMCR refers to the originally identified mega-city regions in Eastern

Asian countries e.g. China, Japan, and Indonesia (Hall 2004, Hall 1999). As a new form of

early 21st century urbanization forms, a PMCR embraces “a series of anything between

twenty and fifty cities and towns, physically separate but functionally networked, clustered

Kloosterman, R. C. & Musterd, S. (2001), pp. 624-625, In: Urban Studies, Vol. 38, No. 4, 623-633. 2001.

Bailey, N. & Turok, I. (2001), p. 698, In: Urban Studies, Vol. 38, No. 4, 697-715. 2001.

around one or more larger central cities, and drawing enormous economic strength from a

new functional division of labour.”

This new form of urbanization has emerged due to the

new forms of world-wide trade, information transfer, and transportation means. While the

global economy changes and grows, cities compete to improve their economic role and

function, and spread to act as linked centers of workforce and information flows (Hall,

1997). The most common feature of these regions is that they are all polycentric, but in

different degrees (Hall, 2004).

2.2.4.8. Urban agglomeration

The term Urban Agglomeration (UA) deals, mostly, with the population size of the urban

areas and is usually defined based on population thresholds of the cities and their suburbs.

This classification of urban areas varies highly from one country to the other, so it is

difficult to give a clear overview of its classification criteria. However, this term has been

defined and is being used by the United Nations (UN). Based on the UN definitions, an

urban agglomeration “refers to the de facto population contained within the contours of a

contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels without regard to administrative

boundaries. It usually incorporates the population in a city or town plus that in the sub-

urban areas lying outside of but being adjacent to the city boundaries.”

The UN

Children’s Fund (UNICEF) defines the UA as “the population of a built-up or densely

populated area containing the city proper, suburbs and continuously settled commuter areas

or adjoining territory inhabited at urban levels of residential density.”

Based on these

definitions, an UA could be also assumed as a region when planning for though the main

characteristics of that are related to the population density not to the largeness of the urban

agglomeration. However, an UA could include several towns and cities with their suburbs

and could be smaller or larger than a metropolitan area (UN-Habitat 2009).

Hall, P. (2004), p. 1.

UNDESA (2011), World Urbanization Prospects, the 2011 Revision.

UNICEF (2012): The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an increasingly urban world.

2.2.4.9. Extended metropolitan regions

The term Extended Metropolitan Region (EMR) was coined by McGee and his colleagues

(1991) while studying the metropolitan regions in Asian countries. Their major idea was

about the settlement transition and the transformation of space economy as well as the role

metropolitan cores and desacota process play. They argued that the existence of the highly

agricultural regions (desacota) adjacent to large urban cores are the instigators changing the

patterns of space economy in the region and making a new form of mega-urban region to

emerge. The emerging mega-urban regions would, then, often comprise of two major city

cores linked by an appropriate transportation route (McGee 1991). “These regions include

the major cities, peri-urban zones, and an extensive zone of mixed rural-urban land use

along such routes.”

The box 2.1. highlights the most important characteristics of those

EMRs.

Box 2.1: the major characteristics of EMRs in Asia

- The EMRs include both urban core(s) and surrounding areas, which embrace large- and

medium-sized urban centers,

- The EMRs are the major focus of economic growth in their countries,

- The transportation plays a significant role in the emergence of the EMRs,

- The changes in demographic levels and household sizes as well as in household incomes

are high, and

- These EMRs have normally large number of environmental problems and mixed land use

challenging the policy-makers.

Source: adapted from McGee, T. (1994), pp. 83-84

McGee, T. G. (1991), p. 7. In: Ginsburg, N. et al (eds.) (1991): The Extended Metropolis: Settlement

Transition in Asia.

2.2.4.10. Functional urban regions

The term Functional Urban Region (FUR) is relatively a new concept in regional and

metropolitan planning debates. It has been being considered in spatial planning system in

Europe during the last decade. Following the unification of the European countries, and

their spatial planning policies, the focus on the FUR concept aimed at seeking more

adaptive and inclusive definition and criteria by which the member countries could

demarcate and analyze their mega-city regions. The FUR concept enables the demarcation

of the regions not based on the administrative and physical units, but as they function both

at inner regional and interregional levels. A FUR refers to “a functionally-defined urban

region that reaches out beyond the physically-built-up area to encompass all the areas that

have regular daily relationships with a core city.”

In other words, a FUR includes not only

the core city and its peripheries but also the whole surrounding commuting areas

exchanging population and economic activities with the core on a daily base. According to

Hall (2004), a FUR is characterized by the employment rate of 7 percent or more per

Hectare in the core city and at least 20,000 employees either in the core or in contiguous

urban units and by the economic influence on ring areas where 10 percent or more of the

population commute daily to the core for work. Therefore and based on these definitions,

the important factors, being considered when analyzing a FUR, are the population,

employment, and commuting. RheinRuhr, Randstad, Paris, and London are some examples

of FURs (Knapp & Schmitt, 2003: 11).

2.2.4.11. Metropolitan region

The term Metropolitan Region (MR) is as old as decades, and has been considered from the

1920s onwards. The metropolitan development and metropolitan planning concepts were

on top of the discussions during the 1930s, as to the patterns of metropolitan growth,

pertaining to the physical expansion of the metropolitan area, and they had some advocates

like the Chicago school of urban ecology. However, the most important aspects of the

Hall, P. (2004), p. 3.

metropolitan planning at the beginning of the 21st century are related to the integrated and

balanced development of the suburban areas around the core metropolitan cities, and the

coherent development of the metropolitan region. The new trends focus mostly on the

economic and environmental aspects of the MR as the result of regional human interactions

and also support “the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent

metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real

neighborhoods and diverse districts, [and] the conservation of natural environments.”

There are plenty of definitions for MR, released by different individuals and organizations,

but this is also generally accepted that there cannot be a single and general definition

referring to the MRs across the globe. “Many countries have developed their own

definition, [and] the scope of what can be learned from their international comparison is

limited by the lack of an agreed definition of Metropolitan Regions across countries.”

But

the most related definitions focusing on physical and morphological aspects could,

however, be considered. The UN-Habitat defines the MR as a collection of local

governments considered under an umbrella of larger urban area and its surrounding

commuter areas as a whole.

Giving the Greater London and Metro Manila as examples of

MR, the UNICEF stresses that a MR could also be a formal local government including the

central core city with all its peripheral commuter areas, which is formed around the urban

core with a population of at least 100,000 people (UNICEF, 2012). “In addition to the city

proper, a metropolitan area includes both the surrounding territory with urban levels of

residential density and some additional lower-density areas that are adjacent to and linked

to the city.”

Therefore, “the definition of metropolitan areas in use in different countries

consists of a core area with significant concentration of employment or population and a

surrounding area densely populated and closely tied with the core.”

Congress for the New Urbanism (2001), p. 1.

OECD (2007), p. 1.

See UN-Habitat (2009), p. 5 for more details.

UNICEF (2012): The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an increasingly urban world.

OECD (2007), pp. 1-2.

The MRs, therefore, could be assumed as points of concentration within their national

spatial divisions. The MRs are urban agglomerations hosting population, industries,

institutions, and businesses and are the formative element of the morphological spatial

structure (BBSR, 2011).

Apart from the largeness and demographic character of the MRs, their functionality is also

considered when defining them. Especially in the context of globalization, when the MRs

contribute to a global network of different worldwide goods production chains, goods

distribution facilities, and socio-cultural and economic activities at various levels of

interaction even on a daily basis, the MRs get the major role of pulsating hearts of the

whole network. Hence, “metropolitan regions form hubs within these networks and are of

central importance within these international relationships. Within these areas and regions,

local and regional interact with supraregional and global functions increasing their

importance.”

As mentioned above, there are a variety of definitions for MR based on the physical

characteristics e.g. largeness, economic factors and functionality, administrative

classifications, commuting rates, and demographic changes. There have also been attempts,

by some international organizations, to compare the definitions and to define fixed criteria

for the definition and recognition of the MRs, which enables the MRs to be more

comparable. The OECD

suggests the following criteria for the classification and

recognition of MRs:

BBSR (2011), p. 7.

OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)

Box 2.2: criteria for the recognition of a MR, set by the OECD

- Population density: the region is classified as Predominantly Urban according to the OECD

regional Typology (i.e.: less than 15% of the population lives in communities -territorial

units smaller than TL3 regions- with a density below 150 inhabitants per square km)

- Core population size: Selects only Predominantly Urban regions of at least one million

inhabitants.

- Commuting: Commuters should account for at least 10% of the resident labour force in the

selected Predominantly Urban regions with more than one million inhabitants. The

Commuting rate is calculated computing the ratio between employment at the place of work

and employment at the place of residence. Thus, if the commuting rate of the core region

identified in the previous steps is below the fixed 1.10 threshold (i.e.: commuters accounts

for less than 10% of the resident labour force), the region is considered to be self-contained

and to delimit an integrated economic space, while if the commuting rate is above 1.10,

then the region has significant labour force exchanges with other regions. In the latter case,

neighbouring regions are added to the core and the commuting rate is re-computed for this

larger region. The aggregation of neighbouring regions will continue until the threshold of

self-containment is achieved (1.10).

- Metro population size: The final step is to compute the total population of the region

defined following the methodology in the first three criteria. If the total population is above

1,500,000 inhabitants, the region is then considered a Metropolitan region.

Source: adapted from OECD (2007), p. 2

Based on these criteria, the OECD recognizes the MRs across the globe though not all of

the criteria are applicable for some specific MRs. For example, the minimum number of

inhabitants taken into account for some German MRs e.g. Frankfurt am Main Kreisfreie

Stadt, Düsseldorf Kreisfreie Stadt, Bonn Kreisfreie Stadt, Köln Kreisfreie Stadt as well as

for Leeds in United Kingdom is exceptionally less than 1,000,000. Other exceptions are

MRs in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, which include metropolitan statistical areas

defined by statistical authorities in each country.

The recent trends in defining and classifying the MRs highlights the need for updated forms

and approaches of regional planning. The new form of regional planning used

contemporarily in most of the countries is summarized in the concept of metropolitan

region or metropolitan area. The contemporary meaning of metropolitan region also

focuses on the more polycentric development of the urbanized regions in terms of enabling

them to enter the global economic development chain. There are lots of examples

worldwide, e.g. in Europe, showing the policy outcomes of these trends. The previous

spatial development of the regions in EU was concerned with the development of physical

infrastructure between core areas and the peripheries, but there is a need for creating

several zones integrated into the global economy (European Communities, 1999: 20).

Therefore and if the final goal of regional and spatial planning is to have a balanced

development of urban core areas as well as their hinterlands, the new policies should aim at

integrating the core areas of MRs into the global economy to prevent the more vulnerable

hinterlands from the economic exclusion. Based on this policy, the city-ranking approach in

each metropolitan region should be the goal and the economic competition among cities

and the sociocultural activity exchange among them should be encouraged in order to get a

good complementary functional diversity throughout the MRs (European Communities,

1999: 21).

See OECD (2007), pp. 3-6 for more details.

2.2.5. Regional planning; countries of origin

The evolution of urban and regional planning varies among the countries having been

experiencing it. The origins of regional planning thoughts go back to France, the United

Kingdom, and Germany in Europe, and to the United States continuously having societal

problems in late 19th and early 20th century. “The societal problems which have initiated

regional planning can be identified as social, economic, political, administrative, physical

and cultural.”

The industrial revolution between the 18th and 19th century, the high rates

of unemployment and uncontrolled urban expansions at the beginning of 20th century, the

economic depression of early 20th century, and the reactions of planning associations to

these phenomena played a very important role in initial phases of the regional planning

evolution. In this section, the regional planning initiatives, in three major countries

including the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, are going to be introduced

in the form of reviewing their historical backgrounds.

2.2.5.1. The United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the concept of regional thinking and regional planning was

developed as a response to the socio-economic problems started, historically, at the end of

eighteenth century by the industrial revolution and changed in character by the time (Hall,

2002). The first attempt and example of British regional planning is the Doncaster Regional

Planning Scheme 1922, in which the more appropriate strategy, which realized to be

effective, was to concentrate on a ring of satellite towns through developing the existing

villages with their nucleus centers, rather than emphasizing on Doncaster to host the whole

growth of the region.

The two decades of 1920s and 1930s were the time to action

because the mentioned problems existed not only in Doncaster Region but also in many

parts of Britain. High rate of unemployment in different parts of Britain in 1920s and 1930s

along with a strong decline in industrial activities led to a sort of actions by national

Alden, J., and Morgan, R. (1974), p. 9.

See loc. cit., p. 14 for more details.

government having tried to fight the unemployment. This happened in 1934 with Special

Areas Act set by the government to solve the unemployment problem and to influence the

distribution of economic activities spatially.

The two decades of 1930s and 1940s were the very important periods during which the

regional problems were more officially investigated and reported by the governmental

commissioners. Those reports include Barlow report of 1940, Scott and Uthwatt report of

1942, Abercrombie and Reith report of 1945, and Dower and Hobhouse report of 1947

based on which the main legal framework for regional planning was set.

The legislations

e.g. the Distribution of Industry Act of 1945, the New Towns Act of 1946, the Town

Development Act of 1952, the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947, and the National

Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949 were the direct outcomes of the reports

provided by the commissions.

But the most significant regional studies leading to the actual regional development

projects were two studies carried out in 1960s, as the earlier attempts had concentrated on

the economic growth on the developing areas. These two studies aimed at controlling the

rapid growth around the larger urban centers. The first study was the South East Study

carried out in 1964 and suggested the building up a second ring of new towns for London at

greater distance than the first ring, and the second study was the West Midlands and the

North West regional studies carried out in 1965 and stressed on the necessity of building up

new towns in each region having received no new town before 1961 in order to

accommodate the population overflow of the conurbations.

In the recent decades, the regional planning system in Britain has been based on the

concept of city-regions, which deals mostly with labor market areas. The Spatial

Deconcentration of Economic Land Use and Quality of life in European Metropolitan

Areas (SELMA, 2006) declares that there is no official definition for the city or for city-

regions. However, it mentions that the planning units, considered as city-regions, consist of

See loc. cit., pp. 16-17 for more details.

See Hall, P. (2002), pp. 56-66 for more details.

See loc. cit., pp. 66-74 for more details.

See loc. cit., pp. 107-110 for more details.

the main counties as well as labor market areas. Here the county, in which the city is

located, is assumed as territorial unit for strategic land use planning for the period 1991-

2002.

A labor market area is considered according to what Office of Deputy Prime

Minister (ODPM) defines based on travel patterns in the 1991 census. It also stresses that

population density and contiguous built-up areas play the key role in defining boundaries of

urban areas by ODPM.

2.2.5.2. The United States

Regional thoughts and planning in the United States were initially established by a small

group of academics known as Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA) through

their critical assessments of the society, pointing to the socio-economic problems of their

time. “The RPAA was formed in 1923 by a group of architects and planners who met in

New York City for regular discussions of urban problems.”

The RPAA and its visions

were, perfectly, reviewed by Carl Sussman (editor) in his book Planning the Fourth

Migration in 1976, in which Lewis Mumford, Benton Mackaye, and others have also

contributed. In the RPAA “the members sought to replace the existing centralized and

profit-oriented metropolitan society with a decentralized and more socialized one made up

of environmentally balanced regions.”

They also introduced the idea of statewide regional

planning for the first time in the United States.

According to Fiedmann and Weaver

(1979: 30-35), the RPAA concentrated on the issues of metropolitanization, regions and

regional balance, regional planning, and planning strategies. However, “for all their talk of

learning about the concrete realities of regional life, they never seriously confronted the

existence of widespread rural poverty nor developed the social implications of metropolitan

financial dominance.”

These aspects were later considered by southern academics whose

See SELMA (2006), p. 36 for more details.

See loc. cit. for more details.

Friedmann, J. & Weaver, C. (1979), p. 29.

Sussman, C. (ed.) (1976), p. 1.

See loc. cit., p. 2 for more details.

Friedmann, J. & Weaver, C. (1979), p. 35.

interests covered the issues of underdevelopment, poverty, and marginalized settlements.

But whatever the components of American regionalists’ thoughts were, regional planning

appeared in America in mostly scientific and academic atmosphere rather than through

practical attempts to solve the existing problems in the reality, and borrowed much

knowledge from European thinkers and pioneers, though it became part of political debates

later in early 1930s. The main concepts of regional planning in 1920s and 1930s did not

consider economic growth but addressed the ecological and social balance between city and

countryside as well as human culture and the nature.

During the 1930s there were also some attempts to develop the idea of metropolitan

planning. This concept covered mostly the description of how and based on which patterns

a metropolitan grows up. The Chicago school of urban ecology was certainly one of the

first advocates of this idea, which also influenced the National Planning Board (NPB) and

its works later.

The decade witnessed two other major theory developments by the

National Resources Committee (NRC)

and its members, including regionalism and

urbanism. The more practical regional plans of this time were river basin development

plans. The common focus of these plans was on the development of natural resources

within areas located on the basis of physical water sheds and represented some examples of

which Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was one of the most important projects

(Friedmann and Weaver 1979: 68). The TVA was highly criticized because of its functions

and results reached between 1930 and 1950, because it was not a regional planning

approach what Mumford, Odum, and the others who developed organic regional planning

concept had introduced. “[…] the TVA had proven itself to be a powerful instrument of

urban-industrial expansion. If the TVA was to be a model for comprehensive river basin

development, it would be a model which funneled resources and people into the

metropolis.”

See loc. cit., p. 41 for more details.

See loc. cit., p. 56 for more details.

NPB became NRC by 1935, See loc. cit., p. 67 for more details.

See loc. cit., p. 78.

Besides all critiques the TVA project received, it showed clearly that the economic

characteristics of settlement development are also very important, for they attract the

human activities as well as the population. Therefore, if the organic natural and cultural

factors should be considered and conserved in a region, the economy should also be added

to the regional debates. But it was not before the middle of 1950s that the economic aspect

of regional planning was launched. One of the most well-known economists of the time

was Walter Isard whose effective arguments in his book Location and Space-Economy

1956 woke up many of his contemporaries.

The ideas of unequal regional development and polarized development were also

introduced in the last 3 years of 1950s. The economic aspects of regional development

received also more attention in late 1950s and early 1960s when other scholars also

concentrated on the form and balance of economic growth among regions. The

concentrated economic growth brings about interregional inequalities among the regions

(Myrdal, 1957). On the other hand the idea of polarized development introduced by Albert

Hirschman (1959) was considering that there would be an unbalanced development among

regions, which by the course of time would get balanced and equalized.

In early 1960s regional planning became as a field of study in academic atmosphere after

John Friedmann started teaching regional planning at the MIT. He believed that regional

planning might be assumed as an applied field of regional science strongly developed by

the economists like Walter Isard offering their scientific analytical methods for regional

studies.

The spatial organization, urbanization, and regional growth theory were the next

evolutionary topic discussed in his publication of 1964 with William Alonso.

In 1990s, the most recognizable regional planning effort in the US was the smart growth

started from the early 1970s. From 1981 to 1999 there were more than 27 million housing

units built, mostly, in suburban areas in the 39 largest metropolitan regions, which were

See loc. cit., pp. 118-119 for more details.

criticized by some urbanists arguing for more sustainable urban form, and which had own

advocates stressing on negative growth controls especially an urban growth boundary.

The current regional planning system in the US represents a kind of metropolitan area

planning which is classified based on the largeness and the population size residing in the

area. Table 2.2 highlights some of the classifications of metropolitan areas in the US and

the definitions and standards applied for each classification.

Table 2.2: standards for classification of metropolitan areas in the US

Classifications

Definition

Core Based

Statistical

Areas

(CBSAs)

A CBSA is a geographic entity associated with at least one core of 10,000 or

more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and

economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties. A CBSA

includes central county or counties and outlying counties. The CBSAs are divided

into two categories as follows:

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs):

which must have a Census Bureau

defined urbanized area of at least 50,000

population or more.

Micropolitan Statistical Areas

(McSAs): which must have a Census

Bureau defined urban cluster of at

least 10,000 population but less than

50,000

MSA

Divisions

A MSA containing a single core with a population of at least 2.5 million may be

subdivided to form smaller groupings of counties referred to as Metropolitan

Divisions. A Metropolitan Division includes a main county and other secondary

counties.

Combined

CBSAs

The combination of adjacent CBSAs is under the following circumstances:

- Any two adjacent CBSAs will form a Combined Statistical Area if the

Hall, P. (2002), p. 206.

employment interchange measure between two areas is at least 25,

- Adjacent CBSAs that have an employment interchange measure of at

least 15 and less than 25 will combine if local opinion, as reported by the

congressional delegations in both areas, favors combination, and

- The CBSAs that combine retain separate identities within the larger

Combined Statistical Areas.

New England

City and

Town Areas

(NECTAs)

NECTAs are intended for use with statistical data, whenever feasible and

appropriate, for New England. NECTAs are categorized based on the same

concepts as CBSAs using cities and towns instead of counties and could be

divided as follows:

Metropolitan NECTA

Micropolitan NECTA

NECTA

Divisions

A NECTA containing a single core with a population of at least 2.5 million may

be subdivided to form smaller groupings of cities and towns referred to as

NECTA Divisions. A NECTA Division must have a total population of 100,000

or more. If a city or town has a population of 50,000 or more and its highest rate

of out-commuting to any other city or town is less than 20 percent, it qualifies to

be a main city or town.

Combined

NECTAs

“The geographic components of Combined New England City and Town Areas

are individual metropolitan and micropolitan NECTAs, in various

combinations.”78

Source: adapted from Federal Register (2000)

OMB (2009): Update of Statistical Area Definitions and Guidance on Their Uses. Bulletin NO. 10-02.

Office of Management and Budget. Washington. D.C. 20503. Available online at

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/bulletins/b10-02.pdf on 15.10.2012.

2.2.5.3. Germany

“The German urban system is characterized by the long history of scattered regionalism,

the so-called Kleinstaaterei, particularly during the 18th and early 19th century, and by the

decentralized federal system after the Second World War. Both resulted in a dense network

of vital small and midsize and some bigger cities and about a dozen conurbations, such as

RhineRuhr and Rhine-Main.”

But the regional planning concepts and practices started in

early 20th century, mainly regarding the problems of uncontrolled urban expansions as well

as insufficient physical infrastructures (Mertins & Paal 2009). Two forerunner planning

associations at this time are remarkable; The Ruhr Coalfield Settlement Association

(Siedlungsverband Ruhrkohlenbezirk (SVR)) and Special Purpose Association Greater

Berlin (Zweckverband Groß Berlin).

The SVR is an example of early development in regional planning, established in 1920 in

Germany to concentrate on Ruhr Region. The most important innovation of SVR was to

recognize that the existing problems in Ruhr could not be solved by individual towns, but

through a regional planning scheme (Alden & Morgan, 1974). The SVR had received,

according to the law, the power necessary for the development of the region, from all local

authorities. The designation of future built-up area and the preservation of green spaces as

well as public transport were some of its tasks (Mertins & Paal, 2009: 38). Cooperative

planning activities, transportation planning, and some financial assistance to the individual

local authorities have been the most noticeable innovations of SVR. Generally evaluating,

“the SVR was successful in guiding development and preserving open space in the highly

urbanized Ruhr area.”

Ruhr area experienced a dramatic decline in demand for coal in

1960s, causing a heavy decline in coal employment. Later in 1977 and after more than half

a century of successful regional planning, the SVR was dissolved.

The special purpose association for greater Berlin is another example of early spatial and

regional planning between 1912 and 1921 in Germany. This association was formed

Knapp, W. et al (2005), p. 2.

Schmidt, S. & Buehler, R. (2007), p. 59, In: International Planning Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, 55-75.

See Hall, P. (2002), p. 166 for more details.

through the unification of Berlin and six other districts as well as two counties around it.

The association was responsible for the development and management of transportation,

housing construction, and recreation and open spaces in the region.

In 1920, the

constituent Prussian state assembly passed the bill on the formation of a new municipality

for Berlin with the population of about 3.8 million and an area of 880 km².

After the 2nd world war, there were also some planning associations reactivating the

planning communities of the 1920s. The communal working group Rhine-Neckar in 1951

and the regional planning association Frankfurt/Main in 1962 are two examples of them

(Mertins & Paal 2009). In 1965, the Federal Spatial Planning Act (FSPA)

considered the

issue of regional development and planning. This act sets the general guidelines to be

followed by the federal states, and defines the relationship between the federal states and

the federal government (Schmidt & Buehler 2007). In 1998, the two important issues of

regional development concepts as well as urban networks were incorporated in Federal

Regional Planning Act (FRPA).

German regional planning faced new challenges in the last two decades; first, after the

unification of East and West Germany in 1990, and second, by entering to the European

Union (EU). The unification of East and West Germany made a challenging situation in

which Germany had to decide to balance the development of east and west. Taking into

account the objectives of the Agenda 21 and considering the goals of sustainable

development, Germany set the regulations for territorial planning under the title of FRPA in

1998, aiming at sustainable territorial planning (Mertins & Paal 2009).

These districts included Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, Wilmersdorf, Lichtenberg, Neukölln, and Spandau

and the two counties were Niederbarnim and Teltow. Taken from the official web portal of Berlin at

http://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/regierender-buergermeister/buergermeister-von-

berlin/buergermeistergalerie/artikel.4556.php on 20.02.2015.

