Teheran تهران |Tehrān|audio-f=Fa-f-تهران.ogg , marked tʰehˈɾɒn (IPA), is the Capitale of the Iran. Located at the north of the country, to the foot of the mounts Alborz, the city gives its name to the province of which it is also the capital. Teheran saw its population multiplied by forty since it became the capital following the change of Dynastie of 1786, that is to say: 7314000 inhabitants in 2007, while the Agglomération gathers: 12486000 inhabitants. The city has a Métro (three lines in 2007) and dense a highway network.

This very considerable growth of Teheran is mainly due to the improvement of the living conditions like to the attraction exerted on the inhabitants of the provinces. She knew a strong acceleration starting from 1974, following the big rise of the oil price at the time of the First oil crisis. The suburbs of the city then believed very quickly; finally the real pressure was right of the development policy urban fixed in 1969.

Teheran accommodates about half of the industrial activity of the country: auto industry, electrical equipment and electronic, armament, textiles, sugar, cement and chemicals. The city and its Bazar are the pole of marketing of the carpets and pieces of furniture produced in the worldwide.

Etymology of the name of the city

The origin of the name of Teheran is still discussed, and several interpretations are available. One of the popular etymology S is that the name of the city would come from Tah + rān , which means “that which drives out or which pushes (people)” or “which digs”. For the General Albert Houtum-Schindler, it is about a derivation of the term Shooting-ān , based on the element Tir . This element has the direction of “plain, desert lime pit”, which is brought closer to Shemrān by Schindler. The historian and linguist Ahmad Kasravi with the same idea and oppose Tahrān , “place hot” with Shemrān , “place cold”. The orientalist Vladimir Minorsky proposes on his side another explanation while basing himself on the significance of tah which means “bottom, depth” in Iranian dialects, which would be associated in the name of the town of Ray, which would like to say that Teheran means “which is behind Ray”. Xavier de Planhol, professor emeritus of Geography, underlines in the Encyclopædia Iranica that these proposals seem conjecturelles and that it is vain to seek the origin of the name of the city. Even the orthography of its name changed, since before the 20th century, Teheran was written with a ط whereas she is written now with ت , which is supposed to better represent the pronunciation of its inhabitants.

The foundation of the city was initially circumscribed in extreme cases of two zones which have the characteristics of the plains: the high zone is made up of coarse and permeable gravels, and the low zone is made up of finer and more impermeable overwash phases. The zone where Teheran is built made the transition between the sterile desert ( to kavir ) and the mountainous chain from Alborz.

The city does not have very important water resources. It is located at equal distance from two important catchment areas which collect water which comes from the mountains located upstream. These two basins are that of Karaj in the west and that of Jājerud, to about thirty kilometers in the east, which feeds Varamin and the surrounding villages. Between the urban areas of Karaj and Varamin, there was in the past only one important city, Ray, which was with the junction of the roads between the two basins. No major seism not having taken place in Teheran for more than 175 years, of the specialists have estimated that an important earthquake could take place in Teheran in a near future. According to a study undertaken in 1999-2000, such a seism could cause between: 120,000 and: 380,000 dead.

Administrative geography

The metropolis of Teheran, whose surface increased much during second half of the 20th century extends now on several departments from the Province from Teheran: the department of Teheran contains the majority of the city, which also extends on the departments from Eslamshahr, of Ray and of the Shemiranat. The term “metropolis” or “agglomeration” used here does not have an administrative value. It is used in a geographical direction, to indicate the town of Teheran and its urban area, which corresponds to the municipality of Teheran and the Province of Teheran.

The department (or shahrestān ) of Teheran is bordered by the department of the Shemiranat in North, of Damavand in the East, Eslamshahr, Pakdasht and Ray in the South and of the departments of Karaj and Shahriar in the West.

