Pardisan Park ( fa, پارک پردیسان – Pārk e Pardisān) is a complex covering more than 270 hectares, located in the northwest of

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. It is connected to

Hemmat Expressway Hemmat Expressway is a route in Tehran, Iran. It starts from Pasdaran Avenue junction and goes west. It passes Haghani Expressway, Kordestan Expressway, Milad Tower, Ashrafi Esfahani Expressway Ashrafi Esfahani Expressway (Highway) is an ...

in the north, and to Sheikh Nouri Expressway in the east.

History

The original design of the park is attributed to Ian McHarg of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. The planning phase of the park was begun by Wallace McHarg Roberts & Todd in 1975, under the reign of the last

Shah of Iran This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of th ...

, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.Schnadelbach, R. Terry, et al. "Ian McHarg 1920–." Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment (7 Dec 2000): 228–241. Environment Complete Due to the conflicts of the

1979 Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, the project was suspended, and the firm was left with a large amount of debt. The site was retained as a green space after the revolution but the designs of Wallace McHarg Roberts & Todd were never implemented.

Facilities

It is primarily an educational, research and cultural center, with the objective of environmental studies, and is a multipurpose project aimed at increasing public awareness about natural environment. Several animals live in the park; including monkeys, rabbits, and the

Pallas's cat The Pallas's cat (''Otocolobus manul'', also known as the manul, is a small wild cat with long and dense light grey fur. Its rounded ears are set low on the sides of the head. Its head-and-body length ranges from with a long bushy tail. It is ...

s. In addition to the wildlife park, the complex contains playgrounds, a theater, and a biodiversity museum.

References

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