See Mertins, G. & Paal, M. (2009), p. 38, In: LUZÓN, J.L. & M. CARDIM (Eds.): Estudio de casos sobre

planeación regional: 31-50 for more details.

The new Berlin Municipality included Alt-Berlin together with 7 towns, 59 rural communities, and 27

“Gutsbezirke” and was divided into 20 districts. Taken from the official web portal of Berlin at

http://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/regierender-buergermeister/buergermeister-von-

berlin/buergermeistergalerie/artikel.4556.php on 20.02.2015.

Bundesraumordnungsgesetz (ROG).

See Mertins, G. & Paal, M. (2009), p. 46, In: LUZÓN, J.L. & M. CARDIM (Eds.): Estudio de casos sobre

planeación regional: 31-50 for more details.

The second challenging point for German planning system was to integrate the new spatial

development policies set by the EU. In 1999, the EU released its own spatial plan, the

European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP), with the goal of working towards a

balanced and sustainable development of European Union’s territory.

“Germany

integrated the European Union’s Guideline 2001/42/EG in the Federal Regional Planning

Act.”

According to this guideline, the environmental aspects of strategic planning

instruments should be checked through a systematic audit procedure called strategic

environmental audit (Strategische Umweltprüfung) (Mertins & Paal 2009: 36).

2.3. Contents of Regional Planning

2.3.1. Population analysis

Regional planning in terms of planning for the future development of a region in a

sustainable way requires analyzing the key factors playing the major roles in development

of the region. These factors include economic development, land use planning,

transportation planning, and population analysis and projections. The latter is of the most

importance because the “population projections are the base for many planning activities,

such as producing land use and transportation plans, determining the direction of future

economic development and providing guidance for housing, school, and shopping center

developments.”

The population threshold is also one of the factors in prescribing the

largeness of a region or metropolitan area. The example of American metropolitan areas

(Table 2.2) showed that the most important factor in defining the structure and nature of a

metropolitan area is the statistical basis in which the demographic changes play a key role.

Any increase or decrease in population size, resulting either from the natural demographic

changes or the migrations, determines the level of development and the extension to which

the planning features for the other factors should be considered.

See European Communities (1999), for more details.

Mertins, G. & Paal, M. (2009), p. 36, In: LUZÓN, J.L. & M. CARDIM (Eds.): Estudio de casos sobre

planeación regional: 31-50.

Wang, X. & Vom Hofe, R. (2007), p. 53.

2.3.2. Economic development

Economic development is the driving engine in reaching the balanced development across a

region. Expanding the economic activities, such as building a new manufacturing unit, in a

region creates job opportunities, directly for the work power and indirectly for other local

service businesses, and improves the whole economic circulation in the region, increasing

also the local government’s revenues.

Generally and to estimate the ultimate changes in

the regional economy, the economic development plans and new activities should be

analyzed to estimate the total output and impact on the employment and income generation

for the residents as well as the local government. This is done through an impact analysis

employing the multipliers to estimate the total effects on variety of factors such as

employment in the region.

In fact, the estimation of total effects of economic

developments in the region provides the plan-makers with better understandings of

economic situation to conduct the regional planning processes on the way of achieving

more balanced regional development.

2.3.3. Land use planning

As an important part of the regional planning, the land use planning refers to the human

activities on the land and answers to the questions of where an activity should be placed

and why. The land use analysis allows the planners to understand which plot of land is

suitable for which activity and to dissect the impacts of a given activity on the landscape.

Therefore, planning for future changes in a region, as the main reason behind the planning

itself, needs to carry out the land use studies for any given place in the region, where the

changes are going to take place. “In short, land use analysis is a set of tools that helps to

understand: (1) how land is currently used; (2) what land use changes can be made in

accordance to a set of rules; and (3) what are the impacts of land use changes.”

Hence, a

See loc. cit., p. 134 for more details.

See loc. cit., pp. 134-135 for more details.

See loc. cit., p. 273 for more details.

See loc. cit., p. 274.

regional plan wishing to control the development activities across a given region should

have the land use analysis as the routine part of its regional studies to monitor the use of

land and to be able to take the right decision in accordance to the development goals of the

region when it is needed.

2.3.4. Transportation planning

The transportation within and among regions refer to the population and goods flow in

terms of daily travels, commuting to the workplace, and the transportation of goods and

products to the more local distribution and shopping centers. “Transportation planning is a

process of finding feasible alternatives and components of a transportation system to

support human activities in a community.”

As the human activities take place in different

parts of a region, a transportation network is needed to connect all those activities together.

The transportation planning in a region considers the traffic associated with the designated

land use, the transportation modes, the roads networks, and the necessary roadway facilities

in order to estimate the traffic volume and the efficiency of the transportation system.

Transportation analysis has a direct relation with the land use planning and the locations of

settlements and economic activities in the region because the land use plans determine the

location of future developments and changes for which the existing transportation facilities

should be adapted and the new ones should be prepared.

See loc. cit., p. 327.

See loc. cit. for more details.

2.4. Regional planning concept in Persian literatures

2.4.1. Introduction

Although the scientific base for regional planning in Iran is relatively strong, the outputs of

regional plans and the efficiency of what is planned and practiced, under the umbrella of

regional planning, must be examined. The concepts of urban and regional planning, their

definitions, and their methods have also been worked on for decades. The planning history

in Iran, in general, goes back to the late 1930s when the cabinet recognized the need for

economic planning and established the first Economy Council (Šorāye Eqteṣād) of Iran.

This council created a commission for goods production planning (Komisyune Tahiaye

Barnāma Barāye Tolide Maḥṣulāt), which released a seven-year agricultural plan

(Barnāmaye Haft Sālaye Kešāvarzi).

In 1944, the cabinet established a new High Council of Economy (Šorāye (āliye Eqteṣād)

which suggested the creation of a Board for Providing Development and Reform Plan

(Hey)ate Tahiaye Naqšaye Eṣlāḥi va (omrāniye Kešvar) in 1946.

The cabinet ratified the

creation of the board immediately. Shortly after the creation of the board, it published its

first report which was the basic draft for the first seven-year development plan of Iran, and

the cabinet ratified the draft in the same year.

The year 1946 witnessed another significant decision made by the cabinet, which was the

establishment of High Board of Plan (Hey)ate (āliye Barnāma) under the supervision of

Prime Minister.

However, it was not before 1948 that the national parliament ratified the

seven-year development plan of Iran which was going to be implemented from 1948 to

1955. This was the beginning point of planning, plan making, and plan organization in Iran.

The national parliament ratified also the establishment of Planning Office Administration

See Ziari, K. (2009), p. 157 for more details.

See loc. cit. for more details.

See loc. cit., pp. 157-158 for more details.

(Edārehye Daftare Kolle Barnāma) later changed to Temporary Organization for Plan

(Sāzmāne Movaqqate Barnāma).

100

As the table 2.3 shows, four more development plans were ratified and implemented until

1977 of which the 3rd and 4th plans stressed on regional studies and projects.

Table 2.3: list of Iran’s development plans from 1948 to 1978

Title of

plan

Ratified

Began in

Ended

Duration

Type of Plan

Legal base

1st Plan

1948

1955

7 years

Collective

Plans

National Parliament

2nd Plan

1955

1962

7 years

Collective

Plans

National Parliament

3rd Plan

1962

1967

5.5 years

Comprehensive

National Parliament

4th Plan

1967

1968

1972

5 years

Comprehensive

National Parliament

5th Plan

1972

1973

1977

5 years

Comprehensive

National Parliament

Reviewed

5th Plan

1975

1977

Comprehensive

National Parliament

6th Plan

Not

ratified

1978

1982

5 years

Comprehensive

Not ratified

Source: adapted from Tabesh, A. (1996), in Ziari, K. (2009), p. 162

After the Islamic revolution in 1979, the planning schemes and priorities were refreshed by

the new government. One of the significant early attempts was the ratification of Country’s

Planning Discipline (Neẓāme Barnāma Riziye Kešvar) by the economy council in 1981.

101

In 1982, the economy council reviewed also the first 5-year national development plan of

Iran for the years 1983 to 1987, but it was not ratified earlier than in 1990 because of the

war and especial conditions of the country. In this year, the Islamic Parliament of Iran

100

See loc. cit., p. 159 for more details.

101

See loc. cit., pp. 159-160 for more details.

announced the ratification of the 1st five-year development plan for the time period of 1990

to 1993.

102

Some of the regional planning-related objectives of this plan included spatial

reorganization and geographic redistribution of the population and activities based on each

region’s potentials, decentralization of population and activities from Tehran to some other

selected regions, revitalization of intermediate-sized cities, and pushing forward regional

development poles to stop migration into the large cities.

103

In 1995, the second five-year development plan was also ratified after a two years of

interruption.

104

The most important objectives of the second plan included fair distribution

of resources and facilities among all provinces positioning below the national overall

standards, more attention to be paid to the deprived regions, and decentralization of the

decision-making processes and stronger involvement of the provinces.

105

Table 2.4: list of Iran’s development plans from 1983 to 1995

Title of plan

Prepare

d in

Ratifie

d in

Began in

Ended in

Duratio

Type of Plan

Legal

base

1st Plan

1983

Not

implemented

Not

implemented

5 years

Comprehensive

The

Cabinet

Reformed 1st

Plan

1985

Not

ratified

Not

implemented

Not

implemented

5 years

Comprehensive

New

Conditions of

Economic

Independence

1986

1987

2 years

Limited

deployment

Economy

Council

1st Plan

1988

1989

1993

5 years

Comprehensive

Islamic

Parliament

2nd Plan

1993

1994

1995

1999

5 years

Comprehensive

Islamic

Parliament

Source: adapted from Tabesh, A. (1996), in Ziari, K. (2009), p. 163

102

See loc. cit., pp. 160-161 for more details.

103

See Sarrafi, M. (1998), p. 86 for more details.

104

See Ziari, K. (2009), p. 161 for more details.

105

See Sarrafi, M. (1998), pp. 86-87 for more details.

Table 2.5: list of Iran’s national development plans from 1999 to 2015

Plan’s

title

Prepared

Ratified

Began in

Ended in

Duration

Type of Plan

3rd Plan

1999

2000

2004

5 years

Comprehensive

4th Plan

2003

2004

2005

2009

5 year

Comprehensive

5th Plan

2009

2010

2011

2015

5 year

Comprehensive

Source: adapted from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th 5-year development plans of Iran

2.4.2. Regional and spatial planning

The regional planning concept started, in practice, in early 1950s in Iranian young planning

system and in the context of national development plans. The very important examples of

this period were Dašte Moḡān Development Program of 1953, as part of the 1st 7-year

development plan, and Ḵuzestān Region Development Plan as part of the 2nd 7-year

development plan (see table 2.3).

106

During the 1960s, regional planning got the legal

values in the 3rd five-year development plan

107

and mostly because of its decentralization

aspects. During this decade the 3rd and the 4th five-year development plans were under the

implementation, and some comprehensive regional plans including Jiroft Region

Development Plan, Qazvin Plain Development Plan, Kohgiluye Development

Organization, and Gorgān Plain Development Plan were considered.

108

In the 4th five-year

development plan in particular, the development of industrial cities e.g. Eṣfahān, Ahvāz,

Arāk, and Tabriz were considered. The same industrial development schemes were pursued

in Širāz, Qazvin, Mašhad, and Bāḵtarān Cities in this period.

109

Having focused on the socio-economic aspects of the regional development, the policies

stressed more on the comprehensive plans during the 1960s and 1970s. The article 17 of the

106

See loc. cit., pp. 72-73 for more details.

107

The 7-year national development plans of Iran turned into 5-year plans after 1962 (see table 2.3).

108

See Daneshvar, T. (2002), pp. 131-132 for more details.

109

See loc. cit., p. 133 for more details.

3rd and 4th five-year development plans were the first legal bases strengthening the regional

planning issues as well as the participation of local authorities in plan-making

procedures.

110

During the years 1969 and 1970, regional studies were given to the private

sector companies e.g. Battelle Institute, Scet Cop Consulting Engineers, Scetiran

Consulting Engineers, and Kāvāb (Ābkāv) Consulting Engineers.

111

The 3rd and the 4th national five-year development plans focused deeply on regional

planning approaches. In the late 1970, an analysis by Battelle Institute showed that the

variety of plans, different governmental bodies, various private sector actors, and different

regional needs and characteristics made the regional plans not to be efficient. Therefore, the

whole country was divided into 11 regions, which were larger than the existing provinces,

to have a better coordination among governmental and local authorities as well as a more

integrated and realistic results of studies on all regions.

112

The establishment of a regional

development office in each of the 11 regions was another recommendation of this analysis.

However, these recommendations were considered in conflict with the local and sectoral

plans and neglected, so they did not taken into account in the 5th development plan.

The regional planning objectives were more considered in the 5th five-year development

plan during the 1970s. “The equal economic development for all provinces, equal service

distribution, public participation, and strengthening socio-economic infrastructures in all

provinces were the major objectives of the 5th five-year development plan.”

113

110

See Ziari, K. (2009), pp. 165-166 for more details.

111

See Daneshvar, T. (2002), pp. 134-135 for more details.

112

See Sarrafi, M. (1998), p. 75 for more details.

113

Ziari, K. (2009), p. 168.

2.4.2.1. Spatial planning of Iran (SPI)

In the middle of 1970s, the need for a spatial planning scheme (Āmāyeše Sarzamin) in

terms of land use planning was recognized and the preparation phase was started. The

Center for Spatial Planning (Markaze Āmāyeše Sarzamin) was opened in 1975 and the first

and second reports on the plan were prepared by Scetiran consulting engineers in 1976 and

1977.

114

In their second and final report spatial planning long-term strategy they divided

the whole country into 8 mega regions and discussed about the urban systems, rural

communities, Ḵuzestān-Āḏarbāyjān axis, and the decentralization of second and third

sectors.

115

2.4.2.2. Islamic spatial planning; basic plan

Early 1980s witnessed another form of spatial planning studies. The regional planning

office (Daftare Barnāma Riziye Manṭaqai) of the Plan and Budget Organization

116

(PBO)

released the basic plan’s studies which covered items e.g. spatial organization of the

country, the population and communities, human activities, climate, potentials, and risks in

1983.

117

This office prepared also the theoretical development framework for all provinces

which led later to the preparation of Provincial Comprehensive Development Plans (Ṭarḥ

Hāye Jāme(e Tose(eye Ostāni), for all provinces, prepared by the PBO office in each

province.

118

114

See Tofigh, F. (2005), pp. 2-3 for more details.

115

See Ziari, K. (2009), p. 169 for more details.

116

The Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) was a public organization in Iran, which merged with

Organization for Administrative and Employment Affairs in 2000 and made the Management and Planning

Organization.

117

See Tofigh, F. (2005), p. 3 for more details.

118

See Sarrafi, M. (1998), pp. 83-84 for more details.

2.4.2.3. Eastern axis development studies

Based on the symmetric and equalized development strategy against the Ḵuzestān-

Āḏarbāyjān axis (western axis) proposed by Scetiran’s plan, the eastern axis development

studies began in 1986 in a conference held in Zāhedān City (Southeast Iran), to set up the

strategic goals of economic development in the province in line with its socio-cultural and

political conditions.

119

2.4.2.4. Return of the spatial planning of Iran

The end of 1990s was again the time to pay attention to the Spatial Planning of Iran (SPI),

as it was reflected in the 3rd five-year development plan’s bill prepared for the period

between 2000 and 2004 though removed before the ratification by the Islamic parliament.

Finally, the Islamic parliament ratified the act implementation of article 48 of the basic law

bounding the government to prepare the National Spatial Planning Plan.

120

Box 2.3: objectives of the act ‘implementation of article 48 of the basic law’

- Assuring the equal usage of natural resources and national capitals by all regions

(provinces and counties) in the country,

- Providing all regions (provinces and counties) with the development tools and actions

equal to their capabilities and with the positive competition,

- Equal distribution of economic activities in all regions (provinces and counties), and

- Efficient usage of capabilities and advantages in line with the country’s regional and

international role.

Source: adapted from Tofigh, F. (2005), p. 5

119

See Tofigh, F. (2005), p. 3 for more details.

120

See loc. cit., p. 5 for more details.

2.4.2.5. National and regional physical plans

Following the Country’s Master Plan Act of 1974, the guidelines for preparation of

National and Regional Physical Plans (NRPP) was set by the Kāvāb and Mehrāzān

Consulting Engineers in 1990 and the national plan was ratified by the HCUDA

121

in 1996.

The similarities between the two spatial plans namely NRPP prepared by the MHUD and

SPI prepared by the PBO could result conflicts between two authority organizations.

Therefore, the High Council of Administration (Šorāye (āliye Edāri) vouchsafed the

responsibility of preparing SPI, in terms of spatial distribution of population and activity

throughout the country, to the PBO to submit to the cabinet and the responsibility of

preparing NRPP to the MHUD to submit to the HCUDA for the final ratification.

122

The NRPPs include national physical plans as well as regional plans and studies. Box 2.4

shows the goals of national physical plan.

Box 2.4: goals and objectives of the national physical plan

- Investigating the suitability of land plots for the future development of current cities and

for building up new towns,

- recommending the future network of cities in terms of their largeness, their location in the

country, and their rankings, and

- Recommending a regulatory framework for buildings construction in permitted land use

schemes throughout the country.

Source: adapted from Tofigh, F. (2005), pp. 6-7

Three planning levels of national, regional, and local are recognized in the context of

national physical plan, in which the scale of regional plans match the provinces and the

121

High Council of Urban Development and Architecture. See the list of abbreviations.

122

See loc. cit., p. 6 for more details.

local plans function in the level of cities and rural areas.

123

“In national physical plan, the

whole country is divided into 10 mega regions and 85 local spatial planning districts.”

124

Box 2.5: the most important focal points of studies in national physical plan

- Population and space,

- Space management,

- Environment protection and historical monuments and sites, and

- Natural hazards.

Source: adapted from Kāvāb Consulting Eng. (1990), in Ziari, K. (2009), p. 186

The regional physical planning is considered in those 10 mega regions divided in the

national physical plan as mentioned above. Here the regional division is based on the

previous divisions carried out by various projects and their partners in the past. Table 2.6

gives an overview of the regional division history and table 2.7 highlights the regional

division of national physical plan.

123

See Daneshvar, T. ( 2002), pp. 158-159 for more details.

124

Tofigh, F. (2005), p. 8.

Table 2.6: an overview of the regional division history in Iran

Project/Plan

Year

Contractor/Partner

Divisions

Battelle regional

development plan

(Barnāmaye

(omrāne

Manṭaqai)

1972

Battelle Consulting Eng.

11 mega regions

Protein

Production

Comprehensive

Plan (Ṭarḥe

Jāme(e Tolide

Porotein)

1972

FMC Consulting Eng.

14 mega regions

Spatial planning

studies (Ṭarḥe

Āmāyeše

Sarzamin)

1975

Scetiran Consulting Eng.

8 mega regions

Comprehensive

cultivation plan

(Ṭarḥe Jāme(e

Kešt)

1976

Bockers and Hunting Consulting

Eng.

10 mega regions

9-region division

(Manāṭeqe

Nohgāna)

1981

The ministry of Interior

9 mega regions

Water and power

Organizations

(Sāzmānhāye Āb

va Barq)

Not available

The ministry of Energy

11 mega regions

Comprehensive

water plan (Ṭarḥe

Jāme(e Āb)

(Jāmāb)

1986

The ministry of Energy,

Jāmāb Consulting Eng.

8 mega regions

Source: adapted from Ziari, K. (2009), pp. 171-174 & Tofigh, F. (2005), p. 9

Table 2.7: regional divisions addressed in national physical plan

Regions

Provinces included

Āḏarbāyjān

Eastern Āḏarbāyjān, Western Āḏarbāyjān, Ardebil

Zāgros

Hamedān, Kermānšāh, Kordestān, Lorestān, Ilām

Ḵuzestān

Ḵuzestān, Kohgiluye va Boyer Aḥmad

Fārs

Alborze Jonubi (South Alborz)

Tehran, Markazi, Semnān, Zanjān, Qazvin, Qom

Markazi

Eṣfahān, Yazd, Čehār Maḥāl va Baḵtiāri

Manṭaqeye Jonube Šarqi (Southeastern

Region)

Kermān, Sistān va Balučestān

Manṭaqeye Savāḥele Šomāli (North Coastal

Region)

Gilān, Māzandarān, Golestān

Manṭaqeye Savāḥele Jonubi (South Coastal

Region)

Hormozgān, Bušehr

Ḵorāsān

Source: adapted from Tofigh, F. (2005), p. 10

Figure 2.1: 10 mega regions in national physical plan of Iran

Source: self-collected information performed on OpenStreetMap 2017

The contents of regional physical plans for these mega regions include a wide-range of

themes and studies e.g. demographic, economic, roads and transport, land use, etc.

highlighted in table 2.8.

Table 2.8: contents of regional studies for mega regions under the regional physical plans

Themes of studies

Population

Cultural heritage, tourism, and natural

attractions

Cities and services’ network

Environment

Segregation and privation reduction

Water consumption and resources

Industry and mining

Underground water and geotechnical studies

Soil and agriculture

Flood hazards zoning

Communication network

Modifying permitted land use and regulating

construction codes in flood zones

Roads network

Modifying permitted land use and regulating

construction codes in geotechnical studies zones

Energy production and distribution network

Climate, building, and tranquility

Rural network

Land use

Economic overview

Source: adapted from Tofigh, F. (2005), p. 11

Table 2.9: the list of development plans in current Iranian national, regional, and local development

levels

Type of development plan

Level of inclusion/Area of coverage

Country’s Master Plan

Country-wide

National and Regional Physical

Plans (NRPP)

National and regional-wide plans dividing the whole

country into 10 large regions

District Development Master Plan

Includes one or more counties with the same

economic, environmental, and demographic

characteristics

Metropolitan Region Plan

Provincial level

Rural Settlements’ Spatial

Improvement Plan

Includes one or more rural settlements based on the

details determined in district master plan

City master plan (Ṭarḥe Jāme(e

Šahr)

Includes a whole county

City conductive plan (Ṭarḥe

Hādiye Šahr)

Includes a county having no master plan

City detailed plan (Ṭarḥe Tafṣili)

Includes the detailed and step-by-step planning and

implementation features for a city

Rural conductive plan (Ṭarḥe

Hādiye Rustā)

Includes development plans for a village or a rural

settlement

10.

Especial plans

Includes rural settlements locating in especial areas

e.g. on the boarders, on river basins, etc.

11.

New towns plan

Includes the new towns supposed to be built up

12.

Residential towns plan

Includes the process of planning for a new residential

town out of territorial boundaries of the cities

13.

Other towns plan

Includes the process of planning for a new industrial,

tourist attraction, etc. towns

Source: adapted from Secretariat of High Council of Architecture and Urban Development (2000)

2.4.3. Metropolitan region planning in Iran

The last two decades have witnessed the creation and evolution of Metropolitan Region

Plan (MRP), for metropolitan regions, in Iranian development planning structure. The

metropolitan region “is a geographic spatial system composed of several towns and

populated centers with correlation and interaction among them, creating an integrated

spatial system. The integrated spatial planning and management takes place in such a

system.”

125

The MRP tries to define the metropolitan region and mark up its boundaries as

well as to discover the relationships among all urban and rural areas within its boundaries.

The first MRP was started in 1995 after the cabinet of ministers ratified the act Planning

and Management of Tehran Metropolitan Region and the Country’s other Large Cities and

their Suburbs (see section 4.5.). Therefore, the MRPs defined so far are the first attempts in

each metropolitan region and are mostly in the phase of basic studies and investigations.

After the TMRP, more MRPs have been prepared for other large metropolitan areas in Iran,

namely Eṣfahān, Mašhad, Tabriz, and Širāz.

2.5. Conclusions

The issue of regional planning is highly known in Iranian planning system, but the whole

central-oriented planning scheme of the country does not allow the regional-level plans to

be put into practice. The knowledge of regional planning is up-to-date and there is a lot of

expertise on the ground either in academic atmosphere or amongst officials in public sector.

There are also too many text books both written by the native experts and also translated

from the western literatures, but the implementation of what is internationally understood

from regional planning could hardly be proved here. The actual and current regional

planning model in Iran considers the highly urbanized provinces with densely populated

cities and towns as a metropolitan region. The metropolitan region plan is, then, assumed as

an upper plan to the master and detailed plan in the development planning hierarchy of a

province.

125

Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), p. 10.

But the highly centralized planning, management, and budgetary system ties down this kind

of regional plans and they stay only in the phase of studies and analyses. This is what

makes the regional plans not to have pragmatic approaches to problems caused by the high

energy consumption in the region especially around large cities in Iran though there are

also various sectors actively engaged and working on energy efficiency issues

independently (see section 3.8.3.).

Besides the centralized system of management and policy-making for the development

issues, another important factor is the way the development plans have been defined and

classified. For instance, in a province as a metropolitan region there are master plans for a

number of counties and cities, detailed plans for the same counties and cities, city

conductive plan for cities having no master plan, and rural conductive plan for the rural

areas. This kind of planning classification makes the counties and cities carry out the

development activities within their own boundaries, mostly, in terms of land use planning.