The municipality of Teheran ( shahrdāri ) is divided of 22 districts ( mantagheh ) municipal, laying out each one of its administrative center. The districts are numbered to be identified, as on the plan opposite. Teheran is divided into 112 districts ( nāhiyeh ) whose principal ones are pointed out hereafter:

Abbas Abad, Afsariyeh, Amir Abad, Bagh Feiz, Baharestan, Darakeh, Darband, Dardasht, Dar Abad, Darrous, Dibaji, Djannat Abad, Elahiyeh, Evin, Farmanieh, Gheytarieh, Gholhak, Gisha, Gomrok, Hassan Abad, Jamaran, Javadiyeh, Jomhuri, Jordan, Lavizan, Nazi Abad, Niavaran, Park-e Shahr, Pasdaran, Punak, Ray, Sadeghiyeh, Shahrara, Shahr-e ziba, Shahrak-e Gharb, Shemiran, Tajrish, Tehranpars, Vanak, Velenjak, Yaft Abad, Zafaraniyeh, etc These districts correspond to administrative divisions depending on a district.

Although separate administratively, Ray, Shemiran and Karaj are often regarded as belonging to the metropolis of Teheran.

History

Origins

Teheran was formerly a village located at seven or eight kilometers of the historical big city of Ray. It was one of the first villages of the North of this city whose inhabitants took refuge in Shemiran, Qasran and in the piémonts of the Elbourz in order to flee the heat of the desert South. Traces of settlement dating from the Neolithic and even of former periods were discovered on the site of Teheran and with Ray (like the site of Cheshm-e Ali, located in the center of Rey). According to him, the old ones were made the war and the inhabitants hesitated to go in another district that theirs. At that time, the city has a particular aspect which strikes these two authors. Indeed, the habitat Troglodyte or semi-troglodyte is current in Teheran, thus offering to the inhabitants a refuge against the insecurity reigning in the city. This type of habitat is also found in the North of Iran in order to fight the rigors of the winter. At the 14th century, it is Varamin which is the most important city of the Mongolian province, made up of four departments, of which that of Teheran. Ray forming at that time part of the district of Teheran, and the preeminence of Teheran on Ray seems to go back to this time.

Gift Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, a Castilian ambassador , is probably the first European to visit Teheran, stopping in July 1404 there, at the time of a voyage towards Samarkand (today in Ouzbékistan and which was then the Mongolian capital). It describes Teheran like a big city ( gran ciudad ), equipped with a royal residence ( posada ). Ray is described like an abandoned city ( agora deshabitada ). The royal residence is a residence Timouride, and it appears that the palate was built in the North of Teheran. The exact site of the Timouride city can be reconstituted according to the site of some Imamzadeh S: the Southern limit of the city was at that time in Imamzadeh Sayyed Esma' it (built before 1481 and currently the oldest monument of the city, located in the district of Chaleh Meydān ), and the North-western limit was the Timouride palate, located at the current site of the Palais of Golestan.

As from the Timouride period, the town of Teheran develops towards North, in the search of purer air and water. This major movement has been for this time a constant of the historical development of Teheran, tendency which worked the social geography of the city.

At the time of Safavides, Teheran is a regional administrative center, which accommodates a beğlerbeği and a governor of province. However, the city counts neither large mosque, neither manufactures, nor another trace of urbanization on behalf of Safavides.

Shah Abbas II also resides at some recoveries in Teheran and made there build a residence called Chāhār bāgh . Shah Suleyman made there build an imperial secretariat ( Divān Khāneh ) in the center of the city ( Chenārestān ). It is in this place that the ambassador of the Othoman Sultan Ahmet III meets in 1721 Chah Sultan Hossein, last king of the dynasty safavide before the Afghan invasion. At the end of the 18th century, Teheran is not thus any more one provincial small town but already took importance for the Iranian sovereigns.

In 1722, the troops of Mir Mahmoud Hotaki invade Ispahan and Iran enters during one time of disorders from which also Teheran and its area suffer.

