Abstract
This paper advances the concept of mutual path dependence by investigating the new-town and low-income housing initiatives in Iran. Seventeen new towns have been established in the country. Many of them have additionally become major sites for Iran’s low-income housing scheme. The study employs a flexible approach to policy research to assess the two related programs. According to its findings, the initiatives have been able to offer less expensive means to homeownership on a large scale, with the more successful new-town cases acting as dormitory communities next to large cities. Yet, the new towns and their housing projects exhibit various infrastructure and service shortcomings as well as a failure to link to regional or national plans concerned with territorial balance, industrial development, and employment. More importantly, as the main source of finance in the new towns is opaque land sales, it has given impetus to property speculation and corruption. Despite these major issues, the current policy is to continue both initiatives. The paper thus suggests that Iran’s new towns and housing schemes exhibit related path dependencies. The continuation and progression of each program depend on its previous path as well as that of the other initiative, rather than sound policy responses to the prevailing circumstances and their challenges.
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English translation of post-revolutionary Islamic Republic Constitution may be accessed through the website of the World Bank’s Financial Disclosure Law Library (http://publicofficialsfinancialdisclosure.worldbank.org/sites/fdl/files/assets/law-library-files/Iran_Constitution_en.pdf).
Right after the 1979 Revolution, a legal decree was adopted by the revolutionary council that abolished the ownership of “waste lands” and significantly restricted private land tenure. Two follow-up urban land legislations limited property expropriations, but still allowed the government to take over some types of land in large cities until 1992. One major purpose was to transfer them to low-income groups, augmented by sites-and-services projects, provision of inexpensive finance, and subsidization of construction materialize. In this way, a significant amount of land was acquired, of which only a fraction was released through 1992 (see Azizi, 1998).
Texts of Iran’s five-year economic, social, and cultural plans may be accessed through the website of Majles Research Center (http://www.majlis.ir).
Different official sources are inconsistent on the number of new towns including the new generation of new towns. For instance, in some sources, Mohajeran in Markazi Province is listed as a new town but not in others. In this paper, we stick to NTDC’s official figures.
A population of 500,000 was subsequently planned for Fuladshahr, which has proven unrealistic given its recent population of only 88,400.
Other sources, in particular the draft National Document on Development of New Towns in Iran (MRUD, 2017), provide slightly different figures.
Ironically, the country has come to carry out two such programs: Amayesh-e sarzamin plan proper prepared by the Management and Planning Organization, which is supposed to focus on economic development and population distribution; and Tarh-e kalbadi-ye melli (national physical plan) aiming to determine desirable land use across zones and regions, for which MRUD has been responsible. The latter has remained a collection of studies as well.
This said, anecdotal evidence suggests the existence of a significant number of court cases in which public-sector ownership of some land holdings in the new towns is disputed—reflecting haphazard planning and site selection as well as potentially rising cost of property development.
New Hashtgerd also functions in relation to Tehran to a large extent, although it is located in another province.
Goods that cannot be exported/imported internationally.
Similarly, the revised plan of Parand, prepared in 2005 has increased the new town’s population projection from around 80,000 (given in the original 1998 plan) to 150,000. This was again revised in association with the MHP projects to a figure of 485,000 persons without any specified plans for employment or additional infrastructure. The latter figure is several times the current number of residents in Parand, who have nevertheless suffered from inadequate infrastructure and services.
Such trends have been discernable all along, as for example observed by Etamad (1999) two decades ago in the case of Eslamshahr (appearing in a special issue of the Ministry’s journal Abadi dedicated to new towns).
One reason for the high cost of NHPAP homes is the recent drastic increases in property prices everywhere, which have largely placed them out of the reach of ordinary first-time buyers.
In the Strategic Development Plan of Parand (prepared by Naqsh-e Mohit Consultants in 2009), scarcity of water resources is given as the reason for limiting the projected population of the town to 150,000. Yet, according to the recent information, Parand’s projected population is now 485,000.
On a positive note, a new office for social and cultural development in new towns has recently been established at NTDC.
There are disagreements among various official reports on whether Amirkabir should be considered a first or a new-generation town.
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I consciously assure that for the manuscript “New-town Programs and Housing Schemes: A Case of Mutual Path Dependence in Iran,” the following are fulfilled: (1) This material is the authors' own original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere. (2) The paper is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere. (3) The paper reflects the authors' own research and analysis in a truthful and complete manner. (4) The paper properly credits the meaningful contributions of co-authors. (5) Funding and conflicts of interest are not applicable for this research. (6) The analysis is based on qualitative methods so availability of data and material are not applicable in the manuscript. Also all the references which are used to collect the data and information are properly disclosed. (7) Software and codes are not used for data analysis or modelling. (8) The results are appropriately placed in the context of prior and existing research. (9) All authors have been personally and actively involved in substantial work leading to the paper, and will take public responsibility for its content. My coauthor and I agree with the above statements and declare that this submission follows the policies of Springer as outlined in the Guide for Authors and in the Ethical Statement.
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Alaedini, P., Yeganeh, N. New-town programs and housing schemes: a case of mutual path dependence in Iran. J Hous and the Built Environ 37, 1607–1642 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-021-09912-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-021-09912-2