But besides this positive independency for local authorities, there are some negative aspects

especially when it comes to the matter of bilateral projects, budgetary, political interests

etc. and being obliged to participate in an integrated urban management system in a

metropolitan region or a province. This is exactly the case in Tehran Province whose

regional plan is presented in chapter 4 as a case study. Therefore, it could be concluded that

“in current urban planning system in Iran, the regional plans are not considered at all and

the MRUD does not care about any larger scale plans than the master plan specifying the

land use policies in a county or a town.”

126

Taken from the interview with Mr. Dr. Saeid Izadi, board of managers in Urban Planning and Architecture

Research Center of Iran on 19.05.2012.

3. Energy Efficiency; a tool of climate protection

3.1. Introduction

The use of fossil-based fuels is the major reason behind the emission of CO₂ and the

formation of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) in the earth’s envelope. The fossil energies are

used in different sectors including residential, industrial, transportation, electricity and heat

generations, and other smaller scale consumption types. “Since the industrial revolution,

about 375 billion tonnes of carbon have been emitted by humans into the atmosphere as

carbon dioxide (CO₂). Atmospheric measurements show that about half of this CO₂

remains in the atmosphere and that, so far, the ocean and terrestrial sinks have steadily

increased.”

127

The GHGs have already caused the change of climate in the world, which in

turn, have affected many countries worldwide. This chapter tries to explain, first, the

impacts of climate change on world’s urban regions and the reactions of regional planning

to this phenomenon, and second, to examine how the planning system in Iran has adapted

itself to reducing the use of energy in different consumption types and to dealing with the

climate change impacts on its urban regions.

3.2. Urbanization and energy usage

More than half of the energy produced is used in cities and urban areas around the world.

This is because more than half of the world’s population is already urban and it is even

estimated that about 200,000 people on average would be added to the urban population

every day between 2010 and 2015.

128

This phenomenon shows a continuing rural-urban

migration as well as a non-stop growing urbanization which, in turn, “will lead to a

significant increase in energy use and CO₂ emissions.”

129

Another estimation made by the

UN gives an overview of 59.9 percent of the world’s population living in urban areas by

127

WMO (2012), p. 1.

128

See UN-Habitat (2013), p. 25 for more details.

129

OECD (2010), p. 38.

2030.

130

This proves the need for more energy supply in the future and also warns of a

higher CO₂ and GHG emissions. According to the OECD (2010), most of the GHG

emissions in OECD cities are driven by the energy services provided for residential,

commercial, and transportation sectors rather than by industrial activities.

131

3.3. Global climate change

3.3.1. Climate

The IPCC (2013) defines the term climate as “the average weather, or more rigorously, as

the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a

period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years.”

132

It also adds that

the climate, in a wider meaning, includes not only the average conditions, but also other

associated statistics and parameters to describe phenomena such as droughts.

133

The “Climate refers to the average weather

134

in terms of the mean and its variability over a

certain time-span and a certain area.”

135

The climate depends highly on the place or area

and its geographical characteristics e.g. latitude, vegetation, presence or absence of

mountains, distance to the sea etc. as well as on the time periods such as from year to year,

decade to decade or longer time-scales.

136

130

See IPCC (2014), p. 95 for more details.

131

See OECD (2010), p. 17 for more details.

132

IPCC (2013), p. 126.

133

See loc. cit. for more details.

134

To better understand the climate and changes in it caused by the human activities, the IPCC (2001), p. 87

suggests that the two terms ‘weather’ and ‘climate’ should be clearly defined. So, It defines the term

‘weather’ as follows:

The “weather”, as we experience it, is the fluctuating state of the atmosphere around us, characterised by the

temperature, wind, precipitation, clouds and other weather elements. This weather is the result of rapidly

developing and decaying weather systems such as mid-latitude low and high pressure systems with their

associated frontal zones, showers and tropical cyclones.

135

IPCC (2001), p. 87.

136

See loc. cit. for more details.

3.3.2. Climate system

According to IPCC (2001), the climate system is an interactive system consisting of five

major components [including] the atmosphere

137

, the hydrosphere

138

, the cryosphere

139

, the

land surface, and the biosphere

140

, forced or influenced by various external forcing

mechanisms, the most important of which is the Sun. The human activities directly

affecting the climate system are also considered as an external forcing.

141

The most

important part of these activities refers to the use of energy and the production of

greenhouse gases which are directly sent to the atmosphere, as “the atmosphere

142

is the

most unstable and rapidly changing part of the system.”

143

3.3.3. Climate change

The global climate has been changing since the middle of 19th century as a result of fossil

fuel combustion as well as revolutionary industrial activities. The use of fossil fuel in

different energy production and energy consumption sectors releases carbon dioxide

144

gas,

which together with other natural and chemical gases e.g. methane

145

, nitrous oxide

146

water vapor

147

, ozone

148

149

, and Chlorofluorocarbon

150

, shapes the greenhouse gases in the

137

The gaseous envelope surrounding the earth, divided into five layers – the troposphere which contains half

of the earth’s atmosphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere, which is

the outer limit of the atmosphere. IPCC (2014), Annex I, p. 5.

138

The component of the climate system comprising liquid surface and subterranean water, such as: oceans,

seas, rivers, fresh water lakes, underground water etc.. IPCC (2001), Appendix I, p. 792.

139

The component of the climate system consisting of all snow, ice, and permafrost on and beneath the

surface of the earth and ocean. IPCC (2001), Appendix I, p. 789.

140

The part of the earth system comprising all ecosystems and living organisms, in the atmosphere, on land

(terrestrial biosphere) or in the oceans (marine biosphere), including derived dead organic matter, such as

litter, soil organic matter and oceanic detritus. IPCC (2014), Annex I, p. 7.

141

See IPCC (2001), p. 87 for more details.

142

The Earth’s dry atmosphere is composed mainly of nitrogen (N2, 78.1% volume mixing ratio), oxygen (O2,

20.9% volume mixing ratio), and argon (Ar, 0.93% volume mixing ratio). These gases have only limited

interaction with the incoming solar radiation and they do not interact with the infrared radiation emitted by

the Earth. IPCC (2001), p. 87.

143

See loc. cit.

144

CO2

145

CH4

146

N2O

147

H2O

earth’s atmosphere. “These so called greenhouse gases, with a total volume mixing ratio in

dry air of less than 0.1% by volume, play an essential role in the Earth’s energy budget.

Because these greenhouse gases absorb the infrared radiation emitted by the Earth and emit

infrared radiation up- and downward, they tend to raise the temperature near the Earth’s

surface.”

151

This phenomenon continues to happen on a daily base and makes the Earth’s

surface warmer and, in turn, affects the cryosphere and the biosphere on the lands’ surface.

In a long-term, these changes affect also the regional and global climate in terms of weather

conditions, precipitations, sea levels, and the number of warm and cool days and nights.

Therefore, the definition of climate change refers “to a change of climate that is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere

and that is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periods.”

152

Based on the definitions given by IPCC (2013), the climate change refers to “a change in

the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in

the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period,

typically decades or longer.”

153

148

149

The atmospheric distribution of ozone and its role in the Earth’s energy budget is unique. Ozone in the

lower part of the atmosphere, the troposphere and lower stratosphere, acts as a greenhouse gas. Higher up in

the stratosphere there is a natural layer of high ozone concentration, which absorbs solar ultra-violet

radiation. In this way this so-called ozone layer plays an essential role in the stratosphere’s radiative

balance, at the same time filtering out this potentially damaging form of radiation. IPCC (2001), p. 88.

150

CFCs

151

IPCC (2001), pp. 87-88.

152

UNFCCC (2011), p. 2.

153

IPCC (2013), p. 126.

3.3.4. Climate change indicators

There are certain and particular impacts of the climate change phenomenon on the earth’s

whole and regional environment, which are known as climate change indicators. These

indicators mostly refer to the rising temperature on the earth’s surface and to the level of

water on its water sinks. The IPCC (2013) sets these indicators as follows:

154

- Increasing GHG concentrations,

- Rising global surface temperature,

- Extreme weather conditions including more warm and less cold days as well as

unusual precipitation records,

- Increasing global sea level,

- Ocean acidification and warming, and

- Decreasing annual average Arctic sea ice extent.

154

See loc. cit., pp. 130-137 for more details.

Figure 3.1 (left): atmospheric concentrations of

carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide over

the last 10,000 years

Figure 3.2 (right): observed changes in global

average surface temperature, global average sea

level, and Northern Hemisphere snow cover

Source: adapted from IPCC 2007, Summary for

policymakers, p. 3

Source: adapted from IPCC 2007, Summary for

policymakers, p. 6

3.4. Climate change impacts on world’s regions

The major impact of the climate change is the warming of the globe. “There has been a

mean global warming of 0.4 to 0.8°C of the atmosphere at the surface since the late 19th

century.”

155

The global warming has, then, its own impacts on the sea level, for it causes

the sea ice and polar ice sheets to melt. “Sea level has risen during the 20th century by 10 to

20 cm and there has been a general retreat of glaciers worldwide, except in a few maritime

regions, e.g. Norway and New Zealand.”

156

The other impacts of global warming are the

severe weather events such as heavy rainfalls and flash floods, already happened in parts of

Asia and central Europe, as well as heat waves and droughts in the Russian Federation,

China, and sub-Saharan Africa.

157

Figure 3.3 shows the changes in temperature in Central Asia during two centuries. The

figure highlights the temperature change trends based on the changes in 1901 to 1950. The

black line represents the changes in 1906 to 2005. The red envelope is the simulation made

by MMD

158

models and the orange envelope is the projected changes for 2001 to 2100.

159

Figure 3.3: temperature anomalies projected for 2001-2100 based on temperature changes from

1906 to 2005 for Central Asia Region

Source: adapted from IPCC 2007, p. 882

155

IPCC (2001), p. 96.

156

See loc. cit., p. 97.

157

UNFCCC (2011), p. 1.

158

Multi-Model Data set, program for climate model diagnosis and intercomparison. IPCC (2007), pp. 984-

985.

159

See IPCC (2007), p. 882 for more details.

Based on this figure, the temperature trends in this region of Asia are seriously

considerable, as the IPCC projections also predict a rising temperature in the region, which

could potentially lead to a very severe drought in the region in upcoming decades. “In the

MMD-A1B simulations, central Asia warms by a median of 3.7°C, and Tibet by 3.8°C […]

by the end of the 21st century.”

160

The figure 3.4 highlights the annual mean temperature as

well as changes in wet and dry seasons

161

in Asia between 1980 to 1999 and 2080 to 2099.

Figure 3.4: temperature changes over Asia between 1980 to 1999 and 2080 to 2099

Source: adapted from IPCC 2007, p. 883

The precipitation changes in Asia are also projected by the IPCC. As the figure 3.5 shows,

the precipitation changes projected for 2080 to 2099 reveal that the precipitation level

increases in wet season (middle) but, highly, decreases in dry season (right). “The median

change by the end of the 21st century is –3% in the annual mean, with +4% in DJF and –

13% in JJA.”

162

160

See loc. cit., p. 883.

161

Wet Season includes the months December, January, and February and Dry Season includes June, July,

and August.

162

See loc. cit., p. 887.

Figure 3.5: precipitation changes over Asia between 1980 to 1999 and 2080 to 2099

Source: adapted from IPCC 2007, 883

Therefore, the Central and West Asia face less precipitation changes in wet seasons and

more changes in dry seasons in the time period of 2080 to 2099 as projected by IPCC.

“Model agreement, however, indicates that it is very likely that temperatures will continue

to increase. But at the same time, model agreement on projected precipitation changes have

reduced, resulting in medium confidence in projections showing an overall reduction in

precipitation.”

163

(see figure 3.6).

163

IPCC (2013), p. 1272.

Figure 3.6: precipitation changes in West Asia in 2080-2099, projected based on precipitations in

1986-2005 (Jun. to Aug., above) and (Dec. to Feb., below)

Source: adapted from IPCC 2013, p. 1272

3.5. Climate change impacts on urban regions in Iran

As part of West Asia, many regions in Iran have also been facing droughts and low average

precipitation in recent years. This has been one of the most challenging problems pertaining

to the water supply in both drink water and agricultural sectors. The climatic changes

projected by the National Climate Change office of the Iranian department of environment

shows that the average temperature increases by 0.5 °C in coming 25 years from 2010

onwards. The precipitation changes projected reveal also that the average precipitation will

decrease about 10% from 2010 to 2039. In addition, the probability of having heavy

rainfalls resulting floods and of droughts and the number of dry days would increase.

164

Figure 3.7: projected temperature changes in Iran for 2010-2039 based on changes from 1976-2005

Source: adapted from Soltanieh, M. (2013), p. 18

Figure 3.8: projected precipitation changes in Iran for 2010-2039 based on changes from 1976-2005

Source: adapted from Soltanieh, M. (2013), p. 19

164

See Soltanieh, M. (2013), p. 20.

Although the average yearly precipitation has been declining in recent decades, there have

been seasonal heavy rainfall and flash floods in many urban regions in the country, which

match some of the indicators of climate change and global warming. The table 3.1

highlights some of the torrential rainfalls causing devastating flash floods in the cities

across the country in recent years.

Table 3.1: urban areas witnessing torrential rainfall and flood in Iran in the last five years

City/Region

Flood on:

Nur County – Northern Iran

07.11.2011

Behbahān City – Southern Iran

23.11.2011

Tehran City – Central to the Northern Iran

15.04.2012

North Ḵorāsān – Northeastern Iran

19.06.2012

Ardebil and Ḵalḵāl – Northwestern Iran

25.06.2012

Rašt and Fuman – Northern Iran

24.09.2012

Behšahr City – Northern Iran

13.10.2012

Western Māzandarān – Northern Iran

11-12.11.2012

Bušehr City – Southern Iran

24.11.2012

Bandar (abbās – Southern Iran

27.03.2014

Sāri City – Northern Iran

04.06.2014

Nekā County – Northern Iran

04.06.2014

Semnān Province - Central to the Northern Iran

04.06.2014

Source: self-collected information

3.6. Energy efficiency and climate protection

Climate change is the direct outcome of fossil fuel combustion in all energy consumption

sectors producing CO₂ and emitting it into the atmosphere. The first resolution to protect

the climate from more changes is, then, to reduce the use of fossil energies in different

scales and enhance the energy efficiency in all energy consumption types because the

“efficient use of existing supplies is widely acknowledged as the fastest, cheapest, and

cleanest way to meet future energy needs.”

165

Energy efficiency as a broad concept

includes the methods of energy conservation, technical structures and facilities for using

energy efficiently in all sectors, and social and physical infrastructures promoting the

efficiency of energy usage.

The production and consumption of clean and renewable energies are also to be undertaken

to enable the energy world to shift to more sustainable energy sources and to produce less

greenhouse gases. The renewable energies include solar energy and photovoltaics,

hydroelectric power, wind energy, geothermal heat, and biofuels.

3.7. Climate adaptive regional development

The role of climate change is getting more significant in planning procedures. The change

of climate with its impacts on urban and regional environments has already influenced the

directions and goals of many urban planning systems around the world. From the regional

planning point of the view, energy efficiency policies must be made and relative tools and

actions must be undertaken. The energy consumption types including residential and

commercial, industrial, and transportation are tightly interrelated and the role of planning in

a multidisciplinary background is a challenging one. The most critical issues in a regional

scale include land use designation, transportation, and settlement structure because “the

relationship between energy usage, and its related CO₂ emissions, and the settlement and

165

U.S. Department of State (2009), p. 1.

transportation structure must be analyzed in order to develop regional strategies and

approaches.”

166

The climate adaptation strategies in regional plans refer to the approaches recommended

for counteracting the impacts of climate change on the regions. These impacts, as

mentioned in section 3.4., cause the phenomena such as temperature increase, precipitation

decrease and droughts, and the risk of floods in the regions. To recommend holistic

approaches in this respect, the vulnerability of the regions in terms of socio-economic and

natural environments must be analyzed. This vulnerability analysis enables the planners to

understand the direct and indirect impacts of the changing climate on the region and to

begin with the most vulnerable elements for protection. The results of the vulnerability

analysis, then, could also be fed into the future regional plans for that specific region. As an

example, the vulnerability analysis and respective recommendations are represented in

chapter 5 for the Westsachsen Region in Germany.

166

Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 166.

3.8. Energy efficiency and environmental protection in Iran

3.8.1. Introduction

Iran as an oil producing country has a long and complex history on oil industry from the

discovery to the international trade. The first attempts at discovering the oil in south of Iran

were made in 1880s, in Qājār era, by foreign companies. The Houts Company and the

Reuter Corporation were the first contractors who tried to excavate and discover the oil in

Iran.

167

The third concession was granted to William Knox D'Arcy, a British trader, in 1901

to start the excavations in west and southwest of Iran. Those efforts were partly successful

and found the first oil reserves in Qaṣre Širin in the west, which were not considerable.

168

The next project were run in the south and was fruitful, as it made the first spout of oil shot

out in the excavation site in Masjed Soleymān in 26. May 1908.

169

In 1909, D'Arcy and his

partners established the England and Iran Oil Company to develop the discovery projects

in Masjed Soleymān and to build up pipelines and the first refinery station of Iran in

Ābādān.

170

Later on, the company and the government of Iran reviewed the contract in

1933 and the company committed itself to providing Iran with technical advice pertaining

to railway network development and cement production.

171

Between 1935 and 1947, the oil

industry of Iran was a highly competitive business among American, British, and Russian

companies and each company tried to get better concession.

In 1951, the 16th national parliament of Iran passed the bill, prepared by the oil commission

of the parliament, on nationalizing the oil industry of Iran and authorized the government to

run all necessary actions to discover, excavate, and exploit the oil throughout the

country.

172

But the British government was against the nationalization of the oil industry

and during the political changes within the Iranian government in next three years tried to

reclaim the contract of 1933. The two coups in 1953 were the most important political

167

See Rasekhi Langroudi, A. (2007), pp. 15-16 for more details.

168

See loc. cit., pp. 38-39 for more details.

169

See loc. cit., pp. 46-47 for more details.

170

See loc. cit., p. 54 for more details.

171

See loc. cit., p. 90 for more details.

172

See loc. cit., p. 158 for more details.

events in Iran, conducted by the United States and England.

173

In 1954, the 18th national

parliament ratified the law on sale of oil and gas under a contract between government and

the International Consortium for Oil including five American corporations, British

Petroleum Company, Royal Dutch Shell, and the French oil company.

174

The wave of

criticism arose after the consortium did not fulfill its obligations. So, the next contract

between National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the consortium was concluded in 1973

in Saint Moritz.

175

In order to rule the oil reserves and to reserve the right to govern all activities in this respect

for the national oil company, the national parliament passed the first law on oil and its

relative industries in 1957 – three years after the first contract with the consortium.

176

This

law legitimated the national oil company to possess all oil resources throughout the country

and obliged it to preserve one third of the known resources as a national treasure.

According to this law, the foreign contractors were obliged to accept the fifty-fifty benefit

conditions with the national Iranian oil company and pay an additional tax of 50 percent on

their profit to the government of Iran.

177

This law was reviewed in 1974 and the role of

foreign companies was lessened to the participation in discovery activities.

After the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Ministry of Petroleum (MOP) was established and

took the responsibility for managing the oil discoveries and exploitation, oil refineries, and

oil exports with its subsidiary companies. This ministry has an average yearly share of 28

percent in GDP, 84 percent in foreign exchange revenues, and more than 95 percent in

primary energy production in the country.

178

Currently, the major energy carriers in Iran include Petrol, Gasoline, LPG, CNG, Natural

Gas, Kerosene, Mazut, and Electricity. The replacement of pollutant fossil fuels with

173

See loc. cit., p. 243 for more details.

174

See loc. cit., pp. 257-258 for more details.

175

See loc. cit., p. 268 for more details.

176

See loc. cit., pp. 271-272 for more details.

177

See loc. cit., pp. 273-274 for more details.

178

Adapted from the official homepage of the ministry of petroleum, at

http://www.mop.ir/Portal/Home/ShowPage.aspx?Object=Event&ID=0571dd3c-0b85-4381-b294-

89b02a38d009&LayoutID=63343e70-4d2d-424a-8232-64746f58279a&CategoryID=4bd7d587-34c9-4985-

9d2a-2b724685e2b9 on 19.01.2015.

cleaner energy carriers has been one of the most important policies run by the MOP in the

last 30 years. This part of the current chapter reviews the national regulations and policies

set to reduce the CO₂ emissions as well as the internal guidelines of the actor organizations

in energy production, energy distribution, urban development, and transportation

management sectors to highlight how those actors contribute to the process of energy

transition. The author of this study’s aim was to mention only the regional regulations

focusing on the environment and the climate here, but most of these regulatory features are

not regional but national, and working also regionally.

3.8.2. Constitutional framework for energy efficiency and environmental protection

3.8.2.1. Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Article 50 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes the conservation of

environment as a public duty and banns the economic activities which pollute the

environment or destroy it.

179

3.8.2.2. Protection and Enhancement of the Environment Act of 1974

According to the protection and enhancement of the environment act of 1974 and its review

of 1992, the “department of environment”

180

(DOE) is the organization in charge of

protection of environment from the pollution and any other destructive activity unbalancing

the ecosystems. Table 3.2 highlights the major tasks of the department of environment

based on this act.

179

See Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979), article 50 for more details.

180

The “department of environment” is a dependent organization to the presidency and works under the

supervision of “high council of the environmental protection”. The president is the chief of the council and

the council includes the ministers of agriculture Jihad, interior, industries and mines, roads and urban

development, health and medical education, chief of plan and budget organization, and chief of department of

environment. Protection and enhancement of the environment act 1974, article 2.

Table 3.2: major tasks of the department of environment based on the protection and enhancement

of environment act of 1974

Protection and

enhancement of

environment act

of 1974

Article 6:

A: doing scientific and economic research on protection and enhancement of

the environment and preventing the environment from pollution and from

getting unbalanced,

B: preparing bills to conserve the water, air, and soil from all the pollutants,

C: taking any action to enhance the environment in the framework of

national laws with respect to rights of individuals, and

D: carrying out educational public programs on protection of environment.

“Article 7: if the department of environment recognizes that the

implementation of any development plan or exploitation of them is harmful

to the environmental laws, it informs the ministry or the related institution

responsible for the plan in order to try to review the plan with the help of

other related organizations.”

Source: adapted from the protection and enhancement of environment act of 1974

181

3.8.2.3. The five-year economic, social, and cultural development plans

The five-year development plans in Iran are considered as the roadmap for all activities run

by the governmental sectors in a particular target five years. A five-year development plan

usually conceptualizes and regulates governmental, socioeconomic, cultural, and

environmental issues, based on which all sectoral governmental organizations act. The first

181

The texts in “Italic” have been directly quoted and the rest have been adapted from the protection and

enhancement of environment act of 1974.

five-year plan was ratified on 1989 and the fifth five-year plan is currently under

consideration.

It was first in the 2nd five-year plan of 1995 that the environmental and energy related

issues got attention. The 3rd and 4th plans completed the story more in details and the 5th

plan put emphasis also on clean and renewable energy sources. Tables 3.3 to 3.6 highlight

the contents of those plans, related to the environmental and energy issues.

Table 3.3: energy and environment-related issues in the 2nd 5-year development plan in Iran

5-year development plan

Selected contents

The 2nd 5-year plan

“Basic guideline 10: Conservation of the environment and efficient

utilization of country’s natural resources through:”

- Emphasis on appropriate conservation, revitalization,

development, and exploitation of natural resources,

- Setting environmental regulations and indicators,

- Reforming constitutional and legal frameworks,

- Efficient use of energy through changing consumption

patterns, and using clean and renewable energies, and

- Conserving and developing green environment, preventing

the soil, the air, and the water from pollution.

Source: adapted from the second socio-economic and cultural development plan of the Islamic

Republic of Iran 1995-1999

182

The texts in “Italic” have been directly quoted and the rest have been adapted from the 2nd Socio-

economic and Cultural Development Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran 1995-1999.

Table 3.4: energy and environment-related issues in the 3rd 5-year development plan in Iran

5-year development plan

Selected contents

The 3rd 5-year plan

Environmental policies

“Article 104: In order to conserve the environment and to

sustainably exploit the country’s natural resources, the following

items should be implemented:”

- All manufacturing units must adapt their technical

facilities to the environmental regulations and codes to

decrease the environmental pollutants,

- The government is obliged to decrease air pollution in

large cities e.g. Tehran, Mašhad, Tabriz, Ahvāz, Arāk,

Širāz, and Eṣfahān to the standards of world health

organization,

- Manufacturing units within the urban areas should be

relocated,

- All public sectors should repair their polluter vehicles,

- Municipality of Tehran is obliged to repair its polluter

public transport vehicles and buses, and

- Taxi and minibus license extensions are conditional upon

their having no technical defects resulting air pollution,

“Article 105: all mass production and service projects must, prior

to the implementation and in their feasibility studies, be assessed

from the viewpoint of their impacts on the environment based on

the guidelines proposed by the high council of environment and

ratified by the cabinet.”

