Exploring the dilapidated neighborhood improvement using child-friendly city principles in Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Tehran's urban management approach has changed from large to small-scale projects in the new period due to the increase in the amount of semi-finished projects and the municipality's budget shortage. The target was to change the concept of “city as a site of permanent construction” to “neighborhoods’ improvement” through which citizens can experience tranquility and stability. Besides, there is a growing concern about the children being exposed to different types of urban problems and providing them with their essential needs in public places in the cities of Iran. Therefore, the municipality subjected dilapidated neighborhoods, focusing on child-friendly small-scale projects. The present study aims to analyze the success of a project named Colorful Alley in the Dastgheib neighborhood in Tehran, Iran. In this regard, the related literature of child-friendly cities was reviewed. Then, the questionnaire was designed based on the conceptual model, to determine the inhabitants’ perceptions. The data analysis includes the Friedman test to determine the ranking between the project's successful aspects and the Correlation test to identify the impact of improving one dimension on the other. The results show a positive response among inhabitants of Colorful Alley. The analyzing criteria include the five successful aspects of collective memory, identity, livability, presence, and distinction. The result confirmed that improving visual-perceptual criteria has a direct and strong correlation with improving social or procedural criteria. In fact, child-friendly city principles can be deemed as a catalyst for improving poor neighborhoods.