The Study of Environmental Crisis and Local Distribution of Green Space in Tehran City

  The Study of Environmental Crisis and Local Distribution of Green Space in Tehran City       K. zayyari, L. Vahedian Beiky, Z. Parnoon   Received: February 27, 2011/ Accepted: December 15, 2011, 25-28 P       Extended abstract   1-Introduction   Uncontrolled development of large cities due to the increase in population and migration has led to a massive environmental destruction and pollution, and the latter has destroyed green spaces within the city and changed the land use. Therefore, the need for green space and connection with nature has an important role in human life. The best way to reduce the destructive effects of environmental hazards is the development of green space. Due to its wide range of functions, green area plays dominant roles in urban landscaping, air refreshing, reducing air contaminations and controlling uncontrolled construction development. There are several reports to prove the idea that green areas, especially in condensed urban regions are of great importance for public health, performance increase and better quality of life. Provision of green area per capita is one of the most important issues in national development.     2-Theoretical bases   History of human-nature relation may be divided into four stages: 1- human lived in harmony with nature 2- human improved his control over the nature 3- human started to destroy nature by the power of technology and industry and 4- human begins realized that they have responsibilities and need to preserve the nature. We live in the fourth stage and development of green area is one our measures and age long interests. Development of green area started in Iran in 1950s by opening “national garden” in Tehran, which later renamed “City park”. Parks, gardens and garden houses with European style have emerged in Iran since 1970s. Parks and green area are the main factors in the improvement of security and solidarity in cities. However, urban life issues, security issues, and unsuitable spaces design for specific age group and genders are some of the factors which make citizen reluctant to use the spaces. In some districts in Tehran city, there is no relation between population density and green area per capita. As a result, population density and economic factors have tacked quality of life and mental and spiritual health of the citizens. This is to say that knowledge about quality and quantity of such spaces for each district is an important factor in urban planning. The main concern regarding living environment is lack of natural air ventilation, stability of contaminant elements, arid weather and dusts, noise pollution, lack of enough leisure facilities, ugly face of city, and damages to natural ecosystems. In this regard, development of green areas and planting trees are promising solutions.     3-Discussion   Tehran city managed 72433389m2 green areas in 2006 parks, artificial forests, squares and boulevards and sidewalks. Green area per capita in Tehran is 9.2m2. However, this figure varies between different areas (within the scope of this study, this figure is 12m2). In general, 50% of land area is dedicated to living spaces, 25% to roads and access passages, 15% to sport and green area facilities and 10% to other usages and services. Green area portion in Tehran urban planning is 10% and ratio of green area to neighborhoods is 12.2%. Therefore, there is a lack of green area to meet the standards. In general, factors under consideration regarding green areas are divided into negative factors (variety of pollutions, civil development operation, increase in population density and increase of demand for green area) and positive factors (green belt of the city, development of parks, squares and sidewalks). As ascertained by the surveys, dist. 18 enjoys highest rate of green area per capita and dist. 7 and 10 are at the bottom of the list. Dist. 19 has the largest green area portion (37%) and dist. 9 the smallest portion (4%). As statistics show, green area development is not consistent with population density. Between 1996-2006, the city developed for 1.4%. With this rate, Tehran will be home to a population of 8987124 in 2016. This population needs 10784548m2 of green area, which necessitates accurate and comprehensive planning in this regard. Moreover, parks location surveys in dists. 1, 3, 8, 10, 12, 13, 19, and 21 revealed underdevelopment of parks and green areas for the districts. In addition, regional parks are not comparable to the number of neighborhood parks. Surveys further showed that distribution of green area in the city is not ideal so that green area per capita for dists. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, and 21 is less than 12m2, while dists 22, 20, 19, 18, 16 and 3 enjoy excessive green areas.     4- Conclusion   Preservation of green area is one of the factors of permanent urban development, which also is of great importance for citizen health. However, lack of such spaces, different usage of such area, and lack of proper managerial procedures have resulted in the lack of enough green areas for the citizen. In fact, Tehran suffers both from lack of green area and unequal distribution of these facilities. Downtown is empty of such spaces, while suburbs have main portion of the green area. However, a proper planning is possible by studying distribution of such spaces and expected population growth. Accurate and updated statistics, reasonable scheduling, efficient managerial practice, provision of budget and equipment, cooperation of citizen and raising their interest to the matter, introduction of plans through mass media, codification of regulations for preservation of green area, basing the plans on results of academic research, support of the projects, cooperation between organs and departments all are of paramount importance.     5– Suggestions   - Stopping expansion trend and reducing population density in suburbs   - Stopping all development in forests, gardens and establishing polluting industries in urban regions.   - Defining development of green areas, sport and leisure spaces in all urban neighborhoods as an executive instruction.   - Expanding city borders only for development of green areas.   - Necessity to review and codify land preservation regulation to protect trees with usage as green are and operating such area as one of the top priority for saving green life of the city. 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