Under the dynasty of the Zand, Teheran becomes a military center whereas the Zand tribes and Qadjar fight to seize the power in the country. Between 1755 and 1759 Muhammad Karim Khân plans to make of Teheran the capital of the country; it makes build buildings in the enclosure of the royal district ( Khalvat-e Karim Khani for example). The royal district then acquires all the characteristics of the Arg , royal district strengthened. Finally, Karim Khan will prefer to name Shiraz capital country.

With died of Karim Khan in 1779, Teheran is disputed between Qafur Khan (faithful to the Zands) and Aga Mohammad Khan Qajar. The city falls to the hands from an ally from Qajars in 1785, and Aga Mohammad Khan Qajar, first king of the dynasty, returns in the city on March 12th, 1786 and makes its capital of it.

Fath Ali Shah (1797 - 1834) is the first builder of Teheran. He embellishes the Arg (royal district) and makes build the Emarat Bādgir and the Takht-e Marmar (Marble palate) within this one. He also builds many important buildings like the Mosquée of the Shah ( Masjed-e Shah ) inside the Bazar and the Palate of Negarestan and Lalezar. The city attracts more and more inhabitants and the double population in 20 years. However, in 1834, at the end of its reign, constructions are still not completed. In 1870 - 1871, it destroys the old fortifications to make some build news. The new wall then takes a form of irregular octagone of 19,2 km circumference, and bored of 12 decorated monumental ceramics doors. Nasseredin Shah makes renovate many buildings and the Qanat S to supply the water capital. It carries out of more than great work of the type hausmanniens while boring in the center of large avenues rectilinear and suitable for motor vehicles. Great places are also built, as the place Tupkhāneh (place of the guns, 275m × 137m). The walls built by Nasseredin Shah are destroyed in 1932, leaving the place to broad rectilinear boulevards; only one of the doors remains to date. Reza Shah calls upon Iranian and foreign architects to build many official buildings during the Années 1930. One can quote Nikolai Marcoff which builds the Lycée Alborz, André Godard which builds the National museum of Iran, Maxime Siroux for certain faculties of the Université of Teheran, Mohsen Forughi for Bank-e Melli and the Faculty of Law of the university of Teheran, Vartan Avanessian for the complex of apartments Reza Shah and the school for Vartan orphans. Rey and Shemiran, become of the suburbs of Teheran, are administratively gathered the same year.

The first town-planning of Teheran is defined in 1969. It privileges an urban development on a East-West axis, which has contrasted with the North-South tendency observed for several centuries. The town-planning envisages the creation of new districts of dwelling ( Shahrak ), of new industrial districts in the West of the city towards Karaj, the displacement of the shopping mall and administrative apart from the limits of the old city, as well as the creation of a network of intra-urban highways rather dense, on the model of Los Angeles.

Emergence of the suburbs and transformation into metropolis

Until the years 1975-1980, Teheran did not have urban suburbs, but only one satellite town, Karaj and rural suburbs made up of large boroughs. The migrant population of the first period of urban development (1955-1970) piled up in miserable constructions in periphery of the center, especially in the South of the city. According to the tendency started at the 19th century, the South accommodates the poor classes, North the rich person, and the middle-classes settle in the East and especially in the West of the city.

The industrial park Teheran-Karaj develops very quickly along the first highway built in Iran, and the workmen coming from the North-West of Iran prefer to settle around Karaj, which becomes in a few years popular suburbs being used as satellite with the capital. In the years 1970, Teheran is a compact city, without urban suburbs: one passes without transition from the desert or the valleys of mountain to the pollution of the capital.

During the revolutionary period, the “rurbanisation” of the area of Teheran is accentuated, and the revolutionary habitat develops with the periphery of the cities. The new ones téhéranais build residences without license, on grounds squattés or bought without formality. The buildings modest, but of honourable quality, are organized according to an often coherent overall plan. Bernard Hourcade note which this emergence of the suburbs does not give place to the construction of shantytowns, except some small small islands. Teheran is surrounded by suburbs of villages inhabited by townsmen since the Iranian revolution, and some of the villages become true agglomerations of: 200,000 inhabitants in fifteen years.

