Tehran’s urban planning is focused on managing its immense population while attempting to modernize infrastructure.
* **Metro Expansion:** The Tehran Metro, already the largest in the Middle East, is continually expanding. Plans for Lines 8, 9, 10, and 11 are in various stages of design and construction to alleviate severe surface traffic. * **Smart City Initiatives:** The Tehran Municipality is digitizing services, introducing smart parking, electronic ticketing, and a unified city app (“My Tehran”) to streamline civic life. * **Urban Renewal:** Efforts are ongoing to retrofit historical districts and renew older, structurally vulnerable buildings in southern Tehran to mitigate earthquake risks. * **Capital Relocation:** Though frequently debated in parliament due to Tehran's earthquake risk, pollution, and congestion, shifting the administrative capital remains a long-term, highly theoretical project rather than an imminent reality.
