Urban green area and sustainable city (Case study: Fadak Park, Tehran)

Introduction: In order for green space to be part of a sustainable city, its social and cultural aspects must also be considered. The three most important aspects of a sustainable city green space are the environmental aspects, creating a social network and reducing exclusion and increasing cultural inclusion. In the present study, Fadak Park in Tehran's second district as an urban green space was studied in terms of achieving sustainable city indicators. This park is the result of the reconstruction of the green space along the Chamran Highway. Carrying out such a plan will bring about significant changes in the socio-economic and environmental structure of the region, which will have a range of positive and negative consequences. In the present study. Since parks are places in the city that have a social structure, they should also be considered from a social and cultural perspective. Has the park been able to connect with the socio-cultural context of the region and become part of the social space of the region (and the city)? Does the park help increase social participation and strengthen the local community?
Method: For this study, two groups of stakeholders, including employers, decision makers, planners and project implementers in the municipality and stakeholders, including residents and neighbors of the park and park users, were surveyed through semi-structured interviews. Also, by attending the park through participatory observation and observation at different times, a complete description of the park was made.
Finding: Interviews are categorized in three areas: 1) Environmental consequences of the construction of Fadak Park: per capita provision of urban green space, noise and air pollution, water crisis; 2) Network of social relations in urban green space: Park as a third space, belonging to space and 3) Elimination and cultural inclusion in urban green space: class exclusion, gender exclusion, age exclusion, ethnic exclusion, security.
Conclusion: The results showed that this park has contributed to the per capita green space of District 2 of the city where the park is located, but compared to some areas of Tehran that are much less than the per capita urban green space has caused unbalanced development of green space in Tehran. It has not affected the creation of social networking. Although it has not caused sexual, age or ethnic exclusion, it has not strengthened cultural inclusion.