This presentation is a brief introduction to the realization of a rehabilitation and renewal plan in one of the most deprived areas in the southern part of the Iranian capital Tehran.
The study focuses on two stages of this process: First, it examines the rehabilitation and renewal plan for the Robatkarim neighborhood, approved by the Organization of Urban Renewal at Tehran municipality, which takes into account the physical, social and economic conditions of the neighbourhood. In the course of drafting this plan, the Consultancy gave local people the possibility to have input in the plans according to their real needs, and also provided small projects to cover those needs (e.g. it organized workshops and courses to empower the female population to improve their economic situation).
Second, the study examines the logistics of establishing a local renewal office in that neighborhood, and the mobilization of a group of 18 local households to come together, merge their plots and start the construction of a small new apartment building in the place of their old collapsing houses. The most noteworthy part of the whole renewal project is the fact that the land acquisition and merging of 12 parcels in one of the most decayed areas of the Robatkarim neighborhood was done with the aim to keep to original population in place, and to enable them to own a small new apartment in return for their small plots of lands
