our proposed uRespond concept sketches for the “random hacks of kindness” event

simple rapid user input

mapping of local user updates

current emergency response protocol

tehran’s minor earthquake on saturday

Tehran experienced a minor earthquake (Richter magnitude 4) on Saturday at 2:23 pm local time (http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=205750). It seems that most Tehranies felt this shake. There is now a widespread fear of aftershocks and possibly bigger earthquakes due to more activities on the Eivanaki fault in southeast Tehran. Since information on the historical activity of this fault seems to be limited, it is difficult to make accurate probabilistic predictions on the likelihood of an aftershock. But it is certainly possible and quite likely to have another earthquake soon (not necessarily related to this particular fault movement). Tehran sits on major active faults and suffers from a large seismic risk due to fault activity, poor construction practice, and large population. The occurance of this recent minor earthquake may have influenced the stresses in the surrounding faults and might have increased the existing seismic risk facing Tehran.

 

Tehrani residents, engineers, contractors, general public, please be aware and pay attention to this important risk that you will have to deal with sooner or later. To learn how to protect yourself before, during, and after an earthquake, visit this site by FEMA: http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/index.shtm. 

In two of our previous posts, we also had some good discussion on earthquake preparedness in Tehran:

http://tehranshake.wordpress.com/2007/08/02/121/

http://tehranshake.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/what-to-do-before-during-and-after-an-earthquake/

Tehrani engineers, architects, and contractors: I assume that you already know how to make earthquake resistant structures in a cost-effective way. If you have questions/concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will try my best to send you information on the current state of practice (in structural and geotechnical design) for your specific project. If you are not convinced about the risks facing your city and need more information on the probability of earthquakes in the coming years, also please don’t hesitate to let me know or contact someone at IIEES in Tehran (http://www.iiees.ac.ir/). Keep in mind that you are responsible for your building, and negligence and lack of knowledge are not acceptable any more.

tehran disaster management

[By SD]   I came across this link yesterday and thought it might be interesting to TehranShake: www.tdmmo.ir

tehran vs. tokyo

[By Shideh]   Tehran mayor, Mr. Qalibaf, has been trying to learn from and collaborate with other big cities in the world to improve Tehran in many ways.  I find his attempts promising and in the right direction: http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=180227

 

Tehran can learn a great deal from Tokyo in terms of pollution reduction and earthquake safety.  Perhaps Japan is one of the few remaining nations that has not paid much attention to the US attempts to impose international sanctions on Iran – up to debate.  This is a great start for Qalibaf to attract Japanese investment and collaborate with the mayor of Tokyo to improve Tehran’s infrastructure.  However, an important part of the problem in Tehran and Iran in general is not related to technical expertise and lack of knowledge.  The main problem seems to be deeply rooted in social awareness and culture.  It takes a great number of local experts on the social psychology of Tehranians to solve the essential problems that are unique to Tehran and do not apply to Tokyo.  Japan in particular has a culture vastly different from those of Iranians and I hope that their solutions and policies will not be blindly applied to Tehran. Iran has a history of blindly following policies of developed nations to improve its system (i.e. education, infrastructure, architecture, city planning, etc.) and my impression is that these attempts have lead to disastrous results and confusion on our own social/cultural identity.

demography, urbanism, etc

[By Shawhin]   My friend just sent me a nice article on urbanism, planning, gentrification trends, etc in North American cities.  It’s a great read – but be sure to also read the comments and arguments:

http://tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=264510ca-2170-49cd-bad5-a0be122ac1a9 (Thanks, Mei!)

For good complimentary reading, check out Robert Putnam’s (Professor of Public Policy at Harvard) article on social capital:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/DETOC/assoc/bowling.html

Or listen to an interview with Prof. Putnam, at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1074874

maps

[By Shawhin] I just read an article about mapping and thought I’d share.  It was about the influence of maps on people’s conception of the spaces around them and also about alternate methods of mapping and the ability of maps to discover and promote aspects of the world we engage with.

(to view larger version, click here: tehranshake-exhibit)

a humble letter to the people in power!

