Enhancing Social Sustainability by Revitalizing Post-industrial Landscapes (Case Study: Brick Kilns in District 19 of Tehran)

Relocating industries from the urban fabric of the cities emerging from globalization to their outskirts, like what happened in the 19th district of Tehran, has resulted in post-industrial landscapes and various and numerous social problems for these landscapes’ surrounding areas. Despite this issue, post-industrial landscapes are an opportunity to revive the dimensions of urban life; however, urban approaches on which actions have been taken in the 19th district, including the 2007 Master Plan of Tehran and the 2005 Detailed Plan of the 19th district, have not been successful in solving problems and increasing social sustainability. This article examines the reasons associated with the failure of the applied approaches in increasing social sustainability and attempts to understand how to revitalize post-industrial landscapes to increase social sustainability. For this reason, after studying the concept of landscape and post-industrial landscape, the standard views towards them, and social sustainability, different layers of the landscape of the case study were analyzed and integrated. Finally, the reasons for the failure of the currently used approaches were outlined, and general suggestions for solving social problems were provided. The result of the research is that the use of non-inclusive definitions of these landscapes has resulted in physical actions, ignoring the identity of these post-industrial landscapes, the main audiences, and their needs. However, the social problems in this area are not only related to physical issues but are also influenced by a set of characteristics. An accurate definition of the landscape by emphasizing the objective-subjective and holistic nature of the landscape by examining the different dimensions of post-industrial landscapes can lead to the origin of existing problems in the area. The problems of the residents around the kilns, who are their main audience in these landscapes, require comprehensive solutions according to the origin of the problems.