Energy sector policies

“Article 121: in order to save energy and to reduce and rationalize

the energy consumption to protect the environment, the

government is required to take the following measures:”

- Preparing technical standards regarding energy

consumption for products, equipment, processes, and

energy consuming systems,

- Preparing a by-law to govern the working hours of the

guilds especially in peak seasons of electricity

consumption,

- Regulating seasonal working hours for manufacturing

units to reduce the energy consumption in peak season

months,

- Drawing up energy standards and codes for buildings

design and construction in both governmental and non-

governmental sectors to reduce waste of energy, and

- Designing incentive policies for the existing buildings

which could be adapted to the energy consumption

standards.

Source: adapted from the third socio-economic and cultural development plan of the Islamic

Republic of Iran 2000-2004

183

The texts in “Italic” have been directly quoted and the rest have been adapted from the 3rd Socio-

economic and Cultural Development Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran 2000-2004.

Table 3.5: energy and environment-related issues in the 4th 5-year development plan in Iran

5-year development plan

Selected contents

The 4th 5-year plan

“Article 60: in order to strengthen and enable the entities

concerned with the environment and natural resources,

government is charged with devising necessary mechanisms for

expansion of the specialized environmental public education in all

the educational units and higher education centers, promote and

protect investment in the environmental and natural resources

sector, and create and enable proper entities for environmental

activities in the agencies affecting the environment.”

“Article 62: Government is bound to:

A. Reduce air pollution of the cities of Tehran, Ahvāz, Arāk,

Tabriz, Mašhad, Širāz, Karaj, and Eṣfahān to the level of

the standards approved by the high council of environment

protection.

B. Take measure in order to dispose all the country’s run

down motor vehicles and motorbikes.”

“Article 64: the department of environment is bound to:

A. Prepare the executive by-laws concerning sustainable

development in line with enhancing public knowledge of

environment protection, […]. All the pertinent agencies,

government media and the Islamic Republic of Iran

Broadcasting Organization are bound to implement

educational programs subject of this Article, free of

charge.

B. Create the country’s environmental information system at

the national, provincial, and regional levels by the end of

the first year of the fourth plan in order to prepare the

ground for environmental monitoring, information

dissemination and evaluation. All the relevant agencies

are bound to cooperate in designing and implementation

of the system.”

Source: adapted from the fourth socio-economic and cultural development plan of the Islamic

Republic of Iran 2005-2009

184

Table 3.6: energy and environment-related issues in the 5th 5-year development plan in Iran

5-year development plan

Selected contents

The 5th 5-year plan

“Article 133: in order to diversify the country’s energy market, to

make the power plants more efficient, to decrease energy waste as

well as to develop simultaneous production of electricity and heat,

Tavaanir Company and other companies belonging to the Ministry

of Energy are required to:”

- purchase the electricity produced by clean and renewable

energy sources through long-term contracts from private

producers with the priority,

- support the small scale power plants in private sector, and

- increase energy costs of those consumers whose annual

use of energy is over 2000 m³ of fuel oil or over 2

Megawatt of electricity.

Article 134: the Ministries of Energy and Industries and Mines are

allowed to grant financial incentives to support the energy saving

184

The texts in “Italic” have been directly quoted and the rest have been adapted from the 4th Socio-economic

and Cultural Development Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran 2005-2009.

manufacturers and users in order to reform the consumption

patterns for more energy efficiency.

Article 139: in order to create the infrastructures needed to produce

equipment for wind and solar power plants, the government is

allowed to support private sectors and cooperatives.

“Article 192: in order to decrease the pollutant and damaging

items to the environment, all manufacturing, industrial,

developing, service and infrastructural units are required to: ”

A. Assess their environmental impacts according to the

guidelines of the high council of environment,

B. Sample and test their pollution to the environment and

report it to the department of environment, and

C. Upgrade their technical specifications to the level of

environmental standards.

“Article 193-B: the department of environment is required to

take necessary measures to decrease the air pollution to the

level of global standards with given priority to the particle

diffusing sources to control them, and to decreasing

greenhouse gases.”

Source: adapted from the fifth socio-economic and cultural development plan of the Islamic

Republic of Iran 2011-2015

185

Comparing aforementioned four development plans shows that the 3rd plan is the first

comprehensive one in terms of paying attention to both energy efficiency and

185

The texts in “Italic” have been directly quoted and the rest have been adapted from the 5th Socio-economic

and Cultural Development Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran 2011-2015.

environmental issues in national level. The 4th and the 5th plans repeat, more or less, the

contents of the 3rd plan and don’t add any specific how-to or doable technical solution in

details.

3.8.2.4. Expansion and protection of green spaces within the cities act of 1980

This act protects the trees. Based on this act, cutting down any kind of tree in the streets,

highways, parks, and in any other places known as gardens, within the city boundaries is

forbidden. The municipalities are required to document the number of trees, their species,

and their ages in any given place within their official boundaries.

186

3.8.2.5. Prevention of water pollution act of 1994

This act was ratified by the cabinet of ministers in 1994, nullifying the act of 1985 with the

same title. This act gives the responsibility of water protection over to the department of

environment (Table 3.7).

Table 3.7: tasks given to department of environment by the prevention of water pollution act of

1994

Prevention of

water pollution

act of 1994

Department of environment is required to:

- Identify water polluters and pollution sources,

- Prepare water pollution standards and implement them,

- Regularly Sample the waste and waste water of polluter units to

measure their pollution levels,

Source: adapted from the prevention of water pollution act of 1994

186

See Expansion and Protection of Green Spaces within the Cities Act (1980), articles 1-2 for more details.

3.8.2.6. Sanitary environment bylaw of 1992

The sanitary environment bylaw of 1992 refers to human environment as a place to live in,

and it should be hygienic. It defines the sanitary environment as “controlling those factors

of the living environment, which affect the human’s physical, mental, and social health.”

187

The bylaw focuses on the drink water supply, water pollution, hygienic control of public

places, food and drink manufacturing units, restaurants, shops, hospitals, schools, etc. and

gives the responsibility of the control over to the ministry of health and medical education.

3.8.2.7. Prevention of air pollution act of 1995

This act also recognizes the department of environment as the leading unit in protecting the

air against various pollution sources. Three major air polluter sectors have been identified

by this act, namely, manufacturing units and power plants, housing and commercial units,

and the transportation sector. This act focuses, mostly, on the energy-using units, energy

carriers used in each sector as well as upgrading the consumer units to high levels of

standards defined by the department of environment (Table 3.8).

Table 3.8: summary of contents of the prevention of air pollution act of 1995

Prevention of air

pollution act of

1995

To decrease the air pollution, following measures must be taken into

account;

In transportation sector:

- Inspecting all motor vehicles once a year,

- Planning for traffic and public transport system by the municipalities

and other responsible organizations to reduce air pollution, and

187

Mansour, J. (2003), p. 1076, sanitary environment bylaw of 1992.

- Producing gas-firing motor vehicles.

In industrial sector:

- Establishing new manufacturing units and relocating the existing

ones should be according to the environmental guidelines,

- Defining the clean air as well as the air pollutant standards for any

given region by the department of environment,

- Relocating polluter units if there is no other way to decrease their

pollution or if the continuum of their activities endanger the health

of inhabitants in neighboring regions,

- Allocating min. of 10 percent of the industrial ensembles and units

for greening,

- Upgrading technical facilities and using clean energy carriers in all

units, and

- Prioritizing industrial ensembles for gas provision by the ministry of

petroleum.

In housing and commercial sectors:

- Using natural gas by all air polluters in commercial and service

sectors e.g. hotels, restaurants, etc.,

- Prioritizing service sector units for gas provision by the ministry of

petroleum, and

- Carrying out environmental studies when providing the

comprehensive, conductive, and improvement plans for cities by the

Ministries of Roads and Urban Development and of Interior to

ensure environmental considerations in respect to the green and open

spaces, land use, and transportation networks.

Source: adapted from the prevention of air pollution act of 1995

3.8.2.8. Farms and orchards land use act of 1995

The farms and orchards land use act of 1995 addresses the protection of farms and orchards

from land use change. According to this act, the ministry of agricultural jihad is in charge

of implementing the act. The provincial offices of this ministry are required to establish a

commission composed of other provincial administrations including the office for land

affairs, roads and urban development organization, provincial department of environment,

and a representative of the governorate in each province. This commission is required to

take into account the environmental considerations as well as physical and regional

development plans in any case of decision making pertaining to the land use change.

188

3.8.2.9. National buildings construction codes

The 19th code of the national buildings construction regulations focuses on thermal

insulation and energy saving in new constructions as well as reconstruction and renovation

of existing buildings. The 19th code was codified, first, in 1991 and an additional guideline

for better implementation of that was prepared in 1999. The 19th code classifies the

buildings based on their use, geographic location, energy consumption, and energy saving

potentials. It regulates also the external envelop of the buildings as well as heating, cooling,

lightening, and ventilation systems installed in a building.

189

3.8.2.10. Reforming energy consumption pattern act of 2011

This act focuses on energy management in all energy consumption sectors. The goal is to

manage the energy consumption and to promote the efficiency of the energy usage in all

sectors in order sustainably to protect the environment, while the levels of GDP and social

188

Summarized and adapted from the Farms and Orchards Land use Act of 1995 at

http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/97858 on 27.06.2014.

189

See Office for National Construction Codes (2002), p. I-III for more details.

welfare remain intact.

190

This act devolves the responsibility of policy-making in energy

sector to the High Council of Energy.

191

The standardization of energy consumption and

energy equipment, buildings thermal insulation and energy efficiency (code 19), the use of

energy in industrial and agricultural sectors, transportation, production and distribution of

energy, clean and renewable energies, and awareness raising and education have been

included in this act.

3.8.2.11. Transportation development and management of energy consumption act of

2007

According to this act and in order to develop the inner city and regional transportation and

to better manage the energy consumption, the government is obliged to improve the

transportation services and demand, and to promote the efficient energy consumption and

efficient automobile production. The government is permitted to reduce the taxes and

duties on imported facilities used for developing public transport systems and railway

equipment, and also on imported efficient automobiles such as dual-firing and hybrid cars.

The government has also the permission to free land plots for installing CNG stations and

to charge the taxes on vehicles based on their pollution classification. The outcome of the

implementation of this act should represent an increasing share of public transportation in

inner city and regional levels.

192

190

See Reforming Energy Consumption Pattern Act (2011), article 1 for more details.

191

The need for establishing an energy council goes back to the early 1960s in Iran. In 1977, the ministry of

energy was pointed to establish a council for energy coordination though it also failed. In 1988, the economy

council established a council for energy planning and later on the high council of energy was established,

under the supervision of the president deputy, to define energy consumption patterns. In 2001, the Islamic

parliament ratified an act to assign the government to constitute the high council of energy with the

management and planning organization of Iran as its secretariat, but it has also failed to establish the council

so far. Mehrazma, I. (2006), pp. 1-5.

192

Summarized and adapted from the Transportation Development and Management of Energy Consumption

Act of 2007 at http://hamsu.ir/Portal/Home/Default.aspx?CategoryID=9ff7571a-b79c-40eb-999d-

00747f8b68ac on 07.08.2014.

3.8.2.12. General policies, in transportation and energy sectors, set in 2001

The general policies in transportation and energy sectors focus mostly on the development

of clean energy sources as well as the transportation facilities and networks. According to

those policies, in energy sector, the efficiency of energy usage must be improved and the

volume of fossil fuel consumption must be decreased. The renewable energies must also be

developed with given priority to the hydroelectric power in order to protect the

environment. The improvement of other clean and renewable energies e.g. wind, solar,

nuclear, and geothermal heat must also be taken into account. In transportation sector, an

integrated transport system should be developed with given priority to the railway

networks. The goal is to safeguard the economic and environmental considerations and to

achieve the security and energy efficiency standards in transportation sector.

193

3.8.3. Actor organizations in energy efficiency and environmental protection issues

Actor organizations in energy and energy efficiency issues in both national and provincial

levels have been listed in table 3.9. The major goal of listing those public and private

bodies is to review their internal regulations and tasks in order to highlight their positions

in the whole topic of energy efficiency in regional and provincial levels. Listing the actors

in this respect helps also to better understand the multiplicity of engaged sectors working in

this area.

Based on the central management and the provincial division systems in Iran, the actor

organizations in national level include the ministries, national units, and head offices,

governing their internal affairs according to the constitutional frameworks defined by the

lawmakers through canalizing the policies to their provincial and local representative units.

193

Summarized and adapted from the General Policies, in transportation and energy sectors, set in 2001 at

http://hamsu.ir/Portal/Home/Default.aspx?CategoryID=0969601e-baf2-4dd2-970d-bea94a7bb068 on

07.08.2014.

Table 3.9: actor organizations in energy efficiency-related issues in national and provincial levels

194

Actor

organization in

national level

Sub organizational and

provincial units

Themes of internal guidelines and missions

Ministry of

Interior

Tehran Municipality and

the Municipalities of all

counties in Tehran

Metropolitan Region

- Cooperating with the department of

environment to implement the article 20

of the protection and enhancement of

environment act of 1974,195

- Hygienically collecting, transporting, and

recycling of the wastes,196

- Informing the planners and building

constructors about the article 5 of the

prevention of water pollution act of 1994

when preparing urban development plans

and issuing construction permits,197

- Creating motor inspection centers and

cooperating with department of

environment and the traffic police to

manage the transport system,198

- Documenting the number of trees, their

species, and their ages in any given place

within their official boundaries based on

194

All translations of names and titles of organizations have been taken from their official websites and

homepages by the author of this study.

195

According to the article 20 of this act, the department of environment could entrust the municipality of a

given place, within which a polluter manufacturing unit is running, to deal with that unit in terms of stopping

their activities or making them fix the problem. See article 20 of the protection and enhancement of

environment act of 1974 for more details.

196

See Mansour, J. (2003), p. 1079, rider of the article 10 of sanitary environment bylaw of 1992 for more

details.

197

See loc. cit., p. 1084, article 13 of the prevention of water pollution act of 1994 for more details.

198

See loc. cit., pp. 1086-1087, articles 5-7 of the prevention of air pollution act of 1995 for more details.

the expansion and protection of green

spaces within the cities act of 1980,199

Center for traffic control

in Tehran municipality

- Providing traffic information for drivers

to choose a better route,

- Efficiently using the streets, roads, etc.,

- Increasing the traffic security,

- Decreasing the fuel consumption and

environmental pollutions, and

- Establishing an integrated traffic

management system.200

Tehran urban and

suburban railway

operation company

- Helping to protect the environment201

Ministry of

Energy

Tehran regional electric

energy distribution

company

- Producing and distributing electric

energy in a sustainable way,

- Conserving the energy sources and

preventing them from the waste, and

- Paying attention to the environmental

aspects of energy sources.202

Tehran regional electric

company

“Mission statement: providing safe, sustainable,

far-reaching, and economic electric energy based

199

See loc. cit., pp. 1136, article 2 and its rider in the expansion and protection of green spaces within the

cities act of 1980 for more details.

200

Adapted from the official homepage of the center for traffic control in Tehran municipality, at

http://trafficcontrol.tehran.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=84 on 13.08.2014.

201

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran urban and suburban railway operation company, at

http://metro.tehran.ir/ on 22.07.2014.

202

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran regional electric energy distribution company, at

http://www.tvedc.ir/statics/OrganizationMissionStatement.aspx on 24.07.2014.

on environmental requirements and user

satisfaction.”203

- Establishing environmental management

systems in all sectors of the company,

- Taking into account the environmental

issues in all projects with the contractors,

- Grading and supporting contractors and

implementing units following the

guidelines of the 4th 5-year development

plan.204

Tehran Province water

and wastewater

“Mission statement:

A. Supplying equal, continuing, and

sustainable sanitary drink water for all

residents of Tehran Province, and

B. Promoting public sanitation through

collecting and treating wastewater by

taking the environmental considerations

into account and making use of updated

technologies.”205

- Public education in order to reform the

water consumption patterns,206

- Energy management and enhancement of

203

Taken from the official homepage of Tehran regional electric company, at

http://www.trec.co.ir/Default.aspx?PageContentID=939&tabid=4240 on 24.07.2014.

204

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran regional electric company, at

http://www.trec.co.ir/Default.aspx?PageContentID=942&tabid=4240 on 24.07.2014.

205

Taken from the official homepage of Tehran water and wastewater company, at

http://www.tpww.co.ir/fa/p1/mamoriyat on 24.07.2014.

206

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran water and wastewater company, at

http://www.tpww.co.ir/fa/p1/ahdaf on 24.07.2014.

energy efficiency,207

Tehran regional water

company

- Providing drink water, water for

irrigation, and water for industrial and

service units while heeding the

environmental aspects,

- Controlling surface water to prevent

flash floods and flooding,

- Conserving the water resources and

monitoring the polluters,

- Reforming water consumption patterns in

all sectors, and

- Running educational public programs for

conserving water resources and

reforming water consumption.208

Ministry of

Petroleum

National Iranian oil

company

- Managing energy consumption to reduce

the consumption and to make the use of

energy more efficient,209 and

- Taking the environmental issues into

account through the Health, Safety, and

Environment (HSE) system.210

National Iranian oil

- Educating the workers based on HSE

207

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran water and wastewater company, at

http://www.tpww.co.ir/abfa_content/media/image/2014/03/28431_orig.pdf on 24.07.2014.

208

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran regional water company, at

http://www.thrw.ir/Portals/0/rahbord1.pdf on 24.07.2014.

209

Adapted from the official homepage of the ministry of petroleum, at

http://www.mop.ir/Portal/Home/Default.aspx on 29.07.2014.

210

Adapted from the official homepage of the national Iranian oil company, at

http://www.nioc.ir/portal/Home/ShowPage.aspx?Object=GeneralText&ID=6cd9aa17-3122-437d-b470-

d5058131f75c&LayoutID=434e06e5-ac33-4c53-8c59-bcd473f7f0ab&CategoryID=d7d95987-15cb-4032-

9f2a-be66a31b0c38 on 29.07.2014.

refining and distribution

company

management system, and

- Defining environmental standards and

monitoring the projects for their

environmental impacts.211

National Iranian gas

company

- Replacing fossil fuel with natural gas up

to 70 percent in country’s energy

basket,212

- Investigating the environmental impacts

of the projects run by the company based

on HSE and environmental management

systems.213

Iranian fuel conservation

company

- Defining energy efficiency standards,

- Making rules and regulations pertaining

to the energy efficiency and greenhouse

gas reduction,

- Raising public awareness through

educational and advertising programs,

- Providing energy efficiency programs for

transportation sector,

- Enforcing energy efficiency measures in

buildings construction sector,

- Supporting industrial units to reach

211

Adapted from the official homepage of the national Iranian oil refining and distribution company, at

http://www.niopdc.ir/HomePage.aspx?TabID=4632&Site=niopdc&Lang=fa-IR on 29.07.2014.

212

Adapted from the official homepage of the ministry of petroleum, at

http://www.mop.ir/Portal/Home/Default.aspx on 29.07.2014.

213

Adapted from the official website of the national Iranian gas company, at

http://hse.nigc.ir/Site.aspx?ParTree=1110101812 on 29.07.2014.

energy efficiency standards, and

- Energy labeling for industrial

products.214

Ministry of

Industry, Mine,

and Trade

Iranian mines and mining

industries development

and renovation

organization

- Paying special attention to the

environmental protection and energy

conservation issues.215

Iran small industries and

industrial parks

organization

- Locating industrial parks with regard to

environmental requirements,

- Estimating and evaluating environmental

impacts prior to the building up of

industrial parks larger than 100 ha,

- Establishing and using environmental

management and clean production

systems,

- Treating industrial wastewater in

industrial parks for reuse,

- Controlling air pollution in industrial

parks to the environmental standard,

- Establishing waste recycling systems,

and

- Developing green areas inside and

around the industrial parks.216

214

Adapted from the official homepage of the Iranian fuel conservation company, at

http://ifco.ir/english/index.asp on 31.07.2014.

215

Adapted from the official homepage of the Iranian mines and mining industries development and

renovation organization, at http://www.imidro.gov.ir/general_content/38.html on 31.07.2014.

Industrial development

and renovation

organization of Iran

- Undertaking the sustainable development

requirements in all projects.217

Sub-organizational units

in all counties of the

region

Ministry of

Roads and

Urban

Development

Road, housing, and urban

development research

center218

- Making research on renewable energies

for buildings,

- Designing efficient appliances and

utilities in buildings energy sector,

- Cooperating in rule-making processes

for energy labeling and energy efficiency

in the buildings (code 19),

- Making research on heat and humidity

transfer of the buildings’ façade to have

more energy efficiency,

- Making research on smart buildings and

passive housing to reduce energy

consumption.219

Iran construction

engineering organization

- Cooperating in rule-making processes for

construction standards, and

- Controlling appropriate implementation

216

Adapted from the official homepage of the Iran small industries and industrial parks organization, at

http://isipo.ir/?part=menu&inc=menu&id=76 on 31.07.2014.

217

Adapted from the official homepage of the Industrial development and renovation organization of Iran, at

http://www.idro.ir/Pages/GeneralPages/Targets.aspx on 31.07.2014.

218

The former title of this center was Building and Housing Research Center (BHRC). After the two

ministries of “road and transportation” and “housing and urban development” merged, the title of this center

was also changed.

219

Adapted from the official homepage of road, housing, and urban development research center of Iran at

http://www.bhrc.ac.ir/portal/Default.aspx?tabid=1369 on 30.07.2014.

100

of the construction regulations and

codes.220

National land and housing

organization of Iran

Organizing the activities of the ministry of roads

and urban development in:

- Land use planning, land provision, and

land management, and

- Housing sector in the framework of

housing comprehensive plan and the

government’s housing policies.221

Ministry of

Science,

Research, and

Technology

Iranian research

organization for science

and technology

- Supporting the research and the

development of technologies in national

level, including in new and renewable

energies sectors.222

Materials and energy

research center

- Developing applied sciences and

technologies in materials and energy

issues, and

- Carrying out higher education programs

in materials and energy related

subjects.223

Ministry of

Education

Tehran head office of

education, and

The head offices of

- Providing better education to Improve

living conventions and patterns to a

hygienic and environmental-friendly

220

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran construction engineering organization, at

http://www.tceo.ir/pdf/nezamnamehmemari920819.pdf on 04.08.2014.

221

Adapted from the official homepage of the national land and housing organization of Iran at

http://www.nlho.ir/index.aspx?fkeyid=&siteid=1&pageid=132 on 06.08.2014.

222

Adapted from the official homepage of the Iranian research organization for science and technology, at

http://www.irost.org/goals and also at http://www.irost.org/mavad/node/52 on 06.08.2014.

223

Adapted from the official homepage of the materials and energy research center of Iran, at

http://portal.merc.ac.ir/intro.aspx on 06.08.2014.

101

education in all counties

in Tehran Metropolitan

Region

level,

- Teaching the youth how to treat with the

natural and urban environment and how

to conserve them,

- Defining the consumption patterns and

contriving preventive solutions to avoid

waste of resources,224 and

- Taking into account the values of the

natural and urban environment to reach

the sustainable development goals while

providing the educational materials.225

The Presidency

(Cabinet of

Ministers)

Transportation and fuel

management headquarters

- Implementing the transportation

development and management of energy

consumption act of 2007,

- Making researches on transportation and

energy sectors,

- Receiving suggestions from the cabinet

and preparing them for the ratification,

- Preparing annual budgetary bills for

transportation and energy sectors to

reach the goals of above mentioned act

of 2007,

- Collecting statistics in both sectors for

224

See Šorāye (āliye Enqelābe Farhangi (2001), pp. 5, 8, and 21 for more details.

225

See High Council of Education (2002), p. 61 for more details.

102

publishing, and

- Coordinating the activities of all public

units related to the transportation and

energy sectors.226

High Council of

Environment

National committee for

sustainable development

- Coordinating socioeconomic

development programs in regard to

environmental protection and agenda 21,

- Preparing strategic sustainable

development framework bill to pass to

the high council of environment,

- Establishing a data bank regarding the

agenda 21 as well as the international

conventions on climate change, and

- Evaluating the implemented projects

regarding environmental policies already

made.227

Iranian department of

environment (DOE)

Department of environment:

- Implementing the article 50 of the

national constitution on environmental

protection,

- Protecting the natural ecosystems and

preventing the environment from the

pollution,

226

Adapted from the official homepage of the transportation and fuel management headquarters, at

http://hamsu.ir/Portal/Home/Default.aspx?CategoryID=7da34948-23d8-42be-8997-898358fd3848 on

08.08.2014.

227

Adapted from the urban management information center’s homepage, at

http://www.umic.ir/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1978:&catid=265:National-

Committee-for-Sustainable-Development&Itemid=304 on 12.08.2014.

103

- Estimating the environmental bearable

capacities for exploitation and

continuous monitoring of the use of

resources,

- Making research on environmental

pollutants including wastes, chemical

fertilizers, and pesticides in water, air,

and soil,

- Locating the industries, power plants,

agricultural fields, and human settlement,

and

- Promulgating the use of environmental

friendly technologies.228

Deputy of human environment – national center

for air and climate change:

- Setting strategies in three sectors of air,

noise, and energy,

- Making research on the use of new air

technologies to stop the diffusion of

pollutants,

- Setting the regulations and standards for

vehicles and industrial units and

monitoring the implementation of motor

vehicle technical inspection, and

228

Adapted from the official homepage of Iranian department of environment, at

http://www.doe.ir/Portal/home/?147077/ on 12.08.2014.

