Does NIMBY work in Iran? The unexpected case of Danesh Pedestrian and bicycle path

Abstract

“Not in My Back Yard"; people shout this when they feel something <em>deleterious</em> and nonlocal will be sprung into existence in their territory by top-down powers. Some believe that NIMBY syndrome provokes parochialism, but parochialism itself can bring many beneficial consequences. Danesh Pedestrian and Bicycle Path- a recent project established on the south rim of Bagh-e-Sib (a vast historic apple orchard) in the Mehrshahr neighborhood- is one of the cases that has been crystallized through NIMBY syndrome. The municipal authorities' decision on devastating this aged green area and turning it into a mega-scale market place or, who knows, into a highway, faced with radical protests of locals and eventuated the construction of the path. One can call it a win-win situation or maybe a social failure, but regardless of pessimistic and extremist views, it is well known that pedestrian and bicycle accessibilities are two indubitable realities of contemporary urbanism. Therefore, the evaluation of abovementioned path turned to a necessity to realize whether NIMBY is worked in this case, and generally in Iran, or not. This article delves into the subject in two phases, including 1) environmental qualities, 2) public acceptability; and originally follows several questions: has the voice of locals been heard or it was a compulsive decision just for protecting the garden? Is it a social setting or a fraudulent totalitarian exercise of municipal power? Does it meet the needs? Do people like it? How can it be over-promoted? What type of strategies are needed for further development of it?