Catherine Papst
Fast urbanisation of farmland and city expansion have already been seen in Asian megacities. The following text puts a focus on Iran, the centerstage of the Middle East. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the country has been undergoing strong modernisation, in urban planning and in social structures. Tehran, the capital of Iran, has been growing physically in size and density as well as in its social demands. The neighbouring city, Karaj, is located approximately 40 km north-west from Tehran and within a short space of time, Karaj has grown to a 1.6 million people city and has become a second center in the area. The distance is becoming vast between public spaces and generations. Huge parks are constructed far from new residential housing complexes and the streets life is slowly directed into shopping malls. At the weekends, people try to escape from the overcrowded city or meet in private locations. This thesis is a documentation of how the simplification of architecture seeks to take over the complexity of our lives during a time of increasing population.
The master thesis BA NAMAK: Tehran‘s new urban form was supervised by Urs Hirschberg (Institute of Architecture and Media).