[By Shideh] My mind has been preoccupied with a number of events lately. I am busy with my last experiment while the world around me seems to have turned upside down. I usually worry a lot about the state of practice in earthquake engineering and am passionate in thinking that I can make a difference in this field, in Iran and perhaps other developing countries. Here I am though, sitting in front of the TV watching CNN in my hotel in Davis, tired of hard work all day, witnessing the world turn upside down once more.  What is going on? Are Israeli authorities really planning to bomb Iran’s nuclear power stations (and other things)? Is Iran’s government really showing fake or real movie clips of its military maneuvers to threaten Israel back, to bluff, to defend itself, or to scare others?  Are American politicians really open to the military option against Iran? Does it seem like a video game to them or do they actually realize it’s people’s lives they are so easily taking?  Am I wasting my life trying to solve a tiny technical problem in earthquake engineering hoping to make cities safe, wishing to save lives, while our governments can blow up the whole world in one second?  Who am I trying to save?

I am helplessly writing to you, my governments, the authorities or decision makers of the world, you who think you can make decisions on my behalf to kill others, I am writing this letter to you hoping to make you realize that I am disappointed in how you have all used my tax money toward propaganda against each other, to promote our differences, and to create hatred.  When are you going to stop fighting and start solving conflicts without actual conflicts?

earthquake prone tehran | تهران زلزله خیز

[By Shideh]   Mr. Alireza Sarvi kindly sent us his article on the earthquake risks that Tehran currently faces; to download the complete article, please click on:  earthquake prone tehran

If you have difficulty downloading the entire file, please try downloading one page at a time as: part_1, part_2, part_3, part_4, part_5, part_6

 

It’s a great overview of Tehran’s geological and construction history and the risks involved; an insightful and critical study which you may find helpful.

heading to zagros

We are heading to Iran this weekend to attend a very exciting and special conference on Zagros Tranditional Settlements in Sanandaj, Kurdistan, organized by the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture, and Urbanism. We will write much more about the lectures and sites; but please let us know if there is anything specific that you want us to pay attention to, take pictures of, or ask the experts attending and/or presenting at the conference.

 

 

Photo courtesy of International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture, and Urbanism

 

tehran’s official site

[By Shideh]   I came across the official website of the city of Tehran, while looking for some information regarding the duties and power of the Mayor.  This site provides detailed information on different aspects of life in Tehran ranging from history, policy, and urban planning to education, tourism, and much more, which you might find useful: http://www.tehran.ir

UN hazard mitigation game

[By Shawhin]  I just found a very neat website developed by the UN/ISDR (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction).  They have a series of “Stop Disaster” scenario games that you can play.  The game can be run off the internet on almost any machine.  It’s pretty cool.  It is a bit like the simcity game but geared toward disaster management and natural hazards.  Here’s the link:http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html

Currently they have five natural hazard games: tsunami, hurricane, wildfire, earthquake, and flood.   And they are looking for support in creating more scenarios and in different languages.  More info at http://www.unisdr.org/.The website also has a lot of information on education, preparedness, and tips on what to do to mitigate damaging effects of natural hazards.  I haven’t been through the whole site, but it looks like a good resource, particularly for younger folks and kids.

iran’s international conference on integrated natural disaster management – this february

Today, we received a message from one of the chairs of the 3^rd International Conference on Integrated Natural Disaster Management scheduled in Iran for this February (2008).  The main themes for the conference are: earthquakes, floods, droughts, landslides, and hurricanes.  UNICEF, the City of Tehran, IAEM, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Shahid Beheshti University, York University, and Cranfield University are some of the sponsors of this conference. 

The deadline for submitting abstracts and papers is passed but you can still register and attend the conference.  If you have a paper that you’d like to submit, I personally suggest you send it even though the deadline’s past.  For more information: www.indm.org.  The image below is from their flash intro:

   

مصاحبه دکتر قالیباف، شهردار تهران | FT interview with Tehran mayor

[By Shawhin]  I just finished reading the transcript from an interview between the Financial Times and current Tehran Mayor, Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, published on January 8^th, 2008.  There’s a lot of information in the transcript particularly regarding development, urban planning, transportation, etc.  Dr. Qalibaf has been mayor since September 2005 according to Wikipedia. 