104

- Cooperating with international parties on

conventions and protocols.229

National document on environment:230

- Mobilizing society’s sociocultural and

mental capacities to protect the

environment,

- Developing scientific and technological

capacities to support the sustainable

development and the science-oriented

management of environmental processes,

- Establishing a constructive integration

and interaction between economy and

environment for the sake of sustainable

development of the society,

- Controlling and monitoring the quality of

air in the country to reach the clean and

fresh air,

- Efficiently managing the quality and

quantity of underground and surface

water resources as well as the seas and

water basins on borders,

- Efficiently managing the quality and

quantity of soil resources,

- Managing country’s natural landscapes

in terms of plants, living species, and

229

Adapted from the official homepage of deputy of human environment – national center for air and climate

change in Iranian department of environment, at http://www.doe.ir/Portal/home/?175073/ on 13.08.2014.

230

Department of Environment (2012), p. 20.

105

genes in order to protect and improve the

living species, and

- Sustainably governing the production

and consumption of energy resources.

Tehran Province department of environment:

- Monitoring and controlling the polluter

industrial units to make them take the

standards into account,

- Sampling and testing the environmental

pollutants in urban and industrial areas,

- Cooperating with academic and research

centers in studies on human

environments,

- Preparing educational public programs to

promote the knowledge of citizens, and

- Preparing educational school

programs.231

Islamic Republic

of Iran Police

Rahvar traffic police

- Setting and reviewing the traffic

regulations,

- Monitoring the implementation of

regulations to safeguard the traffic and

transportation,

- Protecting the roads’ frontage and

managing the traffic and traffic signs,

231

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran Province department of environment, at http://www.tehran-

doe.ir/fa/News/Detail/vazayef on 13.08.2014.

106

- Inspecting motor vehicles regarding their

pollutants, and

- Collecting data and statistics for further

uses.232

Islamic Republic

of Iran

Broadcasting

National TV and radio

channels

- Making researches on environmental

related topics by the IRIB research center

and the training and research

department,233 and

- Making and broadcasting educational

programs and advertisements regarding

the environment and the use of energy.234

Public and

Private

Automobile

Companies

e.g.

Iran Khodro Industrial

Group

- Producing gas-firing and dual-firing

vehicles,

- Producing more efficient and green

vehicles, and

- Taking into account environmental

considerations in manufacturing

automobiles.235

Saipa Automobile

Company

Bahman Group

Source: self-collected information

Reviewing the internal guidelines and missions of responsible organizations in energy and

environmental protection sectors shows that all these units are trying to follow the

232

Adapted from Daily Hamshahri Newspaper Portal, at http://www.hamshahrionline.ir/details/140090 on

13.08.2014.

233

Adapted from the official homepage of the Islamic republic of Iran broadcasting, at

http://www.tvr.ir/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9425&Itemid=597 and also at

http://www.rcirib.ir/ch/about.asp on 13.08.2014.

234

Concluded by the author of this study through self-observations.

235

Adapted and concluded based on the information of homepages of aforementioned companies, at

http://www.ikco.com/fa/ , http://www.bahmangroup.com/about-us/honours , and at

http://www.saipacorp.com/Portal/Picture/ShowPicture.aspx?ID=0c06dc55-fb82-4d76-8706-0444fa9ae12b on

13.08.2014.

107

constitutional frameworks and leading policies in this respect. There are lots of efforts

made by these organizations in four major energy consumption sectors, namely housing

and commercial, transportation, industrial, and land use planning. Table 3.10 highlights

some of those efforts made to reduce the energy usage as well as to produce and use clean

and renewable energies and lower the environmental pollutions.

Table 3.10: efforts made to reduce the energy usage in national level

Energy

consumption

sectors

Housing and

commercial sector

Transportation

sector

Industrial sector

Land use planning

Activities done in each sector

1. Fossil fuel

alternative to

natural gas,

2. Awareness

raising via media,

schools, work

places, etc.

3. Increasing

energy costs and

abolishing

governmental

subsidies in energy

sector, and

4. Constructing

new buildings

under the energy

saving regulations.

1. Replacing run-

down motor

vehicles,

2. Producing CNG

motor vehicles,

3. Vehicle energy

labeling,

4. Rationing petrol

for public and

private vehicles,

5. Inner city traffic

zoning, and

6. Developing

electric subway

and regional

railways.

1. Fossil fuel

alternative to

natural gas,

2. Energy labeling

for industrial

products, and

3. Tax incentives

to upgrading

industrial units.

1. Relocating

polluter industrial

units,

2. Developing more

green spaces, and

3. Conserving the

existing vacant and

green areas.

Source: self-collected information

108

Figures 3.9 (left) and 3.10 (right): natural gas supply for households in rural (left) and urban (right)

areas

Source: self-captured photos

Figure 3.11: insulation of the façade in new buildings according to code 19

Source: self-captured photo

109

Figures 3.12 (left) and 3.13 (right): CNG bus and CNG taxis; energy transition in public transport in

Tehran

Source: self-captured photos

Figures 3.14 (left) and 3.15 (right): rationing petrol with chip cards and regional trains between

Tehran and Karaj Cities

Source: self-captured photos

Figures 3.16 (left) and 3.17 (right): vehicle energy labeling and inner city traffic zoning in Tehran

Sources: self-captured photo (left) and adapted from OpenStreetMap 2017 (right)

110

2000000

4000000

6000000

8000000

10000000

12000000

14000000

16000000

2001 2011

new registrations

already registered

3.8.4. EE efforts in energy consumption types

Figure 3.24 shows that the CO₂ emission emitted in Iran has almost doubled during 22

years and the figure 3.25 shows that the CO₂ emission per capita has increased about 50%

in the same time period. The population growth during these years has been 40%.

236

This

figure also reveals that the CO₂ emission per capita has remained almost the same during

the last 12 years from 2000 onwards. Whereas, the total number of public and private

motor vehicles and cars has increased over three times in whole country during the same

period. The figures 3.18 and 3.19 highlight the total number of existing and new registered

motor vehicles in 2001 and 2011.

Figure 3.18: registered and total number of public and private motor vehicles in Iran in 2001 and

2011

Source: adapted from the SHANA (2014)

237

236

See PBL (2013), p. 50 for more details.

237

Petro energy information network (SHANA)

111

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

8000000

9000000

2001 2011

yearly production

total number

Figure 3.19: produced and total number of motorcycles in Iran in 2001 and 2011

Source: adapted from the SHANA (2014)

As the figures above show, the total number of motor vehicles including public and private

cars and motorcycles has crucially increased only in a decade to 2011. In 2011 more than

48% of the oil and fossil energy carriers have been consumed in transportation sector.

238

On the other hand, the total number of CNG and dual-firing vehicles has increased about 30

times from 2001 to 2011 (Figure 3.20) and the number of vehicles per 1.000 populations

(Figure 3.21) has almost tripled in the same decade. Therefore, it can be concluded that

though the population growth in the last two decades is considerable and there are also a

tremendous increase in total number of motor vehicles but the emission per capita in the

last 12 years has remained the same (Figure 3.25). This could prove the effectiveness of the

policies and regulations on energy efficiency in transportation and industrial sectors.

238

Adapted from Petro energy information network (SHANA) (2014) at

http://www.shana.ir/fa/newsagency/217438 on 06.01.2015.

112

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

3500000

2005 2012

CNG and dual-firing

vehicles/total

100

150

200

2001 2011

vehicles/1,000

populations

Figure 3.20: total number of CNG and dual-firing vehicles in 2001 and 2011 in Iran

Source: adapted from Iran Natural Gas Vehicles (2012)

239

Figure 3.21: number of vehicles per 1.000 populations in 2001 and 2011 in Iran

Source: adapted from the SHANA (2014)

Another effective factor on controlling the CO₂ emission per capita in Iran is the natural

gas supply for a large number of housing, commercial, and industrial units in urban areas as

well as in parts of the rural areas in the whole country. For example, the total number of

239

Adapted from Iran Natural Gas Vehicles (INGV) homepage at

http://www.ingv.ir/index.php/fa/statistics/production-stat on 08.01.2015.

113

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

2001 2012

natural gas supply in

former Tehran

Province/total

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

2001 2012

natural gas pipeline

network/km

natural gas end-users in 25 towns and 17 rural settlements in former Tehran Province has

been 850,121 units in 2001, whereas, this number was about 1,186,710 units in 57 towns

and 525 rural settlements in 2012

240

in both Tehran and Alborz Provinces (Figure 3.22).

241

Figure 3.22: total number of residential, commercial, and industrial units with natural gas supply in

2001 and 2012 in former Tehran Province

Source: adapted from Tehran Governorate (2010), p. 260

Figure 3.23: natural gas pipeline network in the country, length/km

Source: adapted from the Ministry of Energy (2013), p. 30

240

In order to make the statistics of the two years of 2001 and 2012 comparable, the statistics of 2012

presented here include both Tehran and Alborz Provinces because in 2001 the whole Alborz Province was

part of former Tehran Province.

241

See Tehran Governorate (2010), p. 260 for more details.

114

Also, the figure 3.23 highlights the development of natural gas pipelines throughout the

country, which is one of the direct results of national energy policies focusing on the

provision of clean energy sources. As the figure shows, the gas pipeline network length has

increased more than three times during the last decade to 2012. According to

abovementioned facts, the replacement of liquid fossil fuels with natural gas in housing,

transportation, and industrial sectors in Iran has been one of the most important steps

towards the CO₂ reduction and climate protection.

These facts show that the national regulations have been effective in terms of realizing

pragmatic actions in the field of energy transition in a large scale throughout the country

and the actor organizations have also followed the law and fulfilled their internal missions.

Those organizations define their missions at the national level and run the energy transition

projects in very local level e.g. rural, town, and county levels. In other words, the

regulations and acts are integrated and are all in the same direction but the implementation

of them in terms of planning, tools, and how-to are independent and not necessarily

integrated among all responsible bodies. Therefore, the existence of energy efficiency and

climate protection policies in a regional plan e.g. for Tehran Region, is hard to prove. The

next chapter will review the regional plan for Tehran Region to seek for the energy

efficiency and climate relevant policies.

115

3.9. Conclusions

The climate has already changed and its impacts on the world’s urban regions have been

recognized long time ago. The global warming and higher mean temperature in many parts

of the world together with mean precipitation decrease and droughts endanger the socio-

economic and environmental stability in many countries. The severe weather events such as

heavy rainfalls and flashfloods are also the share of lots of regions in the world. As the

main contributor to this phenomenon, the use of fossil fuel and the production of CO₂ and

other GHGs must be reduced in many forms and in all consumption types. Obviously, a

higher CO₂ emission in any local or regional unit contributes to the whole system of

climate enveloping the world. Therefore, any climate protection plan aiming to remedy the

alteration of the climate should consider the whole global climate and to act in a local level

while paying attention to the fact that multi-level governance is needed in local and

regional levels. This means that not only the vertical and top-down relations in

governmental and policymaking bodies must efficiently function, but also a horizontal

cooperation among regional and local actors must exist. “As cities and national

governments cannot act alone to effectively tackle climate change, a framework for

understanding the linkages across multiple levels of government and with the private sector

and non-governmental stakeholders is needed.”

242

The extent to which the multi-level

governance is taken into consideration in Iranian regional planning system will be analyzed

later in chapter 4 after reviewing the case of Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan.

But as of constitutional framework, the legal basis for environmental protection, especially

for climate protection through the more efficient use of energy, is highly available in Iran.

As presented earlier in this chapter, the acts of prevention of water and air pollution and of

protection of green spaces and agricultural lands together with those pertaining to the

reformation of energy consumption patterns and construction codes could function as an

integrated network of laws and regulations binding the responsible bodies to plan and act in

this respect.

242

OECD (2010), p. 171.

116

Although the number of public sector organizations working on these issues is really high,

but they mostly refer their objectives and missions to the fundamental regulations and acts

set for action in the national level. Therefore, each organization, depending on its position

and duties in the whole system and on its relevance to the issue of energy efficiency and

environmental protection, moves towards the targets defined by these rules. Hence, it could

be concluded that not only there are enough constitutional bases for these issues in

development planning system in Iran but also the public sector organizations are also

working in line with the actual and updated legal frameworks provided by the lawmakers.

The general outcomes of implementing all these regulations in form of sectoral projects are

yet to be judged. The statistics of fossil fuel usage and CO₂ emissions for Iran in the last

decades could hardly prove the success at the first sight. Now, the most important question

posed is that if the legal bases for reducing energy consumption and for climate protection

are available and the public sector units are also working on the issue, why the statistics are

still high and the quality of the air in Tehran Province and other large cities in Iran is

getting lower. Figures 3.24 and 3.25 highlight the situation of CO₂ emissions emitted in

Iran in the last two decades.

117

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

1990 2000 2012

Figure 3.24: CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel use and cement production in Iran from 1990 to 2012

(unit: million tonnes of CO₂)

Source: adapted from the PBL (2013), pp. 16-17

Figure 3.25: Co₂ emissions per capita for Iran from 1990 to 2012 (unit: tonnes of CO₂/person)

Source: adapted from the PBL (2013), p. 50

118

4. Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan (TMRP); a case study

4.1. Introduction

A recent and actual example of regional planning in Iran is needed to investigate the

efficiency of Iran’s planning system in this level. This example, as a case study, reflects the

meaning and the conceptual framework of what is understood under the regional planning

and the regional plan among the policy-makers in Iran. The plan presented here refers to

the 4th category in list of development plans in Iran (Table 2.9) – Metropolitan Region Plan

(MRP). As listed in the above mentioned table, the first three development plans namely

country’s master plan, national and regional physical plans, and district development

master plan refer to the national plans and plans which deal with mega regions or several

counties which don’t necessarily have the same development priorities or interests.

Therefore, the next category, the MRP, was recognized as an actual case of regional

planning to be presented in this chapter.

This chapter presents the Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan (TMRP) as a regional plan

prepared for the former Tehran Province including Tehran City and other 12 counties in the

region. First, Tehran Metropolitan Region (TMR) will be introduced and the reasons why

the plan was prepared will be illustrated. Second, the legal basis for it will be reviewed and

the responsible bodies will be introduced. Third, a comparative content analysis will be

undertaken to prove if the TMRP is a regional plan. Finally, the tools and instruments of

implementation will be reviewed and their relevance to the energy efficiency and

environmental issues would be analyzed.

119

4.2. Tehran Metropolitan Region (TMR)

The former Tehran Province was recognized as a metropolitan region and a planning basis

for a brand new planning category. The TMR is a name applied to the former Tehran

Province, namely before it was split up into two provinces of Tehran and Alborz.

243

The

TMR includes Tehran City and its surrounding economic and service centers forming a

unity of settlements and activities, in which all areas have a daily-based connection with

the others.

244

Figure 4.1: the location of former Tehran Province on the map of Iran

Source: adapted from the OpenStreetMap 2017

243

Alborz Province became the 31st province in Iran on 23.06.2010 after the parliament ratified the bill sent

by the cabinet of ministers on 01.02.2010. It includes Karaj as the central county, Savojbolagh, Taleghan,

Eshtehard and Nazarabad as other four counties in the province. Self-collected information.

244

See Ghammami, M. (2004), p. 12 for more details.

120

Figure 4.2: boundaries of former Tehran Province

Source: adapted from the OpenStreetMap 2017

Figures 4.3 (left) and 4.4 (right): Tehran Province after the split-up (left) and Alborz Province

(right)

Source: adapted from the OpenStreetMap 2017

4.2.1. Geographic characteristics

4.2.1.1. Location

The TMR is located on the southern foothills of Alborz Mountain Range towards the lower

plains in the south. The former Tehran Province bordered Qazvin Province on the

northwest, Markazi Province on the southwest, Qom Province on the south, Semnān

121

Province on the southeast, and Māzandarān Province on the north. If the middle plains are,

including city of Tehran, assumed as the central parts of the province, the geographic

position and the average altitude from the see level would be as highlighted in the table 4.1.

Table 4.1: the geographic position and characteristics of Tehran City

From

Longitude

51°,17ʹ

51°,33ʹ

Latitude

35°,36ʹ

35°,44ʹ

Altitude

900 m

1800 m

Sources: adapted from Tehran Municipality official homepage

245

4.2.1.2. Climate

The TMR has a semiarid and cold climate. This climate is a combination of dry climate of

the southern salt deserts and the more humid climate of Alborz Mountains (Figure 4.5).

246

The most famous characteristics of this type of climate are its very warm and dry summer,

with the mean maximum temperature ranging between 35° to 40° C, and its cold winter

with the mean minimum temperature ranging between 0° to –5° C.

247

245

http://www.tehran.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=117 accessed on 09.09.2014.

246

According to Ganji, H. (1979) in Kasmai, M. (2003), p. 83, there are 4 major climate zones recognizable in

Iran based on the Köppen’s classification. These zones are as follows:

1. Humid and moderate climate (seashores of Caspian Sea)

2. Cold climate (western mountain ranges)

3. Hot and arid climate (central plateau) and

4. Hot and humid climate (seashores of Persian Gulf)

247

See Kasmai, M. (2003), p 99 for more details.

122

Figure 4.5: climate zones in Iran based on Köppen’s classification

Source: adapted from Kasmai, M. (2003), p. 83

Figure 4.6: mean temperature and average precipitation diagrams for Tehran City

Source: adapted from the Klimadiagramme.de

248

http://klimadiagramme.de/Asien/teheran.html accessed on 16.09.2014.

123

The mean yearly precipitation in Tehran City, in a 30-year period, is about 220 mm and the

maximum and minimum monthly precipitations recorded are 9.38 mm and 1 mm for

February and September.

249

4.2.2. Development background

Tehran became the capital city of Iran in 1775, in Qājār Era, and witnessed a fast grow in

the first half of the 20th century. In the 1940s and considering the large public and private

investments, Tehran hosted new development features e.g. modern buildings as well as

straight and geometric avenues. During the 7 decades from 1920 onwards, Tehran City and

its suburbs have been developing and forming the TMR until the whole region faced

considerable social problems. From 1920 to 1965, Tehran experienced a kind of inner city

development in terms of physical and social infrastructures in about 180 km² around its

historic core. In this period, the population of Tehran City grew extremely from 200.000 to

2.700.000 people, more than 13 times.

250

But from the late 1960s onwards, the

development scheme changed and turned into physical expansion of the metropolis to the

other small urban centers with a radius of more than 30 km. This was a result of the

development of transportation facilities as well as relocating industrial units outside the

city.

249

Adapted from the official homepage of Tehran Municipality at

http://www.tehran.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=117 on 09.09.2014.

250

See Ghammami, M. (2004), p. 13 for more details.

124

1.000.000

2.000.000

3.000.000

4.000.000

5.000.000

6.000.000

7.000.000

8.000.000

1966 1996

Tehran City

Other parts of the province

1966 1996

% share of Population

Tehran City

Other parts of the province

Figure 4.7: population distribution in Tehran Province in 1966 and 1996

Source: adapted from Ghammami, M. (2004)

Figure 4.8: share of population for Tehran City and the rest of the Province in 1966 and 1996

Source: adapted from Ghammami, M. (2004)

125

The population of Tehran Province has tripled during the three decades from 1966 to 1996,

reaching about 10.400.000 people. As the figures 4.7 and 4.8 show, this population growth

pattern illustrates that Tehran City’s surrounding urban centers have witnessed greater

population growth than Tehran City. Although the population in Tehran City has grown

about 2.5 times in the same period, but its share of the whole population of province has

decreased. In other words, Tehran City’s share of the whole population of province has

decreased from about 80 percent to 65 percent and at the same time period the share of

population for other counties in the province has increased from 21 percent to about 35

percent. Therefore, the higher pressure of such population growth has been on the lunar

urban centers around the city of Tehran. This has brought about the formation of informal

settlements in smaller and cheaper urban centers, where the physical and social urban

infrastructures were pure. These areas were later known for the social and security

problems caused by the poverty and the high population density.

4.2.3. Physical expansion pattern

The TMR could be divided into three geographic zones including northern elevations,

middle plains, and southern salt deserts (Figure 4.9). The whole area of the TMR is about

18,800 km², of which the middle plains with 30 percent of the surface area host 97.7

percent of the population of province whereas the northern elevations host only 2 percent

and the southern deserts host less than 1 percent of the population.

251

See Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), p. 11-12 for more details.

126

Figure 4.9: geographic zoning of Tehran Metropolitan Region

Source: adapted from Ghammami, M. (2004), p. 12

Like many other megacity regions, the expansion of TMR has been determined by the

centralization of economic activities and social services in a core urban area, namely

Tehran City, and been followed by radius and scattered development pattern with other

urban centers experiencing a high population density and lack of urban infrastructure

(Figure 4.10). This expansion pattern follows the monocentric city region model with lunar

towns in ring hinterlands having shaped an urban corridor among some towns together and

with central city; Tehran.

252

The land use pattern, whereas, highlights that only less than 15

percent of the TMR area is under the occupation of all urban and rural centers. These urban

populated centers were called urban zones and there were 8-9 urban zones recognized, by

the UPARC in the TMR (Table 4.2).

252

See loc. cit., p. 12 for more details.

127

Table 4.2: urban zones recognized in the TMR with population share

Urban

zone

Population

1996

Share of

population

Province

Population

density

(person/ha)

Area

(ha)

Share of

area in

province

Dominating

activities

Tehran

6,765,784

65.4

69,956

3.7

Industrial / service

Karaj-

Šahriār

1,508,279

14.6

67,259

3.6

Industrial / service /

agricultural

Eslāmšahr-

Robāṭ

Karim

612,959

5.9

30,023

1.6

Industrial / service /

transportation /

storage

Varāmin

358,311

3.5

20,408

1.1

Industrial / service /

agricultural

Pākdašt

147,368

1.4

9,341

0.5

Industrial /

agricultural

Haštgerd

134,319

1.3

28,713

1.5

Industrial / service

Rudehen-

Pardis

41,570

0.4

18,309

Industrial / service /

higher education

Eštehārd

10,349

0.1

11,956

0.6

Industrial /

agricultural

Total

9,578,939

92.6

255,965

13.6

Source: adapted from Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), pp. 14-15

128

Figure 4.10: physical expansion of Tehran Metropolitan Region in 75 years

Source: adapted from Ghammami, M. (2004), p. 28

4.3. Rationale behind the Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan

The most important problem of the TMR was the unbalanced distribution of the population

together with lack of a fundamental land use plan and consequently the socioeconomic and

environmental damages to the region. During three decades from the late 1960s onwards,

only the city of Tehran and Karaj had a comprehensive development plan conducting the

development features. Therefore, the processes of settling down of the population and of

129

urbanization of the smaller centers in the region have occurred without any urban

development plan and based on the land price. More surprisingly, at the time of planning

the TMRP in 1990s, the TMR embraced 13 counties including Tehran, Damāvand,

Eslāmšahr, Firuzkuh, Karaj, Naẓarābād, Pākdašt, Rey, Robāṭ Karim, Sāvojbolāḡ, Šahriār,

Šemirānāt, and Varāmin, each of which included smaller towns with a municipality.

Eslāmšahr County and two other small towns in Varāmin County were informal settlements

modified later as a town.

253

The formation of informal settlements within and around the counties was not the only

problem of the TMR. Uncontrolled development of existing cities and unplanned location

of industrial units in their surroundings also damaged the natural landscape and the

environment. The UPARC and the center for architectural and urbanism studies and

research in MRUD concluded the problems as follows:

254

- Low quality of housing and urban infrastructures,

- Intensified settlement of low-income families around the capital city, bringing about

negative cultural, social, and political impacts,

- Degraded and wastage of agricultural lands,

- Expanded pollution of environment to the water, air, and soil,

- Decreased capacity of regional roads and increased transportation costs and trip

durations,

- Decreased quality of physical and social environment in Tehran City caused by the

population living in suburban centers and lacking social services and jobs,

- Inefficient use of land in the region because of the outspread and self-willed

settlement of population and activities in the region, and

253

See Ghammami, M. (2004), p. 4 for more details.

254

See Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), p. 11 for more details.

130

- Decreased economic efficiency in the region as a result of lacking social relations in

and among the urban centers.

Tehran shared the problems of rapid population growth and the fast physical expansion of

the city with other large cities in Iran. The socioeconomic disorders of the early 1990s in

the suburbs of Tehran and Mašhad Cities brought about the awareness of special planning

measures for the mega city regions.

255

Despite the existence of development plans, such as

master plan and detailed plan, for large and mega cities in Iran in recent decades, no

metropolitan region had experienced the existence of a regional plan, or a type of

metropolitan region plan, before the 1990s. Therefore, the TMRP, prepared during the

years 1995 to 2003, was the first step towards planning for the mega city regions in Iran.

4.4. Goals and objectives

The main objectives of the TMRP focused on the population and activities redistribution as

well as on the land use management. On the other hand, lots of studies on the evolution of

Tehran Metropolitan and its current situation have proved that the majority of problems in

the province have been resulted from lack of an integrated urban management system able

to coordinate the development plans among all cities and towns in the province.