Bernard Hourcade notes that the migration of the populations towards the suburbs constitutes a catch of distance with the political system dominating, as the social movements and the riots show it which burst in the suburbs of Eslāmshahr in 1995 |barcolor=rgb (0%, 0%, 100%) |65 and more|92268|108450 |60-64|75706|69539 |55-59|88500|90435 |50-54|115194|93796 |45-49|121292|106080 |40-44|136853|123135 |35-39|171597|156125 |30-34|223678|212496 |25-29|280264|270483 |20-24|319923|306845 |15-19|303453|310549 |10-14|299241|282077 |5-9|380257|360465 |0-4|474063|458315 }}

In 1986, the rate of elimination of illiteracy of the population is of 81,9%. The same year, the Middle Age of the marriage in Teheran was 20,7 years, and it increases since (it was established at 25,1 years for the whole of Iran in 1996). The fertility rate was of 3,05 in 1991, the 68,5 years life expectancy and the rough death rate of 6 ‰.

With regard to the ethnicities, the composition of the population of Teheran is similar to that of Iran in its totality: the majority of the inhabitants are Moslem, and there exist small Christian communities (Armenian, Assyrian), Jewish and zoroastrienne. The Persan is the most used language, although a quarter of the population speaks the Azeri .

The nonMoslem religious minorities were historically established in their respective areas, but the events of the 20th century made increase the proportion of members of the religious minorities in Teheran, where the communities remain dynamic. The zoroastriens of Teheran thus account for 23% of the population zoroastrienne of Iran. The Jewish of Teheran account for as for them 64% of the Juifs of Iran; the Assyro-chaldéens as well as the Armenian count the three-quarters of their population in Teheran. There exist also Christian cemeteries in the city, as the British cemetery where allied soldiers of the Second world war in the North of the city rest, or the Polish cemetery located at Dulab, in the South of the city, dating from the same time.

Teheran is an important place in the landscape religious and political Iranian because it is the place where the Prière is held of Friday, in the buildings of the Université of Teheran. The sermon of the prayer of Friday is pronounced by the Supreme guide of the Islamic revolution itself (currently Ali Khamenei), which is compensated by the president of the Conseil of understanding and by another member of the council, the spokesperson of the Assemblée of the experts and by the secretary of the Conseil of the Guards. The sermon of the prayer of Friday of Teheran, retransmis on television Iranian, is used as vehicle with the messages which wants to make pass the Iranian mode to the population. The audience of this weekly religious event declined since the beginnings of the Islamic Republic.

Higher education

Since the foundation of Dar-ol Fonoun in 1851, Teheran saw developing the number of institutions of higher education. The University of Teheran, founded in 1933, is the first Iranian university of State, and also the largest university of the country. There exists now about fifty institutions of higher education in Teheran.

The universities of Teheran, as in all Iran, are controlled by the State. In spite of this fact, they remain hearths of opposition to the capacity, and particularly in Teheran where the population coed is most numerous of the country. The students, who they are islamist or not, dispute the policies and the practices of the government since the end of the war with Iraq (1988). During the summer 1999, the protests give place to a student rising whose starting point is with the Université of Teheran and who extends to other universities from the country. The protests last only 6 days, are violently repressed, but shake the Islamic Republic. In 2003, new protests coeds take place in margin of the fourth birthday of this rising, this time even more claiming and appealing at the fall of Islamic theocracy. The poor populations of Teheran are more favoured all the same than the poor populations of the remainder of Iran. Indeed, IDH of Teheran east of 0,842 compared with 0,758 for the remainder of the country in 1996; the rate of Elimination of illiteracy (84,7%) and the Life expectancy (70,5 years) of the inhabitants of Teheran are also the best of Iran.