I’ve summarized a few points from the article here – these are from quotes from the Mayor:

+        Development in Tehran is handled on three levels:

o       Small projects are handled at the local/neighborhood level: via assisting councils (“shora yaari”,  شورا یاری) – see details below,

o       Medium size projects are handled by the Municipality’s representative offices in 22 zones, and

o       Large projects (i.e. highways, Milad Tower, etc) are done at the national level

snowy tehran

[By Shideh]  On Sunday, Tehran woke up to a heavy overnight snowfall which ended up shutting primary and secondary schools, blocking major roads, and canceling all domestic flights.  All government offices closed on Monday and Tuesday, according to IRNA news agency.  All roads in the northwest of the country were closed to traffic, meanwhile the international flights (which now run exclusively from Imam Khomenin International Airport) were delayed.  Tehran lies at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters above sea level and is regularly hit by heavy falls of snow in winter (even though there have been some winters without major storms).  State television has also reported that the snowfalls will continue in the coming days, while the cold weather has already created problems in the country with around a dozen towns suffering gas cuts last week (due to a surge in demand and cuts in exports from Turkmenistan)… 

 

Image borrowed from: www.tehrandaily.wordpress.com

citizen and community involvement / empowerment in planning?

[By Shawhin]  One theme that came up a couple times in our Iran visit was the apparent lack of citizen and/or community involvement in city planning and policy matters.  With plenty of development, debatable growth trends, “good” and “bad” projects (be it building, infrastructure, landscape, or …), and in general a very educated and aware community, it seems odd that there isn’t a ton of (and possibly little to no) community involvement in places like Tehran or Shiraz. 

Does: development + growth + public opinion + dissatisfaction with some trends = community involvement? 

shiraz’s new looks

[By Shideh]  A short overview of our experience in Shiraz:  

We stayed in Shiraz for a few days during the first week of our trip and had a great time visiting a few of the astonishing historical places.  As amazing as this city is (and will always be), we could not help noticing the distasteful trend of new buildings replacing old gardens.  The Shirazies seemed to have become crankier than before as they are not used to the new changes resulting in more traffic, pollution, and a more stressful state in their city.  In particular, ladies driving around while talking on their cell phones seemed to drive the taxi drivers crazy!

 

   

   

 

viva tehran

[By Shideh]  We are back in Berkeley and are in the process of organizing our photos/videos from Iran.  We’ll post short summaries with observations from our trip over the next few weeks (as it’s going to be long… and there were plenty of interesting topics for discussion that came up).  First, today, a few short thoughts and impressions from Tehran:

   

notes from day 2 of the sustainability and public transportation conference

[By Shawhin]  The second day of the conference was even more interesting than the first for me.  There was a large focus on city planning, land use, and policy.  I’m continuing the same format as the previous post here and getting straight into details by presentation.  And again, if you want more details on anything, just let me know and I can elaborate.

notes from day 1 of the sustainability and public tranportation conference

[By Shawhin]

We concluded our first day of the conference a couple hours ago with many interesting issues discussed, ranging from policy to project specific practices to setting international trends in sustainability.  I took about 20 pages of notes!, which I’ve condensed here.  Provided below are first a concise general-picture summary of the discussions followed by a more detailed account by speaker/session:

 General overview:

• Attendees and speakers included elected officials (congress, mayors, regional agency board members), heads of transit and planning agencies, representatives from private firms, and other planners, lawyers, architects, engineers, and politicians.  A good mix.

sustainability and public transportation

[By Shawhin]

I’m heading to an interesting conference/workshop in a couple days in Seattle: it’s titled “sustainability and public transportation,” hosted by the American Public Transportation Association.  I’m sure we’ll be reviewing some models that would be applicable to Tehran: bus rapid transportation, light rail, and sustainable development.  Other topics such as transit oriented development (TOD) are probably less relevant, but should be interesting nevertheless.

I’ll post what we do at the workshop each day on tehranshake, so stay tuned.

More info about the conference can be found at: http://www.apta.com/conferences_calendar/sustainable/

If there’s anything in particular anyone would like to be discussed or asked about at the workshop, I would be happy to be of service – just let me know.

maps of tehran’s development

The link below has some good graphics to go with the history of the development of Tehran in the previous post:

http://www.tehrangis.com/atlas/ASPs/English/report.asp?MS_Code=02

a summary of the history of urban planning and development in tehran

[By Shawhin]

In order to better understand development and planning in Tehran, I found it helpful to get a sense of the where Tehran started and how it got to where it is today.  Most of the information in this post is summarized from a paper by A. Madanipour, who is a professor in the department of architecture at NewCastle University.  His paper is titled “Urban Planning and Development in Tehran”.