256

Therefore, the two following objectives were defined for the plan:

257

- Modulating the location of activities and population in the future, and

- Controlling and conducting the use of land.

255

See Ghammami, M. (2004), p. XI for more details.

256

See loc. cit., p. XII for more details.

257

See loc. cit., p. 6 for more details.

131

4.5. Legal basis

Despite the existence of national physical plan with its mega regions and local districts as

planning scales (see chapter 2), there was a need to create another category in planning

levels for large metropolitan regions to steer the future developments in those areas.

Therefore, the cabinet of ministers ratified an act called the Planning and Management of

Tehran Metropolitan Region and the Country’s other Large Cities and their Suburbs in

1995 to deal with the existing problems of Tehran Metropolitan Region and to prevent the

other mega cities from having the same problems in the future.

258

The Article 2 of this act clarifies that a metropolitan region comprises of smaller areas,

covering the official boundaries of existing municipalities so that no single area remains

uncovered within the metropolitan region.

259

According to article 2 and the items A and B

of article 3 of this act, the former Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD)

260

was appointed to prepare the boundary map for Tehran Province within 6 months and to

prepare the Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan within 2 years to be approved by the High

Council of Urban Development and Architecture (HCUDA).

261

The TMRP was granted the

final approval by the HCUDA in 2002 and by the cabinet of ministers in 2003.

262

The nature of the TMRP is of a guiding plan having run fundamental socio-economic,

physical, and environmental studies on the former Tehran Province (see table 4.4) in order

the other local development plans to follow its instructions and recommendations. In other

words, the TMRP has assumed the whole province as a planning unit and prepared the

basic knowledge and facts for the local planning schemes to use. It has also suggested the

establishment of a single integrated development management unit as an implementation

body to coordinate the local development plans in the region (see section 4.7.).

258

See loc. cit., p. XI for more details.

259

See Cabinet of ministers (1995), Planning and Management of Tehran Metropolitan Region and the

Country’s other Large Cities and their Suburbs, article 2 for more details.

260

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) and the Ministry of Roads and Transportation

(MRT) were merged on June 2011 to make the new Ministry of Roads and Urban Development (MRUD),

See http://mrud.ir/Portal/Home/Default.aspx?CategoryID=e02d67fa-06b1-4d66-b82b-980f13bb9320 for

more details, accessed on 13.08.2012.

261

See Ghammami, M. (2004), p. XI for more details.

262

See loc. cit., p. XIII for more details.

132

4.6. Results; policies and approaches

The TMRP offered a decentralized development pattern for the future of the metropolitan

region. Following the aforementioned major objectives of the TMRP, there were policies

made in three major sectors of population, transportation, and land use planning. The core

idea of these policies could be concluded in reshaping the TMR in a way to have a

polycentric mega city region formed by a balanced development of all urban centers. In

other words, a kind of decentralization from the core city is recommended. This

decentralization could be characterized with relocating insufficient activities to the

hinterlands and empowering lunar urban centers in terms of housing, job market,

transportation facilities, and other urban infrastructures to attract more population.

4.6.1. In population sector

In order to control the future changes in population distribution in the TMR, the policies

should focus on three parts of Tehran urban zone, other urban zones in the metropolitan

region, and areas not covered under the urban zone categories.

263

The recommended

approaches in these three parts are as follows:

264

- In Tehran urban zone; the total number of population of Tehran City must be kept

as 7,650,000 people and to do so any new building permission as well as vertical

construction density on the western parts of Kan Watercourse, eastern land plains,

and northern foothills must be limited. These help to prevent urban sprawl

especially in the west part, where Tehran and Karaj have the potential of coupling.

- In other urban zones in the metropolitan region; Karaj-Šahriār urban zone is the

most important one among the other areas and its population must be kept around

2,700,000 people and the agricultural lands and orchards in this zone must be

conserved. To reach the TMRP’s goals, all these urban zones (see table 4.3) must

263

See Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), p. 13 for more details.

264

See Ghammami, M. (2004), pp. 45-48 for more details.

133

have to be developed in accordance with their capacities and population foreseen

for them, so that they could compete with Tehran City in terms of offering better

living conditions. Therefore, all these zones must have master and conductive plans

and must be assumed as an integrated urban network which should have a balanced

development at the end. All public organizations should also support the build-up

and development of new towns e.g. Pardis, Haštgerd, Parand, Andiša, Eštehārd, and

Hassan Ābād.

Table 4.3: population capacity of 8 urban zones for the future development in the TMR

Urban Zone

Area / ha

Population in 1996

Approx./prior to plan

Population planned

on the 2020 horizon

Karaj-Šahriār

67,259

1,508,000

2,684,000

Haštgerd

28,713

134,000

881,000

Eštehārd

11,956

10,000

499,000

Eslāmšahr-Robāṭ

Karim

30,023

613,000

1,912,000

Hassan Ābād

9,327

13,000

192,000

Varāmin

20,408

358,000

605,000

Pākdašt

9,341

147,000

521,000

Rudehen-Pardis

18,309

42,000

363,000

Source: adapted from Ghammami, M. (2004), p. 43

134

- Areas not covered under the urban zones; in 1996 there were 1,400 populated urban

and rural areas in TMR, of which 1,020 areas including 12 towns and 15 villages

with population over 5,000 people and 993 villages with less than 5,000 people

were located out of urban zones and hosted only 7.3 percent of the total population

of the TMR, reaching about 750,000 people. It is anticipated that the population of

these areas would be doubled on the 2020 horizon. It is recommended to control

these areas as they are and not to allow them to expand and host more population to

get an urban center in the future.

4.6.2. In transportation sector

According to the TMRP, the transportation system in TMR should be reformed. The

conducting policies, to be considered in planning, were recommended as follows in the box

4.1.

Box 4.1: the conductive policies for reforming transportation system in the TMR

- Developing regional road network,

- Reforming transportation management system,

- Reforming tariff payment and financial structures,

- Decreasing the use of private cars,

- Developing public bus transport network, and

- Considering mobility for poor and low-income groups.

Source: adapted from Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), p. 15

135

4.6.3. In land use planning sector

Completing the existing industrial parks and developing more green spaces throughout the

TMR were recommended for this sector by the TMRP. “Those industrial parks locating

within the boundaries of urban zones and those planned to be located therein, based on the

guidelines of department of environment, should be implemented under the zoning

guidelines of the TMRP.”

265

The TMRP also recommends the faster implementation of

urban development plans within the region to accelerate the completion of industrial parks

across the region.

The urban forestry-based management and the expansion of green spaces within and

around the urban zones, the rehabilitation of northern foothills of the region through

protecting them from livestock grazing, and the creation of urban forests to counterbalance

the heat island effects of urban centers for more air ventilation were also other approaches

of the TMRP.

266

Figure 4.11: future physical structure of Tehran Metropolitan Region

Source: adapted from Ghammami, M. (2004), p. 34

265

Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), p. 15.

266

See loc. cit. for more details.

136

4.7. Requirements for realization of the TMRP

The variety of local urban management and planning units in cities, towns, and smaller

urban areas in former Tehran Province had minimized the coordination of development

plans going beyond one single planning unit, though the deficits and problems of the whole

region had originated in the same urban centers. The current management system of the

TMR, comprising of governorates (Farmāndāri), municipalities (Šahrdāri), local

governments in small towns (Baḵšdāri), and local offices belonging to ministries could not

recognize and admit the deficits, caused by multiple relations among all urban centers, in

order to make comprehensive policies.

267

On the other hand, the informal settlements

played a crucial role in forming the spatial structure of smaller urban centers contributing to

the social and environmental disorders of the whole region. Therefore, the reformation of

urban management system in the region as well as the resolution to housing problem for

urban poor is essential for realizing the TMRP.

268

The final approaches recommended by

the TMRP could be concluded in following two key points:

269

- Creating a single integrated development management unit for the populated part of

the TMR,

- Establishing a housing council for low-income households in the MHUD [MRUD].

Establishing a new urban management unit to conduct and implement the TMRP policies in

the TMR was a challenge for the planners. The TMRP has recommended the governorate

of Tehran Province (Ostāndāri) or a new level of management, namely a higher

municipality or higher governorate, to be able to lead the other management units in the

TMR should take the responsibility of implementing the plan.

270

Finally, “the HCUDA has,

267

See Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), p. 15 for more details.

268

See Ghammami, M. (2004), p. 8 for more details.

269

See Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran (2004), pp. 15-16 for more details.

270

See loc. cit., p. 15 for more details.

137

when ratifying the plan, decided to authorize the governorate of Tehran Province to

implement the TMRP.”

271

4.8. Outcomes of the TMRP in practice

Neither the creation of integrated development management unit nor the establishment of

housing council for low-income households, recommended by the TMRP, was

implemented. As mentioned in section 4.3., the former Tehran Province comprised of 13

counties and the urban management system in each county was under the control of a

municipality and a governorate. This proves a multiple stakeholder system in the TMR, in

which any single county with its smaller towns and rural areas acts only in its own official

boundaries. Therefore, the TMRP aiming at creating an integrated urban management

system and dividing the whole province into 8 urban zones (see table 4.3) had no chance to

succeed from the beginning of the plan. For example, the MHUD did not recognize the

urban zones, as it recognizes only the individual municipalities not the urban zones

comprising more than one municipality.

272

On the other hand, the municipalities of the

counties and towns within the 8 urban zones reclaimed their independency and official

boundaries.

273

The same thing happened with the municipality of Tehran after the TMRP

recommended the integrated urban management plan. “The municipality of Tehran was

considering losing its authority to act over its budget because the development budget of

that is very high and the municipality did not want to participate in the integrated urban

management unit recommended by the TMRP.”

274

This shows the importance of the

official territories and the full authority over the budget for the municipalities within

Tehran Province.

271

See loc. cit., p. 15.

272

Taken from the interview with Mrs. Parvand, Office for Physical Planning in the MHUD on 17.05.2011.

273

See loc. cit.

274

Taken from the interview with Mr. Dr. Hanachee, former deputy minister for architecture and urban

development in the MHUD on 22.05.2012.

138

The lack of coordination among the urban authorities in the TMR together with some

policy gaps among the municipalities and local ministerial units

275

have also played a

negative role on the way of implementing the TMRP’s approaches. “The local ministerial

units would prefer to keep their revenues and their authority over the urban infrastructures

and leave all costs of the projects to the municipalities. On the other hand, if the

municipality aims to carry out any project within its territory, it is dependent on all those

local units to get permission.”

276

Therefore, this proves a wide gap between the

municipalities and local ministerial units in a county, which becomes more complicated in

a province or a metropolitan region.

4.9. Conclusions

The TMRP has been the first attempt in planning at the regional level for the mega cities in

Iran and has also been the first regional-level planning effort different from the mega

regions recognized by the spatial planning of the country (see section 2.4.2.). Hence, it

could have obviously been facing various problems in terms of legal and procedural

constraints and deficits. The fact that the TMRP has been assumed to be a leading guideline

for local plans throughout the Tehran Province, and the single integrated development

management unit suggested by this plan as a requirement for implementation of the plan,

confirms that Tehran Province has been defined as a planning unit by the plan and the

creation of the development management unit has been a solution to centrally coordinate

the local development plans in line with the needs of the whole region.

275

Local ministerial units are local organizations representing the ministries, responsible for urban

infrastructures, in each province and county.

276

Taken from the interview with Mr. Dr. Ali Iranshahi, the vice manager of inspection and monitoring dept.,

Iran Municipalities and Rural Management Organization on 29.04.2012.

139

4.9.1. TMRP; a regional plan

The term Metropolitan Region Plan is somehow ambiguous, as it includes the both terms

metropolitan and region, and it does not support a clear discernment if the plan tends to be

a metropolitan plan or a regional plan. Based on the contents and objectives of the TMRP,

the focus is on problems of smaller settlements around the core Tehran Metropolitan area to

include them under a single integrated urban management umbrella and not only to pave

the road for further development of Tehran Metropolis. Metropolitan planning assumes the

surrounding open spaces as a potential land reserves available for the future metropolitan

development as well as the population overflow while regional planning seeks to maintain

the balance between the natural and primeval background and the urban environment.

277

the other hand, the more recent definitions of metropolitan region areas pay attention to the

balanced development of suburbs around the core metropolitan cities as well as the

coherent development of the metropolitan region while the economic and environmental

aspects are also taken into consideration (see section 2.2.4.11.). The TMRP is a physical

guiding plan conducting the future development of TMR in terms of locating settlements,

population, and activities while prescribing the use of land and paying attention to the

natural environment.

278

In other words, the TMRP determines the land use in a regional

scale.

279

Therefore, TMRP is a regional plan aiming at dealing with the local problems in

the whole province to balance the development schemes in all settlements and their

surrounding natural environment. In this way, the daily travelers to the metropolis center

could stop moving and the permanent migrated population settled in congested metropolis

center could potentially go back to settlements on the countryside.

Furthermore, the regional planning efforts assume the whole region, including settlements,

industrial units, and the land, as a single unit and try not to provide facilities in the older

centers for a short-term problem reliefs, but to determine what new facilities are needed for

277

See Mumford, L. (1976): Regional planning. In: Sussman, C. (ed.) (1976): Planning the Fourth Migration:

the neglected vision of the regional planning association of America, p. 203 for more details.

278

See Ghammami, M. (2004), pp. 8-9 for more details.

279

See Labbafi, A. (2003), p. 1 for more details.

140

new and young centers.

280

From this point of view also, the TMRP could be assumed as a

regional planning attempt focusing on problems of smaller settlements in Tehran Province

to develop a comprehensive development approach.

Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier in chapter 2, the components of regional planning

include economic, demographic, transportation, and land use studies. Therefore, the TMRP

having included all of these themes in its basic preparatory studies is a regional plan of its

type.

4.9.2. Energy efficiency and environmental considerations in the TMRP

The natural environment within and around the TMR has been enduring a high level of air

and water pollutions during the last 50 years, resulting retrogressive and destructive effects

on the whole environment and climate of the region. The TMRP has started with the idea of

solving the social problems in the highly congested and poor informal settlements in the

TMR and carried out fundamental and well-structured studies in preparatory phase of the

plan (Table 4.4).

Table 4.4: contents of Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan

No.

Contents of Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan

Demographic studies

Economic studies

Social studies

Natural hazards studies

280

See Mumford, L. (1976): Regions – To Live In. In: Sussman, C. (ed.) (1976): Planning the Fourth

Migration: the neglected vision of the regional planning association of America, p. 90 for more details.

141

Environmental studies

Transportation studies

Land use and physical studies

Multi-criteria evaluation studies

Mathematical models of population distribution

Final conclusions

Source: adapted from Ghammami, M. (2004): introductory part, p. 10

The TMRP has indirectly paid attention to the issues of energy efficiency and climate

protection with its policy orientations. Taking into consideration that this plan has been

prepared from 1995 to 2003, and the issues of climate protection and climate adaptation

were not as active as today in Iran, it should be said that although the objectives, studies,

and outputs of the TMRP were dedicated to the informal settlements and housing for low-

income households, but stressing on transportation development and land use planning as

well as development of green spaces in the TMR shows that the environmental and energy

efficiency issues have been considered in the plan. The development of new accessibilities

and the reformation of existing roads, highways, and local streets were good steps towards

decreasing traffic jams within and around urban centers to decrease energy consumption in

transportation sector. Planning for more efficient public transport system as well as the

extension of new routes were also complementary suggestions of the TMRP in this respect.

This proves that the awareness of the environmental problems had increased among the

planners and in the planning system by the time of preparing the TMRP. As presented in

earlier chapters, the legal basis and backgrounds for regional planning is available in Iran,

so the question is how to plan and implement a regional plan based on the structural

framework of existing development planning system. This is the case in energy efficiency

issues in the region as well. The legal basis and the awareness of climate change and

142

climate protection is available on the ground, but the problem is how to define and where to

insert such pragmatic programs, protecting the climate and adapting the regions to the

climate change, into a regional plan. In addition, the necessary organizational changes and

the definition of new tools of implementation are also needed in order to insert the climate

relevant policies into the regional planning system.

143

5. Regional planning and climate adaptation in Germany

5.1. Introduction

The climate change impacts and the need for adaptations in planning contents are

considered as a serious field of work in Germany. In this chapter, the goal is to introduce a

good regional planning example which deals with the climate change impacts in a

particular region in Germany and to review its basic concepts in terms of legal bases and of

the climate protection and adaptation strategies. The scope of this investigation covers the

need for international experiences in regional level – a minor case study – to support the

comparison criteria between the two regions, namely TMR in Iran and the Westsachsen

Region in Germany. The reason why the Westsachsen regional model was selected as a

minor case study is the importance of the climate adaptation strategies taken into account

for a long-term planning perspective. This model functions as an illustrative pattern here to

show how a more efficient climate adaptive regional planning model looks like and what

components and considerations it possesses.

Urban and regional planning system in Germany is one of the most well-known and

prestigious planning models, whose contents, methods, and results have been most

admired. Patrick Geddes in his Cities in Evolution (1915) refers to the German train

stations as very well-organized than in other countries and to the river basin development in

Frankfurt am Main as a masterpiece of town planning, where the environment, the

function, and the population, as users, have been considered as single elements of a

development progress.

281

The building codes of the Prussia in late 18th century, the building

line act

282

of 1875, Ruhr regional planning authority, German building codes of the 3rd

Reich, and the Reich office for regional planning in 1935 paved the ground for further

development of the building law and spatial planning regulations. Later on the FSPA

283

1965 gave the states an opportunity to establish a legal basis for state spatial planning.

281

See Geddes, P. (1915), pp. 192-198 for more details.

282

Fluchtliniengesetz

283

Raumordnungsgesetz

144

5.1.1. Regional planning; German interpretation

Regional planning in Germany is understood as a development balance tool guaranteeing a

fair and equivalent development across a state or between two or more states. “[It]

coordinates land use matters of supra-local interest transcending municipal boundaries.”

284

It is assumed as a tool of state spatial planning

285

and as the regional level of planning

within the states

286

287

Therefore, it is kind of smaller spatial planning for subdivisions

(regions) of a state to give more concrete definition of spatial structure, made for the whole

state, in its regional parts.

288

5.1.2. Objectives and tasks

The major tasks and objectives of regional planning in Germany, based on the ROG, deal

with local land use and landscape plans, regional development, and coordination of

regional policies with the spatial planning decisions of the states (Box 5.1).

Box 5.1: tasks and objectives of regional planning in Germany

Regional planning tasks in Germany are as follows:

- Prepare and update the regional plan,

- Integrate the landscape outline plan for the region into the regional plan,

- Advise urban land-use planning authorities and other public and private planning agencies,

- Collaborate in preparing and updating the state development plan and state sectoral

development plans,

284

Pahl-Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), p. 75.

285

Landesraumordnung

286

Landesplanung

287

See Schmitz, G. (2005), p. 965 for more details.

288

See Pahl-Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), p. 239 for more details.

145

- Engage in spatial planning proceedings,

- Collaborate in state sectoral planning,

- Take the initiative in regional policy to promote and develop the region,

- Cooperate with regional agencies for joint programmes.

Source: adapted from Schmitz, G. (2005), In: Pahl-Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), p. 75

The most common tasks of regional planning, here, deal with territorial issues of urban

centers in the region as well as settlement structure, open space structure, and

infrastructures.

289

5.1.3. Legal bases and structural organization

According to the FSPA (ROG) of 2008, each state (Land) should have a spatial plan and a

regional plan as part of it for all parts of the state.

290

The FSPA, as the legal basis, binds the

states, especially the ones embracing several urban centers, to prepare regional plans. “It

also requires the involvement of superordinate and subordinate tiers of planning in regional

planning in accordance with the “mutual feedback” principle.”

291

The spatial planning structure in Germany is divided into three levels of federal, state, and

local planning bodies. “Federal spatial planning is limited essentially to the development of

guiding principles and, principles of spatial planning which also provide the legal basis for

state spatial planning and superordinate specifications for sectoral planning. State spatial

planning gives concrete form at the state level to the federal principles of spatial planning,

while at the local level, final planning goals are developed in compliance with both federal

289

See Schmitz, G. (2005), In: Pahl-Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), p. 77 for more details.

290

See “Raumordnungsgesetz (ROG) (2008), article (abschnitt) 2, part (§) 8, clauses 1-2” for more details.

291

Pahl-Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), p. 76.

146

and state spatial planning specifications.”

292

The mutual feedback principle (Figure 5.1)

provides all members of the spatial planning and implementation circle with the possibility

of participating in decision making processes. It pays also attention to the public

participation and adaptation of their ideas into the regional and local plans.

Figure 5.1: the structure of regional planning system in Germany

Source: adapted from Deutscher Bundestag (2005), p. 257

292

See loc. cit., pp. 38-39.

147

Figure 5.2: preparation procedures of a regional plan

Source: adapted from Mertins, G. & Paal, M. (2009), p. 42

148

German political and planning structure represents a federal democratic system in which

the planning occurs in three different levels including the national, the federal land, and the

municipal level.

293

The federal government legitimizes the general spatial development

framework, and the planning and implementation takes place in the federal states (Länder)

and regions (BBR 2005). This is what Newman & Thornley (1996) call as a decentralized

decision-making system associated with the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of the 1949.

5.1.4. Planning regions

As mentioned earlier, the regions are formed where the states’ borders cross one or more

urban centers, so defining the planning regions and preparing the regional plans are the

tasks of the states. Therefore, planning regions differ in size and in planning contents

prepared for them.

294

That is also to mention that a planning region encompasses the

boundaries of some county-free cities and counties.

295

Nevertheless, the metropolitan

region planning is also recognized in Germany, as another type of units for regional

planning in practice, to deal with megacities and their surrounding areas forming a greater

network of cities and smaller settlements. There are more than 90 planning regions with

planning associations

296

in 16 states in Germany, some of which have been covered by the

metropolitan regions (Figure 5.4).

293

See Mertins, G. & Paal, M. (2009), p. 36 for more details.

294

See Pahl-Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), p. 76 for more details.

295

See loc. cit., p. 77 for more details.

296

Regionale Planungsverbände

149

Figure 5.3: 16 states in Federal Republic of Germany

Source: adapted from the OpenStreetMap 2017

150

Figure 5.4: metropolitan regions in Germany

Source: adapted from the OpenStreetMap 2017 and BBR Bonn 2010

151

5.1.5. State spatial and regional planning tools

The state spatial plans

297

and the regional plans

298

are the most important planning tools for

regional planning in Germany, which coordinate all programs and projects carried out by

local authorities with the final goals of state and federal spatial planning principles. There

have also been other tools set by the FSPA to safeguard the state spatial and regional

planning against the violation of procedural and formal requirements, to derogate from a

regional plan if the main goals of the regional plan are not affected, to prohibit specific

projects if they conflict with the spatial structure planning goals, and to adapt the spatial

significant plans to the goals of spatial planning through the observation of public

authorities.

299

The FSPA also requires the spatial and regional planning authorities to prove the supra-

local and regional aspects of regional significant plans and measures.

300

This procedure

301

is assumed as a coordination tool controlling the compliance of all regional plans with the

state spatial planning goals. Monitoring the spatial structures and plans, exchanging

information among all planning bodies on regional programs they carry out, reporting

actual and updated status of spatial affaires e.g. settlement structures and development

measures, and presenting them in the form of maps are other tools foreseen by the FSPA.

302

Beside all these formal planning tools, there are also some informal tools supplementing

the process of reaching spatial planning goals. The informal tools include state spatial

development plans and instruments if they have no statutory binding forces, and they can

be used focusing on specific problems without any binding requirements.

303

The regional

297

Such as state development plan (Landesentwicklungsplan), state spatial structure programme

(Landesraumordnungsprogramm), and state development programme (Landesentwicklungsprogramm). Pahl-

Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), p. 44.

298

Such as regional plan (Regionalplan), regional spatial structure programme (Regionales

Raumordnungsprogramm – RROP), and area development plan (Gebietsentwicklungsplan). See loc. cit.

299

See loc. cit., pp. 44-45 for more details.

300

See “Raumordnungsgesetz (ROG) (2008), article (abschnitt) 2, part (§) 15, clauses 1-2” for more details.

301

Raumordnungsverfahren (ROV)

302

See Pahl-Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), pp. 45-46 for more details.

303

See loc. cit., p. 46 for more details.

152

development concepts, city networks, and contractual agreements on preparing and

implementing spatial structure plans are the examples of the informal tools.

304

5.2. Regional model projects

305

; climate adaptation in practice

5.2.1. Introduction

Today, the climate change is one of the most deciding factors in any spatial and regional

development planning. There are comprehensive research programs in Germany, which

have been dealing with this issue, in three levels of transnational cooperation in spatial

planning themes (INTERREG), spatial development strategies for climate change in

regional level (KlimaMORO), and local urban strategies for climate change in municipal

level (KlimaExWoSt). These model projects focus on how to protect the climate from

further damages resulting from fossil fuel combustion, and how to adapt the urban and

regional plans to the new climate conditions. Each program runs a wide range of topics

developed from the challenges of climate change impacts on the urban regions (Table 5.1).

