New towns as deconcentration or another concentration in the metropolis: evidence from Parand New Town in the Tehran Metropolitan Area

The development of Parand New Town continues with the purposes such as ‘attraction of Tehran's overflow population’. Reflecting on its expansion and communications with Tehran City strengthens the idea that the development of this new town is not consistent with its main goal. The present study aimed to describe the realities on residence and living in Parand New Town descriptively and analytically. First, available and reliable statistics and information were used to express how the concentration of population is in the Tehran Metropolitan Area using quantitative methods and Herfindahl index. Then, using field studies, a sample of 384 people were selected and the designed questionnaires were distributed among them to validate the analysis. The results indicate that the concentration of population in the Tehran Metropolitan Area has increased compared to the whole country (Iran), and over the past two decades, the population has been growing faster in the cities surrounding Tehran City. The same trend is also observed in Parand New Town. Moreover, the residents of Parand new town include direct and secondary immigrants entering Tehran Province and such a situation is not so much in line with the deconcentration of Tehran. Parand New Town is attracting the population from the areas outside the Tehran Conurbation, due to its some attractions such as cheap housing and its proximity to Tehran, which will result in an intensified concentration of the Tehran Metropolitan Area. Moreover, Parand New Town residents’ tendencies show that this new town will become an immigrant throwing platform to Tehran. Thus, there is a need for seeking other strategies to inhibit and adjust this situation.