Beautiful Rotten Tehran - Multi-Sensory Artistic Research on Contemporary Urban Design in Tehran (Pardis Phase 11)

Beautiful Rotten Tehran is a multi-sensorial enquiry into a specific location close to the city of Tehran, Iran, called Pardis Phase 11. This is accomplished by employing visual and acoustemological methodologies as research tools for observing and analysing architecture and urban design. In this regard, this research is an attempt to observe, study and analyse the process of urbanisation in Iran, specifically the housing construction in the Pardis Phase 11 suburbs of Tehran. The interest in the sensory dimensions of Pardis Phase 11 serves as the starting point for this multi-sensory research. The project employs sensorial methodologies such as acoustemology and cartography to investigate the area and urban transformations caused by concepts such as 'modernisation', 'development', 'progress' and 'globalisation'. The work evolves through a large collection of media content in the form of field recordings, photographs and collages made at the Pardis Phase 11 site. The main objectives of the research are a) to contribute towards critical spatial practices that are operating in the spaces between artistic research and urban design, and b) gain new knowledge and understanding of the social aspects and sensory experience of urban and built form (placemaking) in Tehran, Pardis Phase 11. In this research I offer Critical Regionalism as a possible solution to the issues related to Pardis Phase 11 and the research questions. A historical study is also presented to have a better understanding of past values. I also create comparative images of Before, Now and the Future, which resonates with the principles of Critical Regionalism. A chapter on nature embarks on the enormous task of dismantling the concept of nature in the context of urban space. In doing so, I have chosen a religious perspective as the point of departure, as religion is an ancient social concept that has been influential in most societies. Then, after dismantling the religious and philosophical concept of nature, I intend to construct a foundation for understanding urban space in continuation and in relation to the concept of nature. These are necessary steps to create a context for analysing, interpreting and understanding the changes happening in the city of Tehran, in particular the project of Pardis Phase 11.