Table 5.1: programs, model projects, and topics relating to the CC and CA in Germany

Program

Title / Model project

Topics

INTERREG

(transnational cooperation)

Future cities

Urban climates – analysis map in Arnheim

Livinggreen.eu

Livinggreen Lab

POWER cluster

Touring exhibition “Fascination Offshore”

Safecoast

Damage analysis on Nordsee (North Sea) coast

Bioenergy promotion

Sustainable use of Biomass in states and regions

of Ostsee (East Sea)

Longlife

Longlife design class 2010

LABEL

Flood risk management

304

See loc. cit. for more details.

305

Modellvorhaben

153

Adaptation to risks and climate change

RUBIRES

Making regional Biomass potential energetic

usable

CLISP

Adaptation to climate change through spatial

planning in Alpine

AdaptAlp

Integrated risk management in Alpine

KlimaMORO

(regional level)

Vorpommern

Adaptation to the coastal dynamics

Safeguarding regional groundwater resources

Havelland-Fläming

Water control in Havelniederung

Wind severe events

Westsachsen

Climate change – strategies in Colditzer Forest

Vulnerability analysis for Westsachsen

Oberes Elbtal / Osterzgebirge

Regional consensus making, strategy for forest

increase and development as an example

Further development of the regional plan

Mittel- and Südhessen

Municipal action guideline for settlement climate

Devastating floods – relevant to regional

planning?

Mittlerer Oberrhein /

Nordschwarzwald

Comprehensive and interdisciplinary action

program

Problem specification through stakeholder

participation

Stuttgart

Heat and health in climate change

Climate information system for Stuttgart Region

Neumarkt / Oberpfalz

Klima NEU – extension of renewable energies

Participative development of cliamte adaptation

strategy

KlimaExWoS

(urban

strategies)

Climate change and severe weather events from the view point of spatial planning

in municipalities

Aachen City region

Climate compatible industrial and trade area

development

154

Bad Liebenwerda City

A city for feeling comfortable in climate change

Essen City

City faces climate change

Jena City

JenKAS – Jena climate and adaptation strategies

Karlsruhe Neighborhood

Association

Inner development versus climate comfort

Nürnberg City

Climate change adaptation strategy of Nürnberg

Regensburg City

UNESCO world heritage Old town – historic heat

reservoir

Saarbrücken City

Urban open space planning as field of action for

adaptation activities

Syke City

Responsible acting in climate chnage

Source: adapted from Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung (2010)

In this part of the current chapter, the Westsachsen regional model

306

, as one of the

KlimaMORO model projects, will be reviewed in order roughly to highlight the main

objectives of the project regarding the climate adaptation strategies and activities in the

region. The major reason why this region is spoken about here is that it receives the same

impacts of climate change as the TMR receives in Iran. The goal is to introduce a concrete

research and planning project pertaining to climate adaptation in a region in Germany and

to have an up-to-date regional planning model, the contents of which could be considered

for the future plans in the TMR. A detailed focus on the model project and a deep analysis

of its organizational processes is not aimed here.

306

Modellregion Westsachsen

155

5.2.2. Westsachsen; a regional model project

5.2.2.1. Geographic location

Centrally located in eastern part of Germany, the Westsachsen Region is the northwestern

part of the Sachsen Free State

307

and forms one of the four regional planning units in the

state. The Leipzig-Westsachsen regional planning association

308

is responsible for the

regional planning in the region and includes the city municipality of Leipzig

309

, Leipzig

administrative district

310

, and Nordsachsen administrative district

311

(Figure 5.5).

312

Figure 5.5: the location of Westsachsen Region in Sachsen Free State and in Germany

Source: adapted from the OpenStreetMap 2017 and the RPV Leipzig-Westsachsen

313

307

Freistaat Sachsen

308

Der Regionale Planungsverband Leipzig-Westsachsen

309

Kreisfreie Stadt Leipzig

310

Landkreis Leipzig

311

Landkreis Nordsachsen

312

RPV (Regionaler Planungsverband) Leipzig-Westsachsen, http://www.rpv-westsachsen.de/verband.html

accessed on 11.11.2014.

313

RPV Leipzig-Westsachsen, http://rpv-westsachsen.de/planungsregion/ accessed on 11.11.2014.

156

5.2.2.2. Structure of regional administration

Westsachsen Region as a regional planning unit has a regional planning association which

is a law-making body belonging to the public law, and directs the development activities in

the region. Having been established in 1992, this planning association comprises of city

municipality of Leipzig, Leipzig administrative district, and Nordsachsen administrative

district as body members, different committees as well as consulting members (see table

5.2). The policies and decisions made by the regional planning association are implemented

by the “regional planning authorities”

314

315

The supervision over the tasks of the

association is run by the higher spatial planning authority, namely the “ministry of the

interior in Saxony State”

316

317

314

Regionale Planungsstellen

315

Adapted from the official homepage of Leipzig-Westsachsen Planning Association at http://rpv-

westsachsen.de/der-regionale-planungsverband-leipzig-westsachsen/organisation/ on 20.04.2016.

316

Sächsisches Staatsministerium des Innern

317

See loc. cit.

157

Table 5.2: overview of the organizational bodies in Leipzig-Westsachsen planning association

City members

Regional planning association bodies

Consulting

members

Municipality of

Leipzig

administrative

district

Nordsachsen

administrative

district

Association assembly

Association

assembly

10 consulting

members

Dean of association

1. Representative

2. Representative

Planning committee

Brown coals

committee

Planning committee

2 consulting

members

Brown coals

committee

10 consulting

members

Association administration

Regional planning agency

Source: adapted from Leipzig-Westsachsen Planning Association homepage

318

http://rpv-westsachsen.de/der-regionale-planungsverband-leipzig-westsachsen/organisation/ accessed on

20.04.2016.

158

5.2.2.3. Climate

Westsachsen Region belongs to the warm and humid climate zone of middle latitudes with

a mild winter and not very hot summer.

319

The region can be subdivided into two major

climatic areas including sub continental lowland climate and sub continental hill land

climate of northwest and middle Sachsen.

320

Table 5.3: significant climatic data of Westsachsen Region before and after 1961

Time period

Mean annual temperature

Annual precipitation

1864-1920

8.7° C

603 mm

1901-1950

8.9° C

545 mm

1961-1990

9.1° C

512 mm

Source: adapted from Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 19

5.2.2.4. Objectives

Westsachsen Region

321

would, based on the climate projections, be facing the problems of

temperature increase, precipitation decrease, and decline in fresh water supply at the end of

current century. The main challenge here is the changes to be made to and new strategies to

be fed into the regional plans and policies based on the new climatic conditions. In other

words, the future regional plans should be adapted to the new climatic conditions of the

region. Therefore, the main objective of this model project is to conduct a regional spatial

strategic plan matching the climate change impacts.

322

In the earlier phases, the major task

of the model project is to measure the vulnerability of natural and urban environments in

the region against higher temperature, heavy rainfalls, and floods and surface water as well

319

See Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 17 for more details.

320

See BFT (1972); In Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 17 for more details.

321

Western Saxony Region

322

See Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung (2010), p. 49 for more details.

159

as to estimate the vulnerability of the region in terms of restrictions on the land use and

fresh water supply imposed by the climate change impacts.

5.2.2.5. Climate projections

Measuring the vulnerability of the region against climate conditions is basically based on

the climate projections and requires a record-based climate analysis in which a long term

climatic values e.g. temperature and precipitation rates are available and comparable. In

this respect, the climatic characteristics of Westsachsen Region before 1961, from 1961 to

1990, and from 1991 to 2005 have been considered. Accordingly, the climate projections

for the time period of 2041 to 2050 and 2091 to 2100 have been predicted. Interestingly,

the first climate trend showing the real changes has appeared from 1991 to 2005 not earlier.

The second requirement for the future climate projections is to anticipate the way the

energy would be used in the future, as it has been the most important factor affecting the

climate so far. In Westsachsen model project there have been three possible scenarios

considered for the future development schemes and energy usage (Box 5.2).

Box 5.2: three possible scenarios for development schemes and energy usage affecting the climate

- (Scenario B1) Optimal scenario with a CO₂ reduction in the second half of 21st century,

- (Scenario A1B) estimates the balanced use of fossil and non-fossil energy sources in the

future, and

- (Scenario A2) pessimistic scenario predicating an economic-oriented development with a

constant increase in CO₂ emissions till the end of 21st century.

Source: adapted from Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 20

160

The climate projections for Westsachsen Region warn of heat waves as well as water

shortage in the upcoming decades. “While the average summer temperature in the time

period from 2091 to 2100 will increase up to 3° C, a decrease of up to 15 percent in

precipitation is also forecasted.”

323

Therefore, it is necessary to find out what impacts the

climate change has on different elements of the regional environment. “Here, the

vulnerability of individual impacted factors such as water balance, agriculture, traffic, cities

and trade must be taken into account.”

324

Hence, the regional impacts of the climate change on Westsachsen Region are considered

in three major categories as follows:

325

- Increasing heat waves in summertime,

- Increasing the risk of heavy rainfalls and flash floods, and

- Reducing the water supply capacities in summertime.

The vulnerability analyses are, then, carried out for the whole region as a basis for further

recommendations to be taken into account in preparing the future regional plans as well as

the conduction of any regional development activity.

326

323

See loc. cit.

324

Stock, M. (2010); In Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung (2010), p. 6.

325

See Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung (2010), p. 49 for more details.

326

See loc. cit. for more details.

161

Figure 5.6: projections for temperature change for time periods of 2041-2050 and 2091-2100 based

on the mean yearly temperature records from 1961-2005 in Westsachsen, considering all three

scenarios

Source: adapted from Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 28

As the figure 5.6 shows, the mean yearly temperature in Westsachsen Region would

increase in the middle and the end of the 21st century. The mean yearly temperature

increases up to 3° C in lowlands and up to 2.5 ° C in hill lands if the optimal development

scenario (B1) could be realized. But, if the pessimistic scenario is realized the lowlands

would have about 3.5° C and the hill lands would experience over 3° C by the end of 2090

decade.

162

Figure 5.7: projections for precipitation change for time periods of 2041-2050 and 2091-2100 based

on the mean yearly precipitation records from 1961-2005 in Westsachsen, considering all three

scenarios

Source: adapted from Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 34

The figure 5.7 also highlights the impacts of the development scenarios, with more or less

CO₂ release on the mean yearly precipitation rates in the region. If the scenario B1 (CO₂

reduction) could be the case, the mean precipitation decreases only up to -10 mm in

lowlands and to -55 in hill lands. Nevertheless, if the scenario A2 (constant increase in CO₂

emissions) remains the case, the mean precipitation decreases up to -50 in lowlands and to -

80 in hill lands.

163

5.2.3. Vulnerability analysis in Westsachsen Region

The vulnerability analysis deals with the reactions of the natural and living environments in

the region against the changes of the climate and its environmental impacts. The model

project Westsachsen Region has, along with its climate studies and projections for the

coming decades, investigated the vulnerability of the region against concrete impacts of the

new climate conditions in order to recommend adaptation strategies for the future planning

contents. The conceptual framework for the analysis comprises of four topics including the

climate-related risk factors posed by the climate change impacts, the sensitive natural

elements and social groups which could be affected by those risks, the capacities for

impacts reduction, and also the risks and hazards arisen as a result of the vulnerability of

the region against the risk factor (Figure 5.8).

Figure 5.8: conceptual framework for the vulnerability analysis – Westsachsen Region

Source: adapted from Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), pp. 43-140

164

There have been various risk factors identified and the vulnerability of the region against

them has been analyzed. The major risk factors are as follows:

327

- Heat waves and yearly number of the hot days,

- Heavy rainfalls,

- Flash floods and surface water,

- Decline in water supply in summertime,

- Vulnerability of land use against the climate change, and

- Vulnerability of the cultural landscape in the region.

5.2.3.1. Vulnerability against heat waves

The heat wave means “a period of at least three days where the combined effect of excess

heat and heat stress is unusual with respect to the local climate. Both maximum and

minimum temperatures are used in this assessment.”

328

The vulnerability against heat

waves refer, then, to the vulnerability of the region against the increasing yearly mean

temperature as well as the increasing number of the hot days with the temperature of more

than 30° C in a year.

329

The number of the hot days in a year has been considered as an

indicator to assess the risks of the heat waves in the region.

330

Moreover, the sensitivity of

both natural and manmade environments was taken into account.

331

The main adaptation

capacities considered here are the cold and fresh air runoff pathways as well as the

radiating function of green spaces within and outside the urban areas, in terms of producing

fresh air and neutralizing the heat effects.

332

Based on the results of this analysis, the most

327

See Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), pp. 43-140 for more details.

328

Nairn, J., Fawcett, R. (2013), p. 13.

329

See Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 43 for more details.

330

See loc. cit., p. 44 for more details.

331

See loc. cit. for more details.

332

See loc. cit., p. 45 for more details.

165

vulnerable areas in the region are the urban areas with higher densities e.g. Leipzig City

and other urban centers in northern parts of the region.

333

5.2.3.2. Vulnerability against heavy rainfalls

Schmidt and others (2011) conclude

334

in the Westsachsen model project that:

- heavy rainfall event means a day with more than 55 mm rainfall,

- heavy rainfalls happen more often in the summertime,

- there have been a heavy rainfall trend from 1991 to 2005, and

- more investigation is needed to predict how often and how strong the heavy

rainfalls could occur in the future.

The vulnerability of the regional environment against heavy rainfall events explains the

relationships amongst the exposition of the regional environment to the heavy rainfall, its

sensitivity to the water erosions caused by it, and its capacity of adaptation to the risk

factors of changing climate.

“The water erosion exposition and the soil retention capacity have been taken into account

for the vulnerability analysis [of the Westsachsen Region] against heavy rainfalls.”

335

The

heavy rainfall events contribute significantly to an increased removal of the soil, and the

sensitivity to the water erosion is a fundamental part of the spatial and landscape

planning.

336

This sensitivity could be caused by the natural and land use factors. The land’s

slope grade and orientation together with the volume of the rainfall and its duration are the

333

See loc. cit., p. 46 for more details.

334

They have reviewed the works of Feske (2009), Küchler (2005), Enke (2003), SMUL (2008), and Stock

(2003) and cited in the model project’s report.

335

See loc. cit., p. 70.

336

See loc. cit., p. 62 for more details.

166

natural factors and the vegetation coverage especially on the farms and green spaces belong

to the land use elements.

337

The capability of the soil in percolating rainwater defines its retention capacity. The low

retention capacity of the soil is assumed as a reason behind the water erosion and other

risks of heavy rainfalls e.g. flash floods. Therefore, “the climate change impacts, affecting

the groundwater renewal processes and increasing the risk of floods, could be intensified

with a lower retention capacity of the soil.”

338

5.2.3.3. Vulnerability against flood

The surface water in the form of flood or other overwhelming phenomena can easily

destroy the built environment in terms of buildings and urban infrastructures. Therefore, it

is essential to be able to predict such phenomena to undertake preventive actions. On the

other hand, the uncertainty of such predictions is high and it is difficult to base them on the

climate projections. Hence, for the Westsachsen model project, the current and available

data have been considered for the future predictions. Based on the available data, more

volumes of rainfalls both in summer and winter seasons are projected in Westsachsen

Region, but the risks of floods will not increase in winter.

339

The sensitive elements against floods are residential and commercial buildings, physical

and social infrastructures, and transportation facilities. In Westsachsen model project, the

sensitivity analysis has focused on the socio-economic infrastructures which are critical for

the whole region and would negatively affect a large number of inhabitants in the region in

case of destruction (Box 5.3).

340

337

See loc. cit., p. 62 for more details.

338

See loc. cit., p. 64.

339

See loc. cit., p. 75 for more details.

340

See loc. cit., p. 76 for more details.

167

Box 5.3: high sensitive facilities and infrastructures against flood in Westsachsen model project

- residential and mixed-functional areas,

- water supply and water operating plants serving more than 2,000 inhabitants,

- water supply areas (water supply wells and sources in drink water protection zone

I),

- regionally important roads and transportation paths,

- over regional and nationwide important roads,

- regionally important railway lines,

- over regional important railway lines,

- high-voltage power lines, and

- commercial areas with potential regional importance (more than 3 ha)

Source: adapted from Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 76

The adaptation capacity regarding the floods deals with the damage reduction pertaining

especially to the facilities and objects polluting the surface water e.g. sewage treatment

plants, in case of being covered by the flood, as well as to the industrial locations with

material hazardous to the health.

341

Based on the model project’s report, the socio-economic vulnerability of the region has

been concluded through blending the sensitivity of the land use, objects, and infrastructures

341

See loc. cit., p. 77 for more details.

168

with the natural environment exposition.

342

Then, the concentration of objects, facilities,

and sensitive areas have been analyzed under the title of density analysis in ArcGIS

software and with the help of Kernel-Density analysis methods in order to discover

regional important concentration areas to recommend special protection strategies for

them.

343

“The concentrated areas with very high socio-economic vulnerability are located

in Muldenaue and Elbaue in Torgau.”

344

5.2.3.4. Vulnerability against decline in water supply in summertime

One of the possible results of temperature increase is the faster evaporation of surface

water, which could cause dry seasons to occur and also affect the groundwater resources’

level and availability. This together with a decrease in mean yearly precipitation for the

upcoming decades brings about a shortage of fresh water supply. In Westsachsen model

project, the climatic water balance has been considered as an indicator in order to predict

the risks of dry seasons. The climatic water balance in this region is characterized by a

shortage of water availability in the summertime with a simultaneous temperature increase,

as the climate projections for 2091 to 2100 highlight.

345

The model project considers the less flowing water as a factor decreasing the quality of

water and warns of a high sensitivity of surface water against the climate change

impacts.

346

This sensitivity considers the naturally imposed conditions to the surface water

in the region in terms of flowing water and standing water basins. Although, the higher

sensitivity against silting up and dry up goes to the backwater basins currently having less

depth, but the general sensitivity endangers also the temporary water bodies, small lakes,

ponds, water basins, perennial ponds, and natural dystrophic peat waters.

347

Another form

of sensitivity of the flowing, standing, and groundwater is the one posed by the intensive

342

See loc. cit. for more details.

343

See loc. cit. for more details.

344

See loc. cit., p. 78.

345

See loc. cit., p. 84 for more details.

346

See loc. cit., p. 85 for more details.

347

See loc. cit., p. 86 for more details.

169

usage of these resources. This model project warns also of the increasing sensitivity of

water resources by using in drink, industrial, mining, and agricultural sectors.

Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011, pp. 87-89) conclude in their project report that the

vulnerability of the region against a decline in water supply in summertime is understood as

the vulnerability of the flowing and standing surface water, which is interrelated with the

average low water, sensitive flowing water types, and impacts of the water use.

5.2.4. Recommendations for action

The vulnerability analyses are used as information base for further analysis of sensitive

activities and adaptive capacities of potentially affected spatial functions in the region.

348

The model project Westsachsen Region completes its vulnerability analyses with planning

strategic guidelines in general and recommendations in two categories including formal

regional planning procedures and informal activities of other regional actors.

349

Table 5.3

highlights a brief description of those strategic guidelines prepared for different parts of the

region based on the vulnerability analysis results.

350

Table 5.4: guidelines and recommendations for future regional plans in Westsachsen Region

Topic

Results of vulnerability analysis

Strategic guidelines recommended

Vulnerability against

heat waves

Parts of the region with high and

very high vulnerability against the

heat waves

Increasing the proportion of climatic

comfort islands in the designated

areas especially creating new urban

348

See BMVBS (2011), p. 28 for more details.

349

See Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), p. 182 for more details.

350

There was no report published yet highlighting the practical results of the implementation of these

guidelines at the time the present study is concluded.

170

forestry or climate and ecologic

oriented greenery as well as

designing for derelict/vacant lands.

Vulnerability against

heavy rainfalls

Parts of the region with high and

very high water erosion

disposition

- Conservative cultivation,

- crops with erosion-

decreasing capacity,

- Catch crops cultivation,

- Enrichment of the fields

with erosion-decreasing

materials,

- Changing land use, in steep

slope agricultural lands, into

forests and green spaces

within high vulnerability

areas.

Parts of the region with high and

very high retention potential

- Securing available forests,

and

- Increasing retention quality

in pure stands through forest

conversion.

Parts of the region with low and

very low retention potential

- Rain water management in

urban areas and deliberately

freeing impervious land lots

which are no more in use,

and

171

- Increasing the proportion of

forests, greeneries, and

woodlands (creating long-

term land coverage by

plants).

Vulnerability against

flood

Parts of the region with high and

very high protection needs against

flood (socio-economic

vulnerability)

- Special protection of critical

infrastructures and existing

urban settlements, and

- Dike relocation and

increasing the retention

capacity in flood areas.

Parts of the region with high and

very high protection needs against

flood

Issuing no more buildings and land

use permissions with socio-

economic vulnerability or with

conflict potential in flood areas.

Parts of the region with high and

very high conflict potential

against flood

Removing existing hazards

especially silo installations and

industrial units with dangerous

materials in flood areas.

Vulnerability against

a decline in water

supply in

summertime

Parts of the region with high and

very high vulnerability against a

decline in water supply

- Taking measures to water

retention in affected

catchment areas,

complementary and

selective measures to

increase the proportion of

woodlands (increasing low

water flow through

172

simultaneous decrease of

total runoff and balanced

flowing conditions),

- Avoiding/reducing the

concentration of water

wasting functions in

affected catchment areas

(for example, cumulative

resources extraction, water

exploitation, irrigation, and

water wasting crops),

- Taking measures to water

retention in concentrated

parts of shallow water

bodies, and

- Adapted surface water

usages.

Source: adapted from Schmidt, C., Seidel, A. et al (2011), pp. 183-186

5.2.5. Conclusions

The recommendations resulted from the climate projections and vulnerability analyses are

taken into consideration in future development projects in the region. The climate

projections and vulnerability analyses in Westsachsen Region have proved the high risks of

heat waves, floods, heavy rainfalls, and shortage in water supply in summertime in

upcoming decades. Therefore, the plan making and implementation bodies are bound to

match their plans and development projects with the recommended guidelines.

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6. Discussions and Results

Chapters 2 and 3 presented the regional planning concepts and its evolution as well as the

development planning system in Iran in different levels together with the legal bases for the

energy efficiency and environmental protection issues in the national and local levels.

Chapter 4 reviewed the case of TMRP as a regional plan in Iran to put it under the

magnifying glass and look for the energy efficiency and environmental considerations with

respect to the climate protection. Chapter 5 presented the structure of regional planning in

Germany and illustrated the case of Westsachsen Region as a good example in dealing with

climate relevant problems and vulnerabilities.

The present chapter reviews one more time the research questions posed at the beginning of

this study and tries to answer them based on the analysis results and conclusions of the

above mentioned chapters.

The research questions considered in this study are as follows:

1. What are the impacts of national energy efficiency regulations on current regional

planning model for Tehran Region?

2. What regional planning model is currently being considered for Tehran Region and

how this planning model deals with the energy efficiency and climate change

impacts on the region?

3. Could the policies and approaches of an international good example be localized

and applied in Tehran Metropolitan Region Plan in Iran?

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6.1. Regional planning in Iran

The development planning system in Iran, as presented in chapter 2, pays more attention to

the national physical and spatial development plans and to the local and county level

development schemes, namely master and detailed plans, so the regional level planning as a

moderate level of development has, in terms of smaller regions e.g. in the level of a

province, not been enough practiced. Although the scientific background of regional

planning is strong among the academics and also some officials and experts in local

organizations, but the centralized development and budgetary system of the country does

not give any room to the regional and metropolitan plans to get realized.

In this situation, a regional plan like the TMRP remains only as a range of regional studies

not as a higher-level planning measure binding the counties and local towns to follow a

doable guideline conducting a balanced development framework throughout the region.

The absence of a regional planning agency or a regional unit with strong authority, able to

bind the local municipalities to run their development plans in line with the development

priorities of the region, is another weakness of the planning system in Iran.

6.2. Legal bases for energy efficiency and environmental protection

The legal bases for energy efficiency and climate protection do exist in Iran’s development

planning system. All the acts referring to the protection of water, air, soil, and green areas

function as a roadmap on the way of reducing fossil fuel consumption and CO₂ production.

The issue of energy efficiency is not a new topic or a new trend in development plans in

Iran, but it is mostly considered as a sectoral task for the responsible organizations. There

have been lots of activities carried out by different public actors in housing, transportation,

industrial, and social sectors e.g. controlling the buildings construction via construction

regulations and codes, replacing natural gas as a major energy carrier in all energy

consumption sectors, educational programs for children in the schools and also via visual

175

media, developing electric subway and railways within and between highly populated

urban areas, and producing hybrid and dual-firing vehicles.

These examples show that the public awareness of the energy usage and its impacts on the

environment has increased over the past decades in Iran. But, the responsible actor

organizations act independently, and this creates a policy gap among them in terms of

action priorities and projects and also brings about parallel works, as they follow the same

national policies with less coordination. Whereas, this does not deny the effectiveness of

the national regulations and the efforts of those organizations because the statistics on CO₂

emissions per capita in Iran, between 2000 and 2012, show a very little increase in CO₂

emissions despite a tremendous increase in vehicle per capita as well as in the total number

of motor vehicles in the country (see sections 3.8.4. and 3.9.). The energy transition from

fossil fuel to the natural gas in residential, transportation, and industrial consumption types

are one of the most important reasons behind the little increase in CO₂ emissions in a

decade to 2012.

