earthquake safety and media

[By Shideh]  Interesting information on BBCPersian:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2007/07/070723_ka-tehran-earthquake1.shtml

“در صورتی که زلزله تهران به خاطر فعال شدن گسل ری باشد، ۴۸۰ هزار ساختمان در تهران فرو خواهد ریخت، یعنی ۵۵ درصد ساختمان‏های شهر. بیشترین تعداد ساختمان‏های آسیب دیده در منطقه ۱۵ خواهد بود.” 

“In the case of an earthquake on the Ray Fault, 480,000 buildings will collapse in Tehran: 55% of all the buildings in Tehran.” 

In particular, I am glad that discussions af Tehran’s susceptibility to seismic hazard have increasingly become more of a concern to the public and to the media.  As misleading as most popular news sources can be in terms of the accuracy of their scientific claims, they can have a strong influence on public awareness and education. Also, this can be especially useful when finding ways to have our ideas heard by policy makers in Iran.  Media can not only have a great role in educating the public (or misleading them in many matters), it can be used to put policy makers under pressure for effective action. I think continuous articles and interviews on popular columns of famous news papers and magazines can have a profound impact, which we can have in mind as a possible way for implementing infrastructure related solutions later on.  This may seem obvious, but we can start planning for it at some point.

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.

iran petrol rationing

[By Shideh] As you might have heard by now, the Iranian government has limited the purchase of subsidized gasoline, in order to limit rapidly increasing gas consumption.  Here is a video of an interview with a few people waiting in a long line for gas yesterday:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3421300940079857681 

recent earthquake in iran — what can we do to help?

[By Shideh] Today, on Monday 6/18/07 at nearly 6 p.m. (local time), a moderate earthquake (magnitude 5.5) shook Iran’s central desert.  The epicenter was about 150 km south of Tehran. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007dtaw.php). 

  

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.

influence of people vs. policies

[By Shideh] It’s widely understood that many apartments and houses in Tehran were not built properly and are “me`mar saaz” (designed and built by non-engineers).  It seems most buildings in Tehran, even those designed by engineers according to the building codes, are not built properly due to poor supervision or corruption in the construction industry. 

What are Tehranians to do to prevent an unimaginable disaster resulting from an earthquake, which will come sooner or later?  Is this the responsibility of the authorities or is public awareness and action a more urgent factor? 

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?

important link on tehran seismic risks

[By Shideh]

I found the following link helpful in learning about the risks that Tehran currently faces (please click on Tehran after opening the link).  This study is a disaster risk management profile prepared by the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI) in August of 2005, which provides a summary of the current internal divisions, arrangements, and legislations/regulations, as well as the vulnerability issues within the mega-city of Tehran.  Additionally, it provides a summary of the existing disaster risk management arrangements for Tehran and the risks involved. http://www.pdc.org/emi/emihome.html;jsessionid=706C46482363EA0879BC15FCE8451EA0 

          

Iran political, seismicity, and seismic hazard maps (courtesy of USGS)