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Fifteen years after: An evaluation of Navvab Project’s impacts

Maryam Amiri, Tehran Community Manager

The Navvab Project was one of the greatest rehabilitation projects in the world, and definitely the biggest one in Iran. Therefore, evaluating its impacts on former and present residents is crucial to understanding how government rehabilitation projects impact people's lives. Although the Navvab Project was completed in 2000, it started 10 years earlier in 1990. In this project, Navvab Street, located in the downtown, was completely destroyed, and a five kilometers highway was constructed instead. Across the highway, where there were single-story, old houses in the past, nowadays a row of high-rise buildings can be seen.

Despite the hugeness of the project, for 15 years the social impacts of the project had been totally ignored and no credible evaluation took place during this period. Finally, in the year 2009, a consulting company called "Tarh Va Memari" (Design and Architecture) accompanied by the municipality of Tehran conducted a broad impact analysis of the project. This evaluation led to a paradigm transformation in the municipality’s approach to rehabilitation plans, and set the pre-construction studies of the social and economic impacts of such plans as determinants.

A great number of surveys have been done in the neighborhood. The surveys mostly were seeking answers for the following questions: How many of the old residents stayed in the neighborhood after the project? Why did some of them leave the neighborhood after the project? Did the old residents go to better neighborhoods or to poorer ones? Who are the new residents? From what social and economic background do they come? Are the new residents satisfied in the neighborhood?

The study was based on a diverse set of criterion, such as economic sustainability, social sustainability, living quality, environmental sustainability, public participation, and managerial efficiency. Some measuring criteria were defined according to the mentioned principles. Each of these criterions was evaluated according to the parameters, including social diversity, rate of employment, security, and access to urban facilities. Also, a wide range of methodologies was used in this study: questionnaires, interviews, observations, and library studies. Questionnaires were filled in by former and present residents, although, given the time gap between the beginning of the project and its impact analysis, finding the old residents proved to be very difficult.

Interviews also were done with a broad range of people involved in the project. Among them were urban managers, municipality officials, and some influential residents. Observations were also crucial, and they were conducted in different hours and during different events of the neighborhood. The project team used filming, photography, and noting to observe the urban issues and services, such as traffic. Library studies also helped track the decisions over the past 15 years.

Results of the evaluation, published in "Measuring of Navvan Project and Its Impact," show that those who moved into the neighborhood after the renewal are significantly different from initial residents. For example, although new residents have weaker social connections, they are more socially diverse and the literacy rate is higher among them. Another finding was that the satisfaction of living in the neighborhood is very low, both among new residents and old residents still living in the neighborhood. Moreover, those who had left the neighborhood, tended to return to Navvab. Also, staying time in the new residential complexes is low; households rarely stay more than 10 years. The study has been an interesting and important one in urban Iran. The evaluation shows how urban development can devastatingly change vulnerable inhabitants’ lives and make them even more marginalized.

Photo: Mashreghnews

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