How the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the lack of accessible public spaces in Tehran

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ABSTRACT

This commentary briefly explores the ongoing development trends of Tehran, Iran, that have caused high population density, centralised public spaces, car-oriented streets, and smaller houses, and explains the amplifying effect of these trends on the living situation during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that in the absence of adequate, accessible, and usable public spaces for all – including streets and semi-private or semi-public spaces of residential areas – the city becomes less resilient against outbreaks. Post-epidemic, the city should reclaim the flexibility, diversity, and accessibility of public spaces and revise the legislative and financial tools of municipalities for creating a compact city.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• public space
• compact city

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. According to the 2016 National Census, almost 75% of the population live in urban areas in Iran.

2. It is worth mentioning that in addition to imposed travel costs, time, etc. on families with less access to the regional public parks, options such as online classes are also less accessible due to less access to high-speed internet, smart phones, etc. in lower-income households. Moreover, home-based exercise requires minimum space per capita which is significantly lower in residential areas in lower-income neighbourhoods (higher person per household and lower housing per capita per person).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Parnian Kordshakeri

Parnian Kordshakeri is an urban planner and development expert, specializing in interdisciplinary research with a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Tehran. She has several and continuous collaborations with national and international organizations in Iran including the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the World Health Organizations (WHO) in inter-sectoral affairs for cities. She has contributed to several UN-lead multilateral projects including the global Healthy Cities Programme, City Resilience Programme, and the National Urban Policy as well as leading a national research on Children’s Early Development in cities.

Ehsan Fazeli

Ehsan Fazeli is a Spatial Planner with a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from University of Tehran. He has been collaborating with public and private sectors as well as municipal authorities under spatial planning and development projects in several metropolitan cities in Iran. He has outstanding experiences in urban data analysis and GIS software. He is mainly specialized in urban transportation planning, urban clusters and spatial analysis.