Poor populations, called mostazafin مستضعفين|“disinherited” , live in majority in the south of the city, often in Bidonville S. the abstract establishments of the shantytowns are called zageh and their occupants koukhnishinān كوخنشينان|“those which live on the stone” . Certain sources evoke 3 million inhabitants of shantytowns in and around Teheran, in more than 200 abstract communities. The mégabidonville of Islamshahr (compound of Islamshahr with: 350,000 inhabitants and Chahar Dangesh with: 250,000 inhabitants) would be the 21e larger shantytown in the world. The shantytowns of Teheran in majority are occupied by immigrants, Réfugié S of foreign origin (30% of the refugees in Iran live in Teheran) and of the squatteurs. The development of these shantytowns mainly proceeded of a “Urbanisation pirate”, carried out by poor populations, which peacefully infiltrate the city and with small scales.

The phenomenon of the squat is parallel to the fast urbanization of Teheran in the years 1970. The first confrontations between the police force and the squatteurs took place in 1977. The Iranian Révolution of 1979 gives a new dash to the phenomenon: the underprivileged populations occupy of the grounds to the favor of the revolution, and the revolutionary habitat develops then with the periphery of the city, the houses are built illegally, generally during the night. At the beginning of the Years 1980: 100,000 hearths are in Gowdinishinan and in the squats. In 1986, more than twenty new communities emerged at the edge of the city (with the limits of the network of bus), for a population of more than: 460,000 inhabitants. The factors pushing the populations disadvantaged to settle in Teheran are varied: the Guerre Iran-Iraq causes the displacement of 2,5 million people in Iran; the Afghan refugees are two million to come to settle in Iran as from the years 1980, including 120 with: 300,000 in Teheran; the Rural migration of Iranian pushes 1,5 million of them towards the capital. The newcomers squattent then claim services of the municipality (drinking water and electricity in particular) by petitions, demonstrations and Sit-in S, campaigns often carried out by women. If that is not enough, the squatteurs carry out illegal connections then, their expansion is increasing and concentrates especially in Teheran and in the big cities of province. The authorities are worry about this expansion and the enthusiasm of the town populations for the parabolas; the programs diffused by satellite since the foreigner cannot indeed be controlled by the governmental services.

It is in Teheran that is located the national football stadium, with the Sports complex Azadi, which has a capacity of: 100,000 places. In 2005, FIFA forced Iran to limit the number of spectators authorized to return in the stage because of inadequate procedures of safety which caused the death of several supporters in March. The other stages of importance in Teheran are the stages Shahid Dastgerdi , Takhti and Shahid Shirudi . Teheran counts seven football clubs evolving/moving in the first Iranian division:

• Esteghlal
• Pirouzi (Persepolis)
• Sheba Battery Teheran
• Saipa
• Paykan
• Rah Ahan
• Paas Teheran
• Oghab Teheran

At ten minutes of Teheran the winter sports resort of Tochal is, built in 1976. It extends between: 2,820 m and: 3,850 m of altitude, and are accessible by a Télécabine on the basis of North from Teheran which counts 3 intermediate stations. The height and the position of the station enable him to be snow-covered per annum 8 months. A sports complex is located at the foot of the telpher carrier, it accommodates various activities: shooting with the arc, gymnastics, tennis, climbing, paintball.

Near Teheran also the winter sports resorts of Dizin and Shemshak are.

The phenomenon “Drugs” in Teheran

Iran was a producer country and consuming Opium during centuries. In 1949, the consumers of drugs accounted for 11% of the population; the regular consumers of opium were 1,3 million and 500 smokings of opium existed then in Teheran.

Teheran is located on the road borrowed by opium and the Héroïne coming from Afghanistan and of Pakistan. The main roads of the traffic pass indeed by the Khorassan and the Sistan and Balouchestan, of the mountainous regions and inhospitable, before continuing towards Teheran, then towards the Turkey, from where drug leaves for the Europe by the “road the Balkans”. The seizures of opium made in Iran thus account for 25% of the world seizures of opium.

In 1999, it was estimated that: 240,000 inhabitants of Teheran were users of drug. This figure could be very in on this side reality, since the rate of prevalence of a use of very occasional opium is estimated there at 60% by a joint report/ratio of the ministry for health and the United Nations. In 2002,150 to 200 retailers and users are stopped each day in Teheran.

