INCREASE

Problem

Tehran and the neighboring city of Karaj in Iran are among the cities facing major natural hazards. These include geo-physical, hydrological and, increasingly, climatic risks. At the same time, these cities are growing at a rapid pace. The increase in risks requires the implementation of appropriate strategies and measures to mitigate these risks. It is important to establish an integrated risk management system that considers the planning and control of urban development processes across sectors and stakeholders. Unfortunately, this has either not been implemented at all or only insufficiently so far.

Objectives

The INCREASE project aims to contribute to Iran's short-term disaster risk reduction, long-term strategic planning, and overall resilience by bridging the gaps between theoretical knowledge, strategies, disaster management plans, capacities, and actual practices related to multiple hazards. The IOER sub-project contributes to strengthening resilience through structural-physical vulnerability and resilience analyses and contributes to the development and implementation of strategic plans for the management of urban development in the context of multiple natural hazards. Based on internationally recognized methods of vulnerability analysis and resilience research, a knowledge integration of specific research-based methods into strategic planning is possible.

Research Questions

1. How can typological approaches for assessing building damage and vulnerability to various natural hazards (floods, heat, earthquakes) be integrated into a multi-risk and hazard assessment framework? How comparable are earthquake design standards in Germany and Iran?
2. How can planning processes and methods for integrating resilience into Iran's urban strategic planning be investigated? What is the transferability of resilience research findings to the Iranian context, considering barriers to incorporating resilience into planning guidelines?

Methodology

The methodology for the first research question involves the use of a building typological approach for the damage and vulnerability assessment of buildings under different natural hazards, based on civil engineering analysis methods. This includes, among other things, an analysis of heat-sensitive building types, especially for German cases, with a critical consideration of the transferability of adaptation measures to the Iranian context, as well as a comparison of standards of earthquake design standards between Iran and Germany. The findings will be integrated into the conceptualization of multi-risk and hazard assessment as well as into the development and application of "Resilience Performance Scorecards". The approach to the second research question involves the analysis and discussion of planning processes for the development of future scenarios as well as for the integration of resilience into the strategic planning of urban developments in the Iranian case study area. This includes the preparation of a working paper for an interculturally oriented planning approach as well as a comprehensive literature review focusing on the transferability of scientific findings from resilience research, policymaking, governance, and planning to the Iranian context.

For more detailed information, results and announcements, please visit https://www.increase-project.com/outputs/