Assessing the Sustainability of Social Development, During the Period of Shah Abbas I Safavid

Due to various continuing social, environmental, and economic challenges facing contemporary Iran, striving for sustainable development is our first serious and undeniable national need; and achieving sustainable development depends on our effort to recount the historical experiences. The main purpose is to measure the Sustainability of development during the period of Shah Abbas I Safavid. This study is historical research with an analytic approach. The authors have used the TBL framework to evaluate the success rate of Shah Abbas I. Based on the results obtained in this paper, the strengths of his management strategies can be categorized in three sections, as follows: social (securing the country, avoiding religious and ethnic prejudices, legal protection of minorities, etc.), environmental (successful management of water resources, water sensitive urban design, transferring economic orientation from agriculture to trade, etc.) and also economic (permanent support for craftsmen and traders, reconstruction and securing the roads network, creating economic security, etc.). By implementing these management policies, he succeeded in achieving sustainable development, that its benefits continued until four decades after his death. Learning from historical experiences, like what was discussed in this article, can be a path out of the current situation.