Strategic Analysis of Past Experiences of New Towns in Iran for the Purpose of Achieving New Approaches in the Future

Abstract

There have always been new towns throughout history. However, since after the Industrial Revolution and the increasing problems of bustling metropolises, these new towns have been paid more attention in order to solve the population and economic problems of metropolises. In our country, creation of new towns was proposed to make balance and help decentralization of big cities.

Now after a couple of decades, irregularities and problems observed have made us unsure or hesitant about continuing creating new towns because the past experiences of new towns show that, except in a few cases, the goals and objectives of these settlement centers have fundamentally changed.

This paper seeks to answer the key question: what are the most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of past experience of New Towns in Iran? On the one hand, this paper focuses on strategic analysis of various factors involved in the process of creating and building new towns in Iran, and on the one hand it attempts to answer the essential question of this research.

This study has been conducted with qualitative method and SWOT technique. SWOT analysis, is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project. It involves specifying the objective of the project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. Four new towns in Iran including Baharestan, Shahinshar, Puladshahr, Majlesi new towns in Isfahan have been selected as cases of this research. These new towns were studied in eight dimensions consisting of region and spheres of influence in the town, environment and geography, urban management, population and social factors, economic and urban activity, spatial and quality of accommodation, urban infrastructures and facilities, movement and access network.

Based on the research findings, the main strength of new towns is that the prices of land and housing in them are lower than in metropolises. The main weaknesses of the new towns are inattention to environmental potentials in locating, fragmentation of urban management, and absence of participation of public in urban development plans, lack of population absorbing centers, limited employment opportunities and low diversity of jobs and so on. Feasibility to review experiences of massive urban development projects and feasibility to coordinate both public and private sectors are the biggest opportunities of new towns. Inconsistency of new towns with the goals expected for them is the main threat facing the new towns in Iran. Environmental sustainability, livability, identity creation and competition admission are the main criteria for projects and programs of new towns in Iran.

Keywords: New towns in Iran, strategic analysis, strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, reviewing past experiences