Urban Renewal Incentives and its Impacts on Tehran City Old Fabrics

In 2009, urban renewal policies and widespread level of informing people have opened a new chapter in urban renewal programs in Iran. The impacts of these policies are very evident in Tehran city. Since October 2009 to November 2010, about 5 percent of the residents of old fabric in the whole country received 25 percent of the budget devoted to urban renewal programs and considerable improvements in rebuilding of the old fabric have occurred.
The purpose of this research was to determine the impacts of the urban renewal incentive policies during the past 1.5 years. The results of research show that the number of building permits issued for the old fabric in Tehran city had 212 percent growth, compared with 133 percent for the whole city. Also, the amounts of floor areas built, the number of dwelling units built, the amount of residential land areas within the old fabric, compared with the other areas shows the positive impacts of incentive policies. The numbers of housing permits issued had considerable growths (about 22 percent growth). The old fabric consists of only 5 percent of the Tehran’s total land area.
The results of study show that whenever there is a stop in receiving the incentives, especially financial incentives, there is a reduction in the number applicants for housing permits. The number of housing permits in old fabric had higher growth compared with the whole city during the past 1.5 years while the incentives policies have been implemented. In February 2010, the number of housing permits issued for the whole city had 254 percent growth compared with November 2009 and 285 percent growth for the whole city. Also, growth in the number of dwelling units built during this period had 134 percent growth for the old fabric compared with 260 percent growth for outside the fabric. The high difference between the numbers of dwelling units built within the old fabric and outside is due to a stop in receiving the financial incentives by the residents in the old fabric.