6.3. Tehran Metropolitan Region plan

As a new planning category, the metropolitan region plan was introduced and started for

former Tehran Province in 1990s to deal with the problem of informal settlements and

environmental pollutions. Having divided the whole former Tehran Province into 8 urban

zones excluding Tehran City, the TMRP aimed at redistributing the population of the

province among the urban zones based on their capacities and at developing the road

networks and reforming the public transport system. The creation of new greeneries and the

development of urban forests, to neutralize the urban heat island effects, were also other

approaches of the TMRP in land use planning sector. According to the TMRP, all these

approaches were to be realized through two prerequisite major tools, which should be first

created, namely the integrated development management unit for the populated part of the

TMR and the housing council for low-income households in the MHUD (see section 4.7.).

The creation of an integrated development management unit for the whole province meant

176

to merge some of the municipalities of the smaller counties to bring them under the

umbrella of the recommended 8 urban zones. This was the beginning point of the conflicts

among the municipalities and also between municipalities and the MHUD, as the municipal

units did not want to lose their authority over their budgets and territories. Therefore, the

outcomes of the plan were neglected because of the local planning hierarchies in the level

of towns and counties and of the existing conflicts among the local municipalities (see

section 4.8.).

Reviewing the TMRP and its preparatory phases also reveals that the whole process of

planning has taken a long period of 8 years from the early constitutional steps to the

approval of the plan due to the bureaucratic and interorganizational problems. This shows a

very slow-running procedure of plan-making, which together with the regularly changing

managers in many parts of the management system put lots of barriers on the way of

planning and implementation.

6.3.1. Energy efficiency in the TMRP

Currently there are a variety of regional planning schemes and strategies in different urban

and regional development systems in many countries of the world. But what is really

important is the extent to which those strategies refer to the climate change and climate

protection aspects, which are currently the global problematic and critical issues, and the

level of efficiency up to which they perform. As concluded in chapter 4, the TMRP is a

regional plan which deals with the energy efficiency and climate protection issues

indirectly and in the form of reformations in land use planning policies, development of

transportation networks and facilities, and creation of new green spaces in the metropolitan

region together with the development of existing greeneries. All these approaches have

been planned as to respond to the problem of informal settlements, in and around Tehran

City, and to the environmental pollutions resulted from that. Therefore, these approaches

have not been planned based on the problem identifications relevant to the climatic changes

affecting the region, e.g. droughts, mean precipitation decrease, or mean temperature

177

increase during recent decades, but based on the environmental pollutions caused by the

population congestion and roads network insufficiency.

6.4. Westsachsen Region; a climate adaptive regional model

Based on the climate projections, Westsachsen Region would confront with more hot days

and less precipitation at the end of current century. According to the climate projections

resulted from the comparison of climate records of the last decades, this region would be up

to 3° C warmer and have up to 15 percent less precipitation during the period of 2091 to

2100. These changes would bring about the higher risks of heat waves and decline in

freshwater supply in summertime as well as of heavy rainfalls and floods in the region.

The reactions of the natural and living environment against these changes have been

considered in vulnerability analyses carried out by the regional planning association in

Westsachsen. The risk factors of the climate change impacts and the sensitivity of the

natural and social environments together with the capacities for impact reduction and the

risks caused by the vulnerabilities of the region against the risk factors are the major

themes of the conceptual framework for the analysis. The model project Westsachsen has

made some recommendations based on the results of vulnerability analysis.

The core area of the recommendations include the development of urban forestry,

conservative cultivation, enrichment of the fields with erosion-decreasing materials,

increasing retention quality of the soil, rain water management, protection of infrastructures

and existing settlements against flood, and adapted usage of the surface water (Table 5.4).

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6.5. Critical comparison

6.5.1. Fundamental differences

Regional planning in Germany is understood as a tool of development coordination within

and among the regions in a state as well as regions located between two or more different

states. The FSPA binds all the states to prepare a state spatial plan and a regional plan for

the regions with more urban centers. These plans follow similar development policies in

urban centers based on the local capacities. The most important outcome of this planning

system would, automatically, be a balanced development in central places across a region

in terms of physical and social infrastructures. Those central places could be located in a

region within a single state or cross the borders of several states. But the regional planning

in Iran in terms of metropolitan region plan, as of for Tehran Province, inherently, isolates

a province from the neighbor provinces and looks at a province as a single unit of

metropolitan region to be planned for. In case of TMRP, there was very little attention paid

to the urban centers as to develop the physical infrastructure within their core and

surrounding areas and the development policies had focused mostly on population

redistribution.

In addition, the structure of regional planning and implementation in Germany gives the

possibility of participation to all local and regional actors including the public agencies to

take part in the plan-making processes (see section 5.1.3.). The existence of regional

planning associations

351

, in some states, is another significant characteristic of this planning

system because the planning associations could make regional plans themselves too. This

brings about a unity in local and regional plans and binds the local authorities to follow the

guidelines of the plan in all development activities. Whereas, the metropolitan planning

framework in Iran was based on a single act

352

(see section 4.5.) ratified to resolve some

specific problems in Tehran Province and devolved the plan-making process to an external

351

Regionale Planungsverbände

352

Planning and management of Tehran Metropolitan Region and the country’s other large cities and their

suburbs act of 1995.

179

planning body, whose final approaches were neglected by the local municipalities despite

the approval by the HCUDA and cabinet of ministers.

The FSPA in Germany requires all the states to have spatial and regional plans and flexibly

grants them the freedom to match the plans to their political and management structure no

matter which political division or structure they have. For example, in Mecklenburg-

Western Pomerania the state administrative authorities could be responsible for the spatial

planning, but in Brandenburg the local government in the form of regional planning

associations could be in charge of the regional planning.

353

The flexibility and inclusion

together with the mandatory and binding nature of the regulations give the states the room

to practice their own spatial planning programs in line with the federal spatial planning

policies. But the development regulations pertaining to the regional planning in Iran are

mostly problem-based movements meaning that whenever there has been a need for

planning in a region in the country, the cabinet of ministers or later on the HCUDA have

ratified a bill and passed the duty to the planning sectors, which were not necessarily any

part of the target region, to prepare a regional plan. This has been proved several times for

Tehran Province as well as for Eṣfahān, Širāz, Mašhad, and Tabriz. These plans have been

prepared by consulting engineers firms and are supposed to be implemented by the local

governments. Although the MRPs are approved by the deputy minister for architecture and

urban development in the MRUD, but there are lots of barriers on the way of their

implementation. These barriers include the variety of plans in local municipalities, namely

the master and the detailed plans binding the municipalities to follow the guidelines,

existing conflicts among the local municipalities due to the political and budgetary

priorities, and the lack of formal and organizational bases for the acceptance of the MRP’s

recommendations.

353

See Pahl-Weber, E., Henckel, D. (eds.) (2008), p. 76 for more details.

180

6.5.2. Climate adaptation

Climate studies and vulnerability analyses are parts of an up-to-date regional planning

model today. Another factor differentiating the two regional planning models in the TMR

and Westsachsen Region is the existence of these analyses and the attention of regional

planning association in Westsachsen Region to this phenomenon. Taking the impacts of the

climate change on the region very seriously, the regional planning association has also

recognized the vulnerable parts of the natural environment as well as social groups against

the long-term impacts of the climate change and has also tried to recommend appropriate

approaches. All these approaches would be taken into account in the processes of updating

the regional plans in the future, and bind the local actors to act accordingly. But in the

TMR there is no little attention paid to the climate change impacts on the region. Although

the plan belongs to the last two decades, but there have also been no updates in this respect

during the recent years. Whereas, the TMR suffers from the negative impacts of the climate

change and the situation could get worse in the near future and increase the vulnerabilities

of different natural and social elements (Table 6.1). For example, many of the metropolitan

regions in Iran, including TMR, have been facing fresh water shortages and limitations on

water supply in residential, industrial, and agricultural sectors in recent years. The volume

of the surface water in the form of lakes and stagnant watersheds have also declined in

different parts of the country, namely in Orumiya Lake in northwest, Hāmun Lake in

southeast, and Baḵtegān Lake in south of Iran.

Another difference in the field of climate studies in both case studies is the manner of

dealing with the impacts of climate change. In case of Westsachsen Region, the main

orientation is the climate adaptation planning meaning that the region should get ready for

the further changes of the climate and have conscious planning and implementation tools

according to the impacts of the climate change. Whereas, in case of TMRP, the little

attention paid indirectly to the issue of energy efficiency is assumed as an attempt to

mitigate the climate and reduce the emissions of fossil fuel usage.

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Table 6.1: current and future vulnerabilities of the natural and social environments in the TMR

against the climate change impacts

Climate change impacts

Vulnerability

Mean yearly precipitation decrease

Critical shortage in water supply

Heavy rainfalls

Flashfloods

Mean yearly temperature increase

Number of the days with more than 30° C in a year

Source: own conclusions

6.6. Facilitators and inhibiting features on energy efficiency purposes in the TMRP

6.6.1. Central decision-making

There is a wide gap between the urban management executive bodies e.g. all the local

municipalities and local governors in the region and the ministerial organizations carrying

out the energy efficiency and environmental policies (see figure 6.1, columns A and B). As

the figure shows, the regulations pertaining to the environmental protection and EE (see

section 3.8.2.) are designed by the law-makers and are passed to the ministries and national

executive organizations (column B). These ministries implement the policies in all

provinces and namely in all counties through their local administrations and representative

offices, as the level of implementation is the local county level. The ministries have a

sectoral nature and function, creating their own local branches throughout the country and

running a top-down decision-making and implementation structure through their local

representatives.

354

Therefore, the centralized policy-making and the sectoral

implementation framework make the urban management system more fragmented.

354

See Saeedi Rezvani, N., Kazemian, Gh. (2002), pp. 65-66 for more details.

182

6.6.2. Local urban management structure

Another inhibiting feature on EE in the TMRP is the local urban management structure.

There is no independent urban management organization in regional or provincial levels

and the existing units are the provincial bodies of the national organizations acting in the

province.

355

The municipalities and the provincial and county-level governors are also

examples of the top-down decision-making and implementation framework. They

implement the urban development plans based on the master, detailed, and conductive

plans as well as the decisions made by the commissions 5 and 13 of the municipalities and

county-level governors (column A). Therefore, the creation of the gap between the two

groups of the actors is, somehow, the direct outcome of the centralized management

system. It means that the ministries follow the national regulations and their own guidelines

in local level independently and their coordination with the municipalities is very low and

only to the level of small scale infrastructural projects. But the other large scale

development projects, which must be run according to the master and detailed plans, are the

task of the municipalities. In this situation, the energy efficiency and environmental

policies would be limited to the activities of the ministerial organizations and could not be

inserted to the large scale development plans conducted by the master and detailed plans.

Moreover, the master and detailed plans deal mostly with the land use policies in terms of

highlighting the future development priorities in a county or city, and do not necessarily

consider the energy efficiency of the physical developments.

355

See loc. cit., p. 82 for more details.

183

Figure 6.1: the gap in relationship among urban management bodies in the TMR

Source: adapted from Ghammami, M. et al (2007), p. 22

184

6.6.3. Lack of horizontal relations among local authorities

The cities in Iran are lacking a coherent and integrated urban management system, and all

the management units within them are merely functioning based on their own sectoral

guidelines with the lowest horizontal cooperation with other parts.

356

On the other hand, the

climate protection and the adaptation of regional plans to the climate change impacts and

the implementation of them requires multi-level governance in regional and local levels.

The multi-level governance is a framework which helps to understand the complicated

interactions between different levels of government through its vertical and horizontal

cooperation concepts in order to narrow the policy gap among all the levels and to improve

the implementation of policies related to the climate change.

357

Therefore, the gap between

the “A” and the “B” columns in the figure above must be bridged through a horizontal

linkage.

6.7. Conclusions

The TMR lacks an integrated urban management system which could be able to prepare

and implement a regional plan with the participation of all local municipalities throughout

the province. The major recommendation of the TMRP could also not be implemented due

to the organizational problems and legal bases (see sections 4.7. and 4.8.). Furthermore, the

absence of a comprehensive study relating to the climate change impacts on the region and

to the climate adaptation strategies to be taken into account in the TMRP shows that the

climate impacts and the adaptation strategies have been neglected in regional levels so far.

These deficits together with the lack of horizontal relations among governmental bodies in

local level bring about the necessity of reviewing the structural framework of urban

management system in TMR in order to find any legal possibility to insert the climate

considerations as well as to create a horizontal linkage among the local authorities.

356

See loc. cit., p. 134 for more details.

357

See OECD (2010), p. 172 for more details.

185

6.7.1. Capacities in local urban management bodies

There are several opportunities within urban management bodies in provincial level in

Tehran Province, which could potentially play the role of central policy-making and

decision-taking unit within the region as the first step towards the creation of integrated

urban management system. One of them is the province’s council of planning and

development, which is located in the governorate. This council is in charge of the decision-

taking in development planning for the province and also coordinates and monitors the

planning procedures in the province in line with the national development policies.

358

Another opportunity refers to the legal bases for preparation of a province-based as well as

cross provincial regional plans. The first one is the provincial development plan

document

359

which is suggested by the 4th 5-year development plan. This document is part

of the national territorial spatial plan, which should be prepared for the provinces and

should include the development priorities as well as the most important actions to

consider.

360

The climate change impacts on the regions and the policy adaptations to new

climatic conditions could be considered as particular important actions for the regions like

TMR and could be inserted into the development plans. The second opportunity in the form

of legal basis is the article 77 of the 4th 5-year development plan. This article allows the

government to regionalize the country based on the spatial planning viewpoints and to

create coordinative units in supra-provincial levels in order to coordinate the development

affairs between the provinces.

361

358

See Article 70 of the 3rd 5-year development plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran for more details.

359

The provincial development plan document is a strategic document identifying and defining the most

essential approaches towards population and manpower, the infrastructures and economic, social and

cultural as well as the long term and medium term quantitative and qualitative objectives for development of

the provinces within the framework of the macro-strategies of the fourth plan and the national

territorial/spatial plan documents and development plans and the national sector development plans in due

consideration of the potentialities, restrictions and the impediments towards provincial development. Section

B of the article 155, 4th 5-year development plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

360

See section C of the article 72 of the 4th 5-year development plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran for more

details.

361

See Article 77 of the 4th 5-year development plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran for more details.

186

6.7.2. Capacities in Department Of Environment (DOE)

The DOE in Iran could be another opportunity to carry out climate change impact analysis

in regional levels. The DOE, as a coordinative central organization

362

, is a deputy president

organization in charge of protecting the environment, and the dean of the organization

holds the vice presidency position in environment protection sector. The DOE has three

main deputies including marine environment, natural environment, and human

environment. Under the deputy of human environment, there are two offices responsible for

monitoring the air pollution and the climate change effects, namely the national climate

change office and the national center for air and climate change

363

(see section 3.8.3. and

figure 6.2). These two units are in charge of investigations on climate change impacts and

the vulnerability analyses as well as on air pollution and quality. The national climate

change office was established in 1998 in the DOE. The office submitted its first report on

climate change impacts and the vulnerability analyses of natural and social environments in

Iran to the UNFCCC in 2003 and its second report was submitted in 2010.

364

The center for

air and climate change is also in charge of setting standards for energy usage and its

pollutions, defining strategies in three sectors of air, noise, and energy, and also carrying

out studies on the new technologies related to the air pollution.

These two units in the DOE could be having the potential capability of playing more

pragmatic role in assessing the short and long term impacts of the new climate conditions

specific to the TMR. Another task which could be carried out by these two units are the

climate projections for upcoming decades in order to enable the vulnerability analysis for

natural and social environments, regarding the risk factors posed by the climate conditions,

in the TMR.

362

The government, as the executive body, is the administrative and executive macro system leading the

urban management bodies and consists of three major parts including ministries, coordinative central

organizations, and the municipalities. The coordinative central organizations are to coordinate sectoral

activities of the ministries and are in the level of vice presidency in the whole structure of government. See

Saeedi Rezvani, N., Kazemian, Gh. (2002), pp. 65-66 for more details.

363

This center is a subdivision of deputy of human environment in the DOE in Iran.

364

Adapted from the official homepage of the Department of Environment at

www.doe.ir/Portal/home/?120370/ on 10.02.2015.

187

Figure 6.2: organizational chart of the DOE

Source: adapted from the official homepage of the DOE

365

http://www.doe.ir/portal/Home/Default.aspx?CategoryID=2158e0bf-c2ba-4227-a155-9417c94cdf48

accessed on 20.04.2016.

188

6.7.3. Bridging the gap

Although the gap between the two groups of national and local authorities (see figure 6.1)

refers to the urban management issues, in terms of coordination of development policies

and priorities as well as organizational independency in local level, but the negligence of

climate considerations in the TMRP reveals also that there is a lack of cooperation between

plan-making local authorities and the organizations working on climate issues and research

institutes. The both gaps could be bridged by the DOE because, first, it is a coordinative

organization in its nature, and second, it has the capacities of dealing with climate related

investigations as well as vulnerability analyses for the TMR and other large metropolitan

areas in Iran.

6.7.3.1. New responsibilities

Planning procedures for climate adaptive regional development for the TMR should be

brought under a single umbrella. The centralization of plan-making for this region could

coordinate all the activities carried out by the local ministerial and municipal authorities

and narrow the gap mentioned above. As the figure 6.1 shows, the province’s council of

development and planning, as a capacity in urban management system, could act as the sole

coordinative unit in the TMR, playing the role of what the regional planning association in

Westsachsen Region in Germany plays. This council is headed by the governor-general in

Tehran Province and the legal bases giving the responsibility of coordination of

development plans to this council is the article 70 of the 3rd 5-year development plan. This

council could play the role of moderator among all local responsible authorities and bring

them together to unify their development priorities in line with the climate mitigation and

adaptation policies.

This council could make use of the provincial development plan document, legalized in

section C of the article 72 of the 4th 5-year development plan, as a tool guiding the

development policies in the province. It could also involve the DOE to carry out

189

investigations related to the climate change impacts on the region to be incorporated into

the planning priorities.

Figure 6.3: possible utilization of the existing legal and institutional capacities for CA strategies in

the TMR

Source: own design

190

6.7.3.2. New roles for the DOE

The scientific and comprehensive investigations into climate change impacts on the region

and the climate projections for the future are the tasks of DOE in Iran. The DOE is a

coordinative organization having the potential of acting between the ministerial units and

the urban management authorities in local level. This coordination refers mostly to the

environmental considerations and monitoring. The DOE, with its both offices namely the

national climate change office and the national center for air and climate change, could

play the role of leading unit carrying out climate related studies and recommending the

climate adaptive strategies to be taken into account in planning procedures for the region.

The specific action priorities for the DOE could include the investigations into the risk

factors, posed by the climate change, and the vulnerable natural and social elements against

them in the short term. The climate projections and the vulnerability analyses could also be

carried out in order to recommend adaptation policies for the long term.

6.7.4. Further research and open questions

The capacities mentioned in figure 6.3 and the possible new cooperation concept stated in

sections above could be deeply questioned. As this concept has been developed based on

the reviews made on the constitutional frameworks and the case study in Iran, it is more or

less a theoretical statement and like many other recommendations has an analytical

background and a desired future, so it does not claim the success of the concept in practice.

Furthermore and from the administrative and technical point of the view, further

investigations must be carried out if such a concept is going to be planned and

implemented. Therefore, a series of possible challenges on the way of implementing this

concept and a sort of open questions posed are shortly discussed here.

One of the challenges the province’s council of development and planning could be facing

is the local municipalities and the city master and detailed plans. Prioritizing the

development policies and getting all the local ministerial units’ agreement to those policies

191

could be another challenge of the council. Therefore, there are some thematic questions

open for further studies as follows:

- How should the term “coordination of regional development” be defined and what

features should it cover?

- How could the municipalities participate and what are they expected to contribute?

- How should the master and detailed plans, which lots of the cities in the region

possess, be integrated into the new form of regional planning coordination?

There would also be challenges on the way of involving the DOE in planning procedures.

The challenges here include the framework for the cooperation between the DOE and the

province’s council of development and planning as well as the incorporation of the

adaptation strategies into the regional development plans. Following are the questions

posed in this respect:

- How could the cooperation framework between the DOE and the council of

development and planning in Tehran Province be arranged?

- How would the climate adaptation strategies be incorporated into the TMRP or any

other plan in regional level?

- Should the climate adaptation strategies, recommended by the DOE, be binding for

the council and other actor bodies in the region?

192

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Appendix: Interview guidelines

General framework

Interviewing with related experts worked on the TMRP in public and private sectors was an

important tool to collect accurate information for the present study. The interviewees were

selected from the urban planning departments of the MRUD, local municipalities in Tehran

Province, the UPARC, the DOE, the MRMO, and the University of Tehran. The selection

criterion was the relevance of the department, in which the interviewee was engaged, to the

TMRP and the role of interviewee in different phases of the preparation of metropolitan

plan for Tehran Province from the early stages to the time of ratification. Some of the

interviewees have also not taken any part in planning phases but have rather witnessed the

results of the plan in terms of implementation. A question-based open-end discussion has

been employed for the interviews, following the main themes of research questions. All the

interviewees were visited several times during the data collection period for this study in

order to update the information and to discuss the new questions and challenges resulting

from the discussions with other interviewees.

Interviewees

The interviewees selected for the interviews belonged to three major sectors including the

public sector, private sector, and the research institutes and they have been listed below in

A, B, and C parts.

Topic coverage

The questions posed to the interviewees varied from the reasons behind the necessity of

preparing the TMRP to the quality of planning processes and the outcomes of the plan. The

structure of the questions and the relevance of each question to the interviewee were based

on the objectives of the interview. For example the interviewees in MRUD were asked

211

about the nature of the TMRP and what problems was it going to solve, its objectives, and

the topic coverage of the plan as well as the tools to implement the plan. They were also

asked about the importance of the energy efficiency concepts in the plan and if it had been

considered in the plan at all. On the other hand, the interviewees in the DOE were asked to

highlight the constitutional framework of the DOE and its functions pertaining to the

regional planning attempts in Tehran Province as well as to the TMRP. They were also

asked about the policy priorities of the DOE in dealing with the environmental pollutions

especially in Tehran Province. The relationship between the DOE and other public sector

organizations, responsible for development planning in Tehran Province, was another topic

included in the interviews.

The interviewee in the MRMO was asked about the function of his organization and the

relationship between the structure of the urban-rural connectivity – and the management

network functioning as a controlling tool monitoring the development plans in urban and

rural areas – and the objectives of the TMRP. Another topic discussed with the interviewee

in the MRMO was the challenges of implementation of the TMRP for the local actors and

how those challenges should be dealt with.

The main topics discussed with the interviewees in the governorship and the municipality

of Pākdašt County included the geographic and political divisions of the counties in the

province in terms of planning and development management. The existence of any kind of

bilateral projects or any coordination and cooperation among the counties was another topic

discussed with the interviewees.

The UPARC, as the responsible body for the preliminary and main studies of the TMRP,

was the major source for the contents of the TMRP, as it had run the whole phases of the

preparation of the plan. Together with the University of Tehran, the UPARC acted the role

of scientific partner for the author of this study and provided the author with the useful

documents and information.

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List of interviewees

A. Public sector

1. The MRUD

- Mr. Dr. Hanachee, former and current deputy minister for architecture and urban

development in the MRUD, 22.05.2012,

- Mrs. Parvand, office for physical planning in the MRUD, 17.05.2011,

- Mrs. Dr. Davoudpour, office for monitoring urban development plans, MRUD,

18.05.2011, and

- Mr. Ing. Mohammadian, office for national construction codes, the MRUD,

17.05.2011.

2. The DOE

- Mrs. Fariba Rezayi, Tehran Province department of environment, 14.05.2012, and

- Mr. Ahmad Ebrahimi, Tehran Province department of environment, 14.05.2012,

3. The MRMO

- Mr. Dr. Ali Iranshahi, the vice manager of inspection and monitoring dept., the

MRMO, 29.04.2012.

4. Governorship and Municipality of Pākdašt County

- Mr. Ing. Mohammad Reza Talebi, governorship of Pākdašt County, 15.06.2010,

- Mr. Ing. Abolfazl Najafi, governorship of Pākdašt County, 15.06.2010,

213

- Mr. Ing. Baybordian, municipality of Pākdašt County, 24.06.2010, and

- Mr. Ing. Samiei, municipality of Pākdašt County, 24.06.2010.

B. Private sector

1. The UPARC

- Mr. Ing. Sepehri, head of the center, 13.05.2012,

- Mrs. Ing. Nasiri, head of the archive center, 13.05.2012, and

- Mr. Dr. Saeid Izadi, board of managers, 19.05.2012.

C. Research institutes

1. University of Tehran

- Mr. Dr. Mehdi Azizi, head of the faculty of fine arts, University of Tehran,

10.05.2011,

- Mr. Dr. Asadi, University of Tehran, 11.05.2011, and

- Mr. Dr. Qader Ahmadi, University of Tehran, 11.05.2011.