The migration inside the social country, urbanization, delinquency and problems increased, leaving room with the development and the expansion of the problems involved in drugs.

Religious buildings

There are few very remarkable religious buildings in Teheran especially taking into consideration city like Ispahan or Chiraz. That is due partly to the relative “youth” of Teheran as an Iranian capital. One can however quote some important monuments from the historical, cultural and architectural point of view:

• Several historical mosques date from the time Qadjare; one can quote the Soltani mosque, the mosque Mo' ezz o-doleh, the mosque Haj Seyyed Azizollah, built by Fath Ali Shah, or the Sepahsalar mosque, near to the large bazaar, dating from the same time.

• the Hosseiniyeh Ershad is one of the principal religious institutes of Teheran, its blue dome overhangs the Shariati avenue.
• the Mosque of the Imam Khomeiny (ex-Mosque of the Shah) is completely inserted in the bazaar without there being true separation between the street and the court of the mosque.
• the mosque, and the minaret of Pamenar, which dates from the 13th century, built under reign Mozaffar the Ale in year 793 of the Iranian Calendrier on ordering of the sultan Emad-eddin Mahmoud, are regarded as belonging to the artistic and historical inheritance of Iran.
• the mosque Mosalla, one of the largest mosques in the world is in construction in Teheran. It has four 136 height meters minarets. It will be able to accommodate several million people. Construction would have to be completed in 2006. It was not finished in 2007, but prayers of Friday are held to with it already.
• the city counts several Tekiyeh , buildings where the Shiite gather to commemorate the martyrdom of Husayn Ben Ali (called Hossein in Iran); these ceremonies have the name of Tazieh.
• From the presence of a strong Armenian community and Assyrian, Teheran accommodates also a certain number of churches, like the church Sourp Gevork (built in 1790), the church Thaddée Bartoqimus (1808), the church Enjili (1867), the Tatavus church, an Assyrian church and a Armenian cathedral (built in the years 1960) as well as an orthodoxe Greek cathedral.
• Teheran also accommodates a significant proportion of the Juifs of Iran, the city counts several synagogs.

Palate

The palate of Golestān is the palate of the Qadjare dynasty. It is a vast whole of buildings encircling a garden. Restorations whose completion date is not known are in hand. It is located in the district of the Bazaar.

The palate Sa' D Âbâd was the residence of the family Pahlavi. Its interest is to be on the heights of Teheran where the air is polluted less and to be surrounded by a park whose freshness encourages to be delayed there.

Other palates like Niavaran , the last residence of the Shah, are located in a great complex containing several monuments of the Qajar time, like the palate Sāhebgharanyeh and the Koushk-e Ahmad Shahi . They are located at the North of the city.

Gardens

Total surface area of the parks managed by the municipality of Teheran east of: 1,130 ha.

Large and maintained well, the public gardens téhéranais are located in all the city and are a harbor of calm in a noisy metropolis. Most important are:

• Park Mellat (ex Chahanchahi ) in the avenue Vali-ye Asr. The complex of National television (IRIB) is in the vicinity.
• Park Lāleh (ex Farah ) in the Keshavarz boulevard. The museums of the carpet and contemporary art are coupled there.
• Park Saii , on the Which occurred Vali-ye Asr.
• Park Danechjou (ex Valiahd ) in the center of the city. The Opera of Teheran ( Talar-e Vahdat ) is in the vicinity and the Theater of the City ( Teatr-e Shahr ) inside the garden.
• Park Shahr in the south of the city, close to the Bazaar. It has a surface of 24,7 ha and was inaugurated in 1960.
• Parc Niavarān with the feet of the palate of the same name in the north of the city.
• Park Jamchidieh with the foot of the mountains overhanging the city. It is one of the last parks builds at the time Pahlavi.

