Tehran Becoming 'Symbol of Inefficiency of the Islamic System' Day by Day

Observations from various citizens, ranging from experts and observers to residents of the capital, as well as official statistics from the system known as '137 Plus', which monitors and publishes citizens' dissatisfaction based on their calls, indicate that urban management in Tehran has become 'messier' compared to two years ago. According to 'Donyaye Eghtesad', the city's appearance is not satisfactory in the eyes of citizens. Tehran has experienced ups and downs in maintenance over different periods, but according to keen-eyed citizens who follow the city's developments with more precision than daily life, we are currently going through one of the weakest periods in urban maintenance. The report lists a long list of examples of this chaos in the city that various citizens encounter daily, from 'broken street lighting and their outages' to 'asphalt covering problems', some of which remain unattended by city officials for weeks and months, and recently the breakdown of urban equipment such as 'escalators in the city and also in the metro network', which has also caused accidents. Now the important question is why Tehran's appearance has become 'more chaotic' and 'messier' than before? The reality is that a significant portion of annual budgets is always allocated to maintenance issues, yet there has been no trend towards improvement in the maintenance sector during the urban management of Zakhani. Hossein Imani-Jajarmi, a sociologist and urban expert, concluded in an interview with 'Donyaye Eghtesad' that the increase in calls and follow-ups from the public through the '137 Plus' monitoring system indicates the spread of 'urban entropy' in Tehran. He explained that entropy in chemistry describes a type of disorder, and this term has entered urban literature to describe disruption and chaos in city management; when a system lacks necessary order and its main issues are not resolved, it gradually moves out of equilibrium and towards entropy. Fardin Yazdani, a senior urban economics expert, also criticized the 'abandonment of the city' in the maintenance sector, addressing the economic aspect of the importance of city maintenance as the main mission of the municipality and the 'consequences' of neglecting this mission in the capital. Yazdani stated in an interview with 'Donyaye Eghtesad' that, in a general view, the municipality has two main and key duties that it must address: the primary duty of urban management is 'maintaining urban infrastructure', and the second duty is 'developing urban infrastructure' according to the needs of the city and citizens, which is considered the assets of the city and its citizens. Previously, Zakhani, the former head of the 'Student Basij Organization' and the current mayor of Tehran, stated that the city's appearance in terms of beautification, cleanliness, renovation, and improvement will change in the near future. Alireza Zakhani previously stated at a gathering of mosque leaders in Tehran: 'In the municipality, we are seeking to implement the goals of the Islamic Revolution in the city; for example, if justice is one of the slogans of the revolution, we have also tried to reduce discrimination in Tehran and lessen the service gap between the north and south of Tehran.' Zakhani, the former head of the 'Student Basij Organization', emphasized: 'The Leader of the Revolution considers Tehran as a country that is the 'symbol of the efficiency of the Islamic system.'