The Unfulfilled Promise of Activity Location Management within the Zoning Framework of Tehran’s Strategic–Structural Comprehensive Plan

soltani, leili

EN FA

Volume 2, Issue 7 (7-2026) مکتب نقدنظر 2026, 2(7): 0-0 | Back to browse issues page

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

soltani L. The Unfulfilled Promise of Activity Location Management within the Zoning Framework of Tehran’s Strategic–Structural Comprehensive Plan. مکتب نقدنظر 2026; 2 (7) : 4
URL: http://jcr-sj.com/article-1-66-en.html

The Unfulfilled Promise of Activity Location Management within the Zoning Framework of Tehran’s Strategic–Structural Comprehensive Plan

Leili Soltani ^*

PhD in Urban Planning, Nazar Research Center for Art, Architecture and Urbanism, Iran

Abstract: (69 Views)

With the arrival of the horizon year of Tehran’s Strategic–Structural (Comprehensive) Plan, evaluating its achievements, implementation outcomes, and structural shortcomings has become a central concern for planners, urban managers, and researchers. Existing evaluation studies and monitoring reports indicate that a substantial proportion of the plan’s objectives have not been achieved and that significant structural challenges have emerged during its implementation. One of the most persistent criticisms concerns the deferral of numerous implementation requirements and regulatory instruments to the post-adoption stage of the plan. Nearly two decades after its approval, many of these obligations remain unresolved. Among the most significant unfulfilled requirements is the determination of permitted activities for all land-use subzones within Tehran’s Detailed Plan. This is particularly important because the principal distinction between Tehran’s latest comprehensive plan and its predecessors was the transition from a conventional land-use approach to a zoning-based planning framework. The effectiveness of such a framework depends on the specification of permitted activities at the subzone level as a primary instrument for guiding and regulating urban development.
This paper critically examines the institutional, legal, and implementation challenges associated with the regulation of activity locations in Tehran. It argues that the failure to operationalize one of the fundamental instruments of the zoning system reflects a broader disconnect between strategic planning objectives and the mechanisms required for their implementation. The study highlights the need to reassess existing realities and to reform institutional arrangements and regulatory frameworks before undertaking any further revision of Tehran’s urban planning system.

Article number: 4

Keywords: Zoning System, Permitted Activities, Activity Location Management, Strategic–Structural Planning, Tehran Comprehensive Plan

Type of Study: Applicable | Subject: Special
Received: 2026/06/5 | Accepted: 2026/06/22 | Published: 2026/07/1

Send email to the article author

Rights and permissions
	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.