News – Page 2

The Challenges of Contemporary condition and the Future prospect of Architectural Education in Iran

Ms. Shadi Azizi, PhD. after nearly 18 years of dedicated activity in the field of education and research in architecture as a university Faculty Member and Assistant Professor and simultaneously working in the field of Urban Design and Architecture since the co-foundation of NESHA in 2001, now has a serious critiques of the quiddity and function of schools of Architecture in Iran. a video summary of her speech has been published on the ETOOOD website and soon, the full video will be published on NESHA’s website and its official Instagram page and also Dr. Azizi’s official Instagram page.

Zarjub Riverbank Design Competition

The winning design entry for the Zarjub Riverbank Design Competition, Urban Development and Revitalization Organization of Iran, May 2019. NESHA team ranked 1st.

Tehran-Tabriz Railway Tunnel Design Competition

NESHA Project “Tehran Plain’s Pulse of Life” wins the second place for the urban regeneration of an urban corridor, the ground level of Tehran-Tabriz Railway Tunnel. Based on the characteristics of the context, activity pulses have been designed inside and outside of the axis: – Organizational and local development institutions pulses – Local pulses (Pocket Parks, ethnic theme parks, events arena) – Urban pulses (Zarbahan bridge, events hotspots, Railway Café, workshop houses, food exhibition, pharmaceutical research and development hub) – Regional pulses (Kan leisure hub, green research and development hub, iron market)

Local Pathways Initiative – Initializing the SDG11 process in Bijar: Step1

Local Pathways Initiative - Initializing the SDG11 process in Bijar: Step1

Institutional and stakeholder mapping is the first step of SDG localization in Bijar to identify relevant local actors, and sets the stage that would support integrated action for SDG implementation.
This preliminary step serves to identify stakeholders and engage them in the process to develop a common vision, joint objectives, and expected results.

key stakeholders of Bijar and their role in furthering local SDG implementation are:

Local authorities including municipality, and Regeneration Committee of Bijar, and Cultural Heritage-Handicrafts- Tourism administration of Bijar are the primary drivers of SDG localization in Bijar;
National and regional governments including Bijar county government, Kordestan province government, and Urban Development and Revitalization Organization (UDRO) of the Ministry of Roads frame legislation and regulations that define sectoral policies and development priorities;
Non-governmental organizations and civil society groups including Hamdelan-e Garoos, Mehrafarin-e Garoos, Hafezan-e Bam-e Garoos, Lalehaye Nesar, Shadi Afarinan-e Garoos. These NGOs and CSOs can bring alternate development models to achieve social targets, provide sectoral knowledge, support bottom-up approaches to implementation and monitoring, act as watchdogs of government and private sector accountability, and in some cases, represent excluded communities, localities, and concerns( environment, climate change,…) in policy making and programmatic planning;
Businesses and industry including agriculture LEs, and carpet LEs and SMEs. These are numerous opportunities for collaboration between business and government in SDG implementation, for employment generation, social protection of labor, technological innovation, social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, and philanthropic donations (SDSN,2015);
Universities Including Islamic Azad University of Bijar, Payam-e noor University of Bijar, Engineering and Fundamental Science Faculty of Kordestan University. Universities can provide independent technical assistance for SDG localization (SDSN,2015);

Why we involve stakeholders?

There are numerous benefits to involving different stakeholders at this stage:

Improve the quality of the decisions, by benefitting from stakeholders’ expertise at the very start
Help to identify controversial issues or difficulties before a decision is made
Bring together stakeholders with a number of different viewpoints and help different parties find common ground, reducing the risk of opposition in later phases
Better inform stakeholders about the objectives and the issues at hand
Lead to better acceptance of the decisions and measures that are taken
Increase the confidence of the public about decision-makers
Help more stakeholders commit to action, so that more ambitious climate protection goals can be agreed

Local Pathways Initiative – Bijar City

Local Pathways Initiative - Bijar City

This project was launched by Shadnaz Azizi as one of the 60 Local Pathways fellows who will champion SDGs in their cities through the Local Pathways Fellowship a program of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network Youth Initiative (SDSN Youth). Shadnaz Azizi with the collaboration of her colleagues in Neginshar Ayandeh Consulting aim to explore how Bijar in kordestan province can achieve SDG 11.3 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (which cited: By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries) to eliminate “blight” from the Bijar city.

– City of Focus: Bijar

– SDG Focal Area: Urban blight

– SDG Target: 11.3

– Secondary Targets: 8.9, 9.1, 11.4, 17.17

– Rationale:

Inhospitable city land use and landscape with portion of 30% urban decay of built environment;
Bijar is a historical city with the global handmade carpet brand of “Bidjar Rugs” by virtue of their design and technique but there are no Local economic development strategies to take the cultural economy into account;
60% of total population are under 39 years of age;
Unemployment rate has increased from 15% in 2006 to 19% in 2011;
The annual growth rate of population saw decrease from 3% in 1996 to 0.8% in 2006 and 0.2% in 2011;

More at localpathways.org and irlocalpathways.org

Darband and Darabad Restoration Strategic Plan

“Darband and Darabad Restoration Strategic Plan” is part of a greater project of Tehran’s river-vallies restoration which is currently undertaken by Tehran Municipality for Five river-vallies in the city: Darabad, Darband, Darakeh, Farahzad and Vardavard. The current conditions of these two rivers which has gradually transferred from their natural setting into storm water, runoff and waste water concrete conveyors, along with physical considerations, legal and Economic pressures stemming from highly densified and developed parts of the capital, has turned the project into a quite challenging one. Main goals and considerations of the project are classified as below:

1. First; Planning for safety against storm water.

2. Second; Water health management, Basic flow quality improvement, Riparian ecosystem restoration and ground water recharge.

3. Third; River’s identity improvement.

Nahjolbalaghe Park Development and Completion

Nahjolbalaghe Park Development and Completion

Farahzad River Valley is a ten-kilometer long north-south natural axis that is located in the north west of Tehran. Three urban sequences are proposed to connect the abandoned areas of the river valley to the city:

The Urban Park (Between Niayesh Highway and Eyvanak Boulevard)
The Sport Park (Between Hakim Highway and Marzdaran Boulevard)
The Culture Park (Between Marzdaran Boulevard and Jalal-e- Ale Ahmad Highway)

The first sequence (the Urban Park) is under construction which is a 30-hectare land located between dense green natural fabric from north and the 1^st phase of Nahjolbalaghe Park. In other words, this could be seen as a transition area from natural to urban

spaces which is comprised of four development zones:

East Development

West Development (The Skate Park)
The Art Garden
The Rock-climbing Park

the 56th Venice Art Biennale

Architectural Promenade

Nesha contributed to the exhibition of contemporary Iranian architecture in the 56^th Venice Art Biennale in 2015 titled ” The Little Game”. Nesha was selected as one of the design entities, whose project “Apartment 210” was included in the body of work exhibited in this exhibition.

Pesyan Official Building

Pesyan official building is located in Pesyan St. Mahmoudieh, in an area of approximately 7000 square meters. It is a 9-story office building over a 3-level parking garage, a lobby and dining room.

Construction of the project was started on May 4^th of 2016.

The main idea of the project is to extend and imagine the rich green fabric of site’s surrounding and Vali-e-Asr Street on the facade and into the office spaces.

The interior design idea was inspired from “Open Space Design” which enables the creation of green, vibrant and transparent spaces.

Currently, the project is on finishing stage and is expected to operate by the end of February 2017.