 This summary list highlights important events in Tehran’s planning/development, chronologically from the past to the present.  All dates are given in CE = AD = ‘milady’:

• Tehran starts as a village outside the ancient city of Ray
• 1553  Construction of the city walls (square shaped) and a bazaar in Tehran – the first major planning effort in Tehran
• 1785 Tehran is selected as the Qajar capital – the city grows from 15,000 inhabitants at the end of the 18^th century to about 150,000 by the 1860’s

… response to hooman’s comment

[By Shideh]  (See Hooman’s comment on the welcome page.) I agree with you that we should eventually start thinking of ways to implement solutions that we discuss. I think we should have a separate section where we can discus ideas only on implementing infrastructure related solutions alone.  The challenge is how to make our ideas heard by the people who make policies and those who make sure the law is in effect. I will write more about this soon, as I still need to learn much. This may also be a great topic for discussion. 

It is true that in finding and implementing our solutions, we should abandon the kind of thinking that has lead us to the current state of our country (at least for its infrastructure). One of the great problems that we face, I think, is lack of hope for our future and lack of confidence in our own capabilities.

tehran and tehrani’s

[By Shideh]  An interesting article by BBCPersian on Tehran which provides great insight into understanding the social psychology of Tehranians and their love/hate relationship with their city.  When planning alternatives to Tehran for the country’s political capital, it may be useful to take note of how Tehran has related to its inhabitants and what roles it plays in their day to day lives. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2007/06/070629_ka-tehran-project.shtml 

     

“Tehran has turned into a culture, a way of life, a dream, or even a curse.”

“Some say other cities in Iran have suffered greatly for Tehran’s popularity.”   

pollution in tehran… continued

[By Shawhin] Continuing on the discussion in “pollution in Tehran…”, here are my two cents on the second bullet: managing/reducing population concentration.

I’m personally a big advocate of reducing the population in Tehran to a sustainable level.  As it stands, Tehran is Iran’s economic, commercial, and political capital.  With over 12million inhabitants (about 1/6^th of Iran’s 70million population), Tehran is the heart of Iran’s governance.

… response to rezwan’s comment

[By Shawhin] Rezwan – thanks so much for the comment (see Rezwan’s comment under the ‘welcome’ tab). I didn’t know that you were working on the Fars regional plan. I can’t imagine anything better and more interesting to do in this world than to be one of people throughout its long history, who influence the planning of Fars. Tremendous! Do you have more info that you can share? How do you find the planning process there?
I had a look through DPZ’s website. I’m a big, big fan. Like you said though, Iran doesn’t have the same sprawl disease as they have in the states – thank god.
What I think is fundamental in Iran is the recognition and preservation of our historic elements and buildings. Plans like putting a highway artery straight through Esfahan or running a heavy rail line adjacent to Takhteh Rostam for example would be devastating; and I think alternatives should be found at any cost.

papers on tehran + pollution + air

[By Shawhin]  

Ambient air quality levels in Tehran, Iran, from 1988 to 1993
Prospect for alternative fuel vehicles in Iran an environmental assessment
Environmental crises in the Metropolises of Iran

pollution in tehran…

[By Shawhin] One of the reasons I decided to become a civil engineer was to learn about ways to reduce pollution in Tehran.  The pollution in Tehran is such that schools are shut down for some days a year.

 

I think infrastructure related solutions fall in two categories: 1. cleaner vehicles and, 2. less congestion. There are efforts going by the government to address option 1 – cleaner vehicles – through car trading programs, etc.  How effective this is and to what extent it is being implemented, I’m curious to know and would invite feedback.  Option 2 – less congestion – however, is more interesting to me. 

Reducing congestion comprises:

• providing/enhancing alternatives to driving,
• managing/reducing population concentration,
• implementing policies that limit where and when people can drive (a tough one),
• making sure your city is planned around pedestrians and not cars (which I think Tehran is good at… to some extent),
• … others?