Museums

Teheran accommodates several major museums of Iran. One can quote the following:

• the Museum of glasses and ceramics ( Abgineh ). It is a small museum within a very pretty framework with a modern and pleasant presentation. The building was the house of Ghavam bone-Saltaneh, an Iranian politician and was then used as embassy of Egypt until 1976.
• the National museum of Iran ( Muzeh Iran Bastan ) holds a very rich collection on ancient Iran and Islamic arts.
• the Musée of contemporary art is single in this area of the world. It has some very interesting parts of the largest contemporary artists like Giacometti, Picasso…
• the Musée of the carpet is close to the museum of contemporary art and the large public park Laleh. It presents a collection of old carpets.
• the Musée of the crown jewels has an extraordinary collection of jewels having belonged to the Iranian sovereigns.
• the Museum Reza Abassi has a rich person collection of miniature Iranian women.
• the Museum of natural history, located in the palate of Darabad.
• the Museum of the cinema, which recalls the history of the Iranian cinema since its beginnings at the end of the 19th century.
• the Museum of the post office and the telegraph.

Alive arts

Teheran inaugurates its first cinema in 1904. In 1993, one could count 74 cinemas in Teheran. The cinematographic image forms part of the Iranian daily newspaper now, and téhéranais them can regularly go to the cinema, see Iranian films or foreign films (all subjected to an prior approval of the ministry for the Culture, called Ershad , and possibly with the Censure.)

The Symphony orchestra of Teheran, founded in 1937, occurs with the Roudaki Hall or the “room of the Unit” ( Talar-e Vahdat ). Iranian or foreign plays are regularly programmed with the Theater of the town of Teheran ( Theatr-e Shahr ) or with the Talar-e Vahdat since 1971. The theater knows a certain renewal of success in Iran, partially caused by the absence of meeting places between the young people. The theater of the town of Teheran programmed 17 parts in 1998 and more than 35 in 1999. The arts center Bahman, open in 1992 in the south of Teheran, also programs plays. The 3 quoted rooms of theater are the only ones in Teheran to program plays; other arts centres devoting itself mainly to the music. The Tekiyeh Dowlat does not exist nowadays any more, but the tradition of Ta' ziyeh remains observed in Teheran like elsewhere in Iran at the time of Achoura.

Cultural events

Teheran accommodates several cultural events of importance. One can quote the following:

• Festival Internation of Teheran, an international film festival which is held every year since 1971.
• International festival of the Film Fajr, which is held every year at February since 1982.
• the international exhibition of the Book of Teheran, which is held every year at May since 1987. Its last edition made it possible 900 editors to present: 75,000 titles coming from 55 countries.
• the International festival of animation, which is held every year at February since 2002.
• a Festival of Art takes place in Teheran since 2004 ( Tehran Art Expo ).

Policy

As a capital of the country, Teheran accommodates the principal institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran: the Majlis (Parliament), the the Council of the guards, the the Council of understanding and the Parliament of the experts (officially established with Qom but who also meets in Mashhad and with Teheran).

Organization of the municipality of Teheran

Teheran is directed by the Islamic municipal council of the town of Teheran شورایاسلامیشهرتهران|Shorā-ye Eslami-ye Shahr-e Tehrān . This council is composed of 15 people elected by the vote for all. The municipal council is in charge of the election of the Maire of Teheran, the management and the budget of the town of Teheran. The current mayor of Teheran east Mohammad Ghalibaf which succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September 2005.

The mayor, assisted by offices and commissions and 8 city council men (detail in the diagram below), is in load of the management of the municipality of Teheran.

Political changes of the Years 1990

At the end of the War Iran-Iraq, the Iranian government, with the publication of its first five-year plan (1989 - 1994), a crisis of the governorship in the country admits implicitly: the plan underlines the weakening and the disappearance of the citizenship in addition to many economic problems. The municipality of Teheran sudden of the important transformations under the mandate of the mayor Qolamhossein Karbaschi aiming at solving this crisis of the governorship in the framework and the limits imposed by the five-year plan.

