Priority of developing public open spaces based on seismic resilience assessment for Tehran, Iran.

The worldwide population growth and increasing urbanization of the past few decades have brought with it unplanned development of urban areas, affecting not only environmental quality but also increasing vulnerability during natural hazards and disrupting crisis management. Public open space, as a suitable spatial element, provides the necessary possibility for effective crisis management in cities. The metropolis of Tehran, the capital city of Iran, is located on a plain threatened by numerous faults. The population density in hazardous zones and the lack of potential to deal with earthquakes have increased the city's vulnerability. Therefore, because the organization of urban development for the efficient management of cities requires sufficient understanding of the needs and attention to the level of vulnerability, the seismic resistance of Tehran metropolis based on the earthquake risk has been investigated. In the earthquake risk assessment, population density as the number of risk elements, lack of enough public open space and urban fabric as vulnerability, and ground motion values expressed in the form of horizontal peak ground acceleration, have been considered as hazard components. Then, in the current study, to improve emergency services and the ease of crisis management, priority development of public open space has been determined based on international standards of the World Health Organization, the Public Health Bureau USA, the European Union, and the United Nations. The results showed reducing the seismic risk of regions 4, 8, 10, 14, and 17 in Tehran is priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]