Troubled Paradise: The Persian Garden in Post-Islamic Revolution Iran

The garden plays a role in the Persian psyche as a place of refuge, reflection and respite from a harsh environment. From their invention at the height of the Persian Empire three thousand years ago, through the advent of Islam and up to the present day in post Islamic Iran, gardens have evoked the image of paradise on earth. Part memoir, part reportage, the chapter reflects on the significance of nature in the city and cultural meanings of the garden through Iranʼs long and turbulent history. In the years following the Islamic Revolution in 1979 the walled gardens in the wealthy northern part of Tehran became hotspots for property development and economic as well as political control. Housing pressure and investment opportunities led to widespread loss of gardens to make way for high rise luxury apartment blocks. At the same time as the city underwent massive transformations on the surface, its location on several major earthquake fault lines exacerbated the threat of widespread destruction. The chapter reflects on the ways in which gardens and urban green spaces are enabling the citizens of Tehran to establish a sense of belonging and well-being. Celebrating nature-based traditions is a powerful, and provocative, way to express a deep-rooted identification to ancient culture and identity that transgress political power and ideology.