Evaluation of the Prospective Role of Affordable Housing in Regeneration of Historical Districts of Iranian Cities to Alleviate Socio-spatial Segregation

Abstract

In many countries, the poorly constructed and socially deprived areas in the historic part of the city—known as declining areas—have been the subject of a variety of intervention approaches. Housing-led approach in regeneration aims to tackle the failure of commodified housing market, meet housing needs of deprived households, mitigate the social deprivation and poverty and improve the area’s built environment. This chapter investigates how housing-led approach in regeneration programmes has the ability to meet the low-income housing needs decently and tackle social exclusion; and how this approach might contribute in restructuring cities. During the last decades in Tehran, declining areas have been subjected to many urban regeneration programmes. Here contemporary programmes are categorised into two generations. These programmes—particularly the second generation—not only took the redevelopment of declining areas in historic zones into account, but also looked at the provision of (affordable) housing, to meet the overall accelerating housing needs caused by rapidly growing urbanisation, demographic change and unaffordability of houses in the city. However, success degrees are disputable, particularly in terms of the ways in which they have restructured the socio-spatial pattern of the city and whether the targeted areas moved towards social inclusion or not. Evaluating advantages and disadvantages of contemporary regeneration in Tehran as well as some other international experiences, the chapter argues that in order for affordable housing-led approach to regeneration of declining areas in the historic zones to be successful five key points need to be considered: (a) a developed monetary system has to secure the financial aspects of programmes, (b) to alleviate the negative impact of interventions, the changes have to take place in long period, (c) the participation of private sector is crucial, albeit with reservations, (d) each programme requires its own innovative methods to encourage participation of people, (e) on top of spatial development, the empowerment of deprived households through various methods is required.