نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Landscape transcends its definition as a mere passive visual representation of the environment, constituting instead a dynamic and vital milieu in which individual and collective identity, psychological welfare, and the overall quality of human life are intrinsically formed. The conceptualization of landscape has progressively expanded beyond its traditional confines within landscape architecture and aesthetics, permeating domains such as human rights, environmental stewardship, indigenous communities, and cultural identity. International legal discourse, particularly in recent decades, has witnessed a fundamental paradigm shift from the exclusive conservation of exceptional landscapes towards the integrated management of all landscape typologies, encompassing urban, rural, natural, and even degraded environments. The European Landscape Convention serves as a seminal reference point in this transformation, formally acknowledging landscape as a shared resource and a foundational element for the realization of human rights. Within the Iranian legal framework, notwithstanding the existence of multiple environmental, urban, and citizenship-related statutes, the concept of the “right to landscape” has yet to be formally established as a distinct and unified right. Despite possessing substantial cultural and natural endowments, Iran confronts considerable challenges pertaining to the integrated conservation and management of its diverse landscapes. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that effective urban legislation is paramount for fostering robust, efficient, and sustainable urban planning and development, thereby enabling balanced spatial, social, economic, and ecological progression. Conversely, inadequate or ineffectual legislation often results in the prioritization of specific interest groups, the marginalization of less influential populations, and the amplification of power disparities. Consequently, this research endeavors to bridge the identified gap by employing a qualitative content analysis methodology. Grounded in the established theoretical framework and informed by a comprehensive review of pertinent legislation and legal documents within Iran concerning the right to landscape, this study seeks to determine the degree of congruence between Iranian legal instruments and the substantive and procedural constituents of the right to landscape, as delineated in international discourse and benchmark documents. Furthermore, this paper aims to elucidate the fragmented distribution of these constituent elements across various legislative acts, and to identify the deficiencies hindering their full realization. From a paradigmatic perspective, the present research is categorized as fundamental research, employing a mixed-methods approach. The corpus of Iranian legislation, serving as the primary data source, is subjected to rigorous scrutiny, with a specific focus on those statutes that bear relevance to landscape and affirm either individual or collective rights. To access the compilation of laws, the database of the National Law and Regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran was consulted. A collection of laws and regulations was extracted, whose titles contained keywords related to landscape, such as “city,” “landscape,” “space,” “environment,” and “land.” Furthermore, in alignment with the defined framework, keywords associated with culture, environment, and vulnerable individuals and groups (e.g., women, minorities, the elderly, persons with disabilities, migrants) were included. Following an initial review, these laws were selected based on their comprehensiveness, significance, and relevance to the research objectives. In addition to these laws, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran was incorporated into this list as a foundational document. The operative basis for this research comprises the latest versions of the laws, including all amendments and new resolutions, while excluding obsolete legal provisions. As stated, 28 laws pertinent to the research objective have been identified and examined. For the examination of each law, its provisions were reviewed, and relevant clauses were identified. After extracting the pertinent sections and conducting an initial sorting, the clauses related to the concept of the “right to landscape” were coded into distinct documentary units. The framework for this research is structured in two dimensions: the substantive dimension, based on the views of Egoz, Makhzumi, and Pungtti, under the title of landscape as a human, cultural, and environmental right; and the procedural dimension, based on three principles of the Aarhus Convention: access to information, public participation, and access to justice. According to this framework, the landscape-related laws in this study are analyzed and evaluated across these two dimensions and their respective six components. To facilitate the coding process based on the aforementioned framework, the interrelations between the two dimensions (substantive and procedural) and their respective sub-indicators were identified within the legal clauses and provisions. For ease of coding, the indicators were summarized or assigned abbreviations. Once the coding of legal themes was completed, each document was assessed and scored based on the frequency of indicators related to the substantive and procedural dimensions of the right to landscape. Concurrently, the overarching nature of Iranian laws in relation to the right to landscape was evaluated. The indicators were examined based on two criteria: the frequency of their occurrence and their weighted presence within the laws. A higher frequency of an indicator within a law denotes the law’s stronger emphasis on that particular aspect. Similarly, a higher number of applicable indicators among the 8 assessed parameters within a single law indicates a higher degree of comprehensiveness and sensitivity towards the right to landscape. The resultant findings, in addition to providing a law-by-law analysis, treat the entire legislative corpus as a unified body, analyzing it based on its relevance to the concept of the right to landscape. In the analysis of each law, its sensitivity to the concept of the right to landscape is specified via a dedicated sensitivity score, is presented. In the integrated analysis of the laws, the primary weighting of Iran’s legal framework is identified. In the substantive dimension, the “Charter of Citizen’s Rights” exhibits the highest level of attention, accounting for 87.5% of the focus and encompassing 7 out of the 8 indicators used to measure sensitivity towards the right to landscape. Conversely, laws such as those pertaining to the “Objectives and Duties of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance,” the “Urban Land Act,” “Waste Management,” “Urban Renewal and Development,” and the “Protection of Agricultural and Orchard Lands” (accounting for only 12.5% and containing a single indicator focused on one of the 8 dimensions) ranked lowest in terms of sensitivity to the right to landscape. While scattered and one-dimensional laws may contribute to improving the existing situation, their effectiveness is limited by a deficiency in a comprehensive and integrated perspective on landscape management, protection, and planning as an overarching concept. The analyses revealed that, in the substantive dimension, the existing laws generally pertain to physical and structural aspects, with diminished attention devoted to psychological and participatory rights. Participation is recognized as a fundamental principle that transforms landscape from a mere environmental setting into a dynamic platform for the realization of human rights. Due to landscape’s reliance on audience perception, participation is considered an inherent right of individuals in landscape production. However, within Iran’s legal system, this dimension has not been adequately developed due to weak participatory mechanisms and a lack of appropriate communication between the public and governing organizations. From another perspective, it was found that the selected laws suffer from “procedural blindness”, with the limited attention paid to this dimension primarily being supervisory, and rights-restrictive. This occurs despite the fact that every stakeholder concurrently possesses both rights and duties towards others. While nature requires robust protection from human misuse, it simultaneously necessitates planning to fulfill human needs. Therefore, it is essential that legislation incorporates policies with public benefit. The legislative approach should transition from mere rescue to sustainable management, and in defining landscape and natural ecosystems, it should move from a fragmented view to a holistic perspective. Similarly, in defining the relationship between humans and the natural environment, it should shift from a biased viewpoint to a neutral one. The findings of this research indicate a profound disparity between the attention given to the substantive and procedural dimensions of the right to landscape in Iranian laws. The frequency of substantive indicators is approximately ten-fold that of procedural indicators, highlighting the “procedural blindness” of the country’s legal system in this domain. This study demonstrates that while Iranian laws contain scattered fragments of the “right to landscape” puzzle, they lack a cohesive, integrated, and rights-based framework for landscape management and planning. The predominance of protective-punitive approaches over participatory-developmental ones; fragmentation in environmental laws; disregard for everyday landscapes; inadequate support for the rights of specific groups; and, most critically, the “procedural blindness” concerning participatory mechanisms, access to information, and access to justice, constitute the most significant obstacles in this path.
کلیدواژهها English