Qolamhossein Karbaschi becomes mayor of Teheran in 1990 and adopts a strategy quickly aiming at renewing urban fabric while integrating a population disillusioned vis-a-vis her politicians. Indeed, Soussan Mobasser specifies that “in all the bazaars, any goods which are not intended for the local sale, either with the ultimate consumer, or with the retailers, are forwarded to Teheran”.

Teheran also accommodates the Bourse of Teheran since 1968. In 2005 appeared in it more than 420 companies for a capitalization of: 327,417 Iranian billion rials, being equivalent to 45 billion dollars.

The shopping mall is in the South of the city and the traditional Bazar at the center. Industries producing of the building machinery concentrate on the plates of the Southern end of Teheran. The factories and industries are in the West.

According to Ebrahimi, the informal sector employs a big part of the active population. Hourcade estimated this population at 10% of the active population of the capital in the years 1970. The figures of activity and employment of the population of Teheran to the census of 1976 and 1986 are presented opposite.

The number of light cars and light commercial vehicles in Teheran was estimated at more than two million in 2003.

The car plays a very important part for the households of Teheran; at the same time for their mobility and their economy. The majority of the measurements taken by the authorities in order to improve the automobile movements had negative effects on the life of the inhabitants of Teheran: the traffic is very dense and often congested, the security issues for the pedestrians and the cyclists are very important, and air pollution is very important. Moreover, the number of parking spaces available is not high enough in comparison with the number of vehicles circulating in Teheran.

The municipality of Teheran, to try to contain the problems of automobile traffic, created a zone restricted in the center of Teheran: this zone is prohibited with the vehicles not having an authorization to go there, it remains however accessible to every Friday, which is the weekly public holiday in Iran.

There exist also six lines of wire data bus in the south of Teheran, which transports approximately: 150000 passengers per day.

Teheran is served by the International airport Mehrabad, the first airport of the city, doubled of a military base, which is located at the West of the city, maintaining in full urban area. The International airport Imam Khomeini, with 50 kilometers in the South of the city, was inaugurated in 2004 and is in the long term intended to accommodate the international flights whereas Mehrabad would be reserved for the interior flights.

Teheran has also a central station and 4 terminals of buses which offer regular services towards all the cities of the country (Final South, Is, Western and EIB-haghi).

Environmental problems and pollution

According to the data collected by the AQCC (Company of quality control of the town air of Teheran) and the Iranian Department of the Environment, the town of Teheran east one of the most polluted world. In November 2006, air pollution in Iranian capital would have made: 3,600 dead, primarily by cardiorespiratory pathologies. According to the Agency of International Japan co-operation (JICA), the mobile sources of emission accounted for 71% of the whole of air pollution in the metropolis.

The carbon monoxide represents an important part of the 1,5 million tons of polluting products rejected in Teheran in 2002, and its direct responsibility in the increase for the admissions for patients for cardiac disorders the hospitals for the city is attested. The emissions of more than two million particular vehicles and old means of transport are the main cause of air pollution in Teheran. The president of the time, Mohammad Khatami stated that the cars built in Iran must have standards more favorable for the environment, and promised the passage to the fuel without lead. Indeed, the car fleet is mainly old, sometimes of more than 20 years (with models made in Iran like the Peykan). The municipality of Teheran, associated with the Iranian Department of the Environment set up intended measures to reduce pollution: in 2002, for example, near total of: 30,000 taxis of Teheran functioned with LPG.

Teheran encounters also problems as for the water supply, which is not enough with the needs for the city. Moreover, there exist still insufficiencies of the sewerage systems, and the majority of human waste are poured in the ground or the rivers. In 2003, the evacuation of waste water in Teheran was done by:

• of the wells of absorptions (50%)
• of the pits skeptics (10%)
• the collecting system of the waste water (10%)
• the remainder of waste water is rejected into nature.

To cure this problem, the municipality of Teheran launched a great project of construction of a sewerage system, which should last until 2029.

Appendices

Twinnings of the municipality of Teheran

• (2001)
• (2006)

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