Elucidating Tehran’s urban planners and city managers' perceptions of transit-oriented development (TOD)

Mohtajallah Yazdi, Amin; ShokouhiBidhendi, MohammadSaleh

doi:10.22034/uep.2025.548320.1731

Elucidating Tehran’s urban planners and city managers' perceptions of transit-oriented development (TOD)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Amin Mohtajallah Yazdi ¹

MohammadSaleh ShokouhiBidhendi ²

¹ M.Sc. in Regional Planning, Iran University of Science and Technology

² Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Environmental Design, Iran University of Science and Technology

10.22034/uep.2025.548320.1731

Abstract

TOD, as an urban planning paradigm, has become central to Tehran’s management. This approach, based on principles such as increased density, mixed land use, and pedestrian orientation, promises to reduce automobile dependency and improve urban quality of life. However, expert perspectives reveal significant challenges in interpreting TOD’s objectives within its implementation frameworks. This research aims to understand how Tehran’s decision-makers interpret this concept and how this interpretation diverges from its theoretical foundations. Using a thematic analysis methodology, this study explores the subject through in-depth interviews with eight experts. The findings indicate that while experts understand TOD’s core principles—creating a compact, pedestrian-focused city with a high quality of life—this ideal is overshadowed by misinterpretations that reduce the concept of “development” to simple “revenue generation from density.” Such distortions stem from a profit-driven approach and managerial policies that view TOD not as an urban planning strategy but as a revenue-generating tool to fund other projects. This instrumentalist approach faces structural challenges and implementation barriers, including legal issues, infrastructure saturation, and conflicts with higher-level planning documents. Rather than achieving its intended goals, this misguided path is likely to produce negative social and economic consequences, such as exacerbating inequality and eroding neighborhood identity. Ultimately, these factors contribute to a pessimistic outlook, foreshadowing the plan’s failure to meet its objectives. Consequently, its legacy is anticipated to be not a functional, efficient city, but a collection of fragmented, disconnected construction projects.

Keywords

Density-Derived Revenues

Thematic Analysis

Transit-Oriented Development

Urban Management

20.1001.1.28212118.1405.7.3.2.2

Subjects

Urban planning

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