Following last year's decline in the building investments in Tehran due to a series of compounding causes, wandering capitals launched an onslaught countrywide towards any land money could buy — agricultural land, natural reserves, roadsides and river banks being no exception — with the Caspian Sea provinces specifically falling prey to the "Land Rush." The magnetic market was so sweeping as to attract the alarmed attention of the national press and government officials. To call further attention to the pressing need to amend the land ownership laws, if a warning be indeed necessary, excerpts of some essays on the issue will follow.
Over the years of publishing Memar magazine, many issues have been dedicated to the topic of land under various titles such as "Land Law," "Urban Land," "Land Parcelling," and others. The issue of land sales — one of the most enduring problems of cities that has been passed down from one government to the next — along with the turmoil of construction and violations of building codes, have continued in various forms throughout different periods until the present day. During this time, the discussion of urban land, along with the related issues of urban planning regulations and building codes, has been among the central concerns of experts and urban planners.
In the past year, following a relative stagnation in construction activity in Tehran, new waves of capital investment have swept across the country like a flood, particularly toward the northern regions and the Caspian coastal provinces. This rush of capital, attracted by the extraordinary profits from land speculation, has led to the purchase of agricultural lands, natural reserves, riverbanks, and roadsides on a massive scale. The phenomenon has been so widespread and alarming that it has drawn the attention of the national press, government officials, and security agencies.
The position of urban land as the most important resource, the simplest and most accessible asset, has always been a subject of contention. Urban land constitutes the foundation of urban development and is the basis upon which all aspects of city life depend. The management and planning of urban land, along with the legal frameworks governing land ownership, directly impact the quality of urban environments, the distribution of public services, and the overall welfare of citizens.
The first reaction of the aware and the concerned to the situation came from Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, who in the early years of the Constitutional Revolution proposed a bill in the parliament for the registration of barren lands and their transfer to cultivators. This was the first step in addressing the issue of land ownership in Iran. Subsequently, various land reform laws were enacted, including the Land Reform Act of 1962, which sought to redistribute agricultural land from large landlords to peasant farmers.
With the growth of urban population and the increasing complexity of cities, the need for comprehensive land-use planning became ever more apparent. The Urban Land Law of 1987, enacted after the Islamic Revolution, attempted to address the issue of speculative land ownership and to ensure that urban development served the public interest rather than private profit. However, the law's implementation faced numerous challenges, and its effects have been debated by urban planners and legal scholars.
The current situation demands urgent attention. The unchecked rush toward land acquisition in environmentally sensitive areas — particularly the northern forests, the Caspian littoral, and protected natural habitats — threatens not only the ecological balance but also the long-term sustainability of urban and regional development. Building codes must be enforced with greater rigor, and land ownership laws must be reformed to prevent the wholesale conversion of agricultural and natural lands into speculative real estate ventures.
The issues discussed in this editorial are of such fundamental importance that merely raising them is insufficient. What is needed is a concerted effort by all stakeholders — government agencies, professional organizations, academic institutions, and civil society — to develop and implement comprehensive policies that balance the legitimate needs of urban development with the imperative of environmental preservation and the rights of future generations.
1 Memar Magazine, Issue 18, Spring 1380.
2 Memar Magazine, Issue 19, pp. 3-6.
3 The subject of this editorial has been addressed in Shahrsazi (Urbanism) magazine, Year 2, Issue 19, Bahman 1380, pp. 30-33.