An Analysis of Sustainable Development Planning of Tehran Metropolis: The Case of Urban Transport District 12 of Tehran Municipality

With the increase of structural issues in Tehran, more attention has been drawn to the issue of transport over the last few years in order to solve the related problems. With this in mind, a transit-oriented development approach has been widely considered. By focusing on the detailed guidelines of this approach implemented in a number of cities, the current study explores the importance of transport, prioritizes it as the main element in structural development of Tehran’s District 12, and focuses on sustainable development of urban transport principles in the area under study. For this purpose, the study attempts to review the principles and foundations of this approach while taking spatial differences into account. The study utilizes a quantitative methodology with elements of futures research. Thus, desk research was conducted, and interviews with 30 directors and theoreticians on the aforementioned area were performed. The results of the first part of the study showed that transportation-related issues would have a higher impact than other physical challenges in the study area and it is logical to pursue the future development of the region with a focus on transportation. The results of the second part of the research on the principles of transportation-oriented development in the study area have also led to the identification of 12 main influential forces such as attention to density or diversity. In fact, they are fundamentally different from the principles proposed in the transportation-oriented development.