Shahrak-e Gharb or Gharb Town (Persian: شهرک غرب – Šahrak e Gharb, "West Town"), also known as Qods Town (Persian: شهرک قدس – Šahrak e Qods, "Quds (Jerusalem) Town"), is a planned town built as a massive project of modern, luxury apartment buildings and villas in the north-western part of Tehran, Iran.

Originally built based on the model of upscale American suburbs in 1961 by French architects, today it is considered one of the most affluent neighborhoods of Tehran.^[1] The town was built in seven "phases" (Persian: فاز), which now delineate its districts. Only Phase 1 was built before the Iranian revolution, the rest was built by the new Islamic government.^[2] It is one of the largest districts of Tehran, including easy access to expressways including Chamran Expressway, Hemmat Expressway, Niayesh Expressway, Sheikh Fazl-allah Nouri Expressway, and Yadegar-e-Emam Expressway, proximity to four major hospitals, as well as three large and famous shopping centers, numerous parks, cinema and cultural centers, police and fire stations, and post offices.^[3]

Following the Iranian Revolution, the government of Iran maintained a hostile stance towards the Western world, and renamed the area to "Sharak-e Qods", or "Jerusalem Town". The original name continues to be widely used.^[1] The area has a history of resistance to the Iranian regime; social anthropologist Shahram Khosravi calls it "a dissident neighborhood". Phase 7 was added in 1989, involving the confiscation and re-allocation of much of the land in the area.^[2]

Around the 1980s, there was only one central shopping center there, named Bāzārče ("mini-bazaar"). Construction of the Golestan Shopping Center began a few years after the Iran–Iraq War. It was designed by Jordan Gruzen Architects in 1978^[4] and built by another American company by the name Starrett,^[5] although some sections were never completed. Today, several modern shopping centers including Golestan, Iran Zamin, and Milad-e-Noor are located in this area.

The tallest tower of Iran, Milad Tower, which stands 435m high from base to tip of the antenna, is located just outside the district.

An international school is located nearby, within the town, and a second is minutes away in Sa'adat Abad. Because of the eastward current of the air in Tehran and its constant purification by the adjacent mountains, this town is less polluted compared to other northern parts of the city. These and many more advantages have made this area a prime and pleasant location for living, attracting many foreign temporary residents, diplomats and expatriates.

The Americans, who at that time constituted the majority of the community living in this neighborhood, used their influence to create and expand a school, a gymnasium, and extensive recreational facilities in the West Town with the help of the Pahlavi government. For example, the Iran-Zamen International School, known as the American School, founded by Mr. Richard Irvine from the United States, was so large in this area that after the Islamic Revolution , although it was converted into two separate schools for girls and boys in all grades, a gymnasium, a circus and theater venue, a cinema hall, etc., there were still many unused spaces inside the American buildings, which made it difficult for the confiscators to maintain these buildings. Some of these buildings have also been handed over to the Islamic Azad University .

The Islamic Azad University, West Tehran Branch (WTBIAU) is a private university in Shahrak-e Gharb, Tehran, Iran. Founded in 1994^[6]

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  Shahrah-e Gharb Towers
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  Milad Tower seen from Hormozan street
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  Milad Noor
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  Shahrak Gharb seen from Milad Tower
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  Shahrak Gharb view from Chamran Expressway
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  Shahrak Gharb entrance from Hemmat Expressway
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  Platin Shopping Center
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  Mahestan Residential Complex

Citations

Bibliography

• Khosravi, Shahram (28 September 2011). Young and Defiant in Tehran. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 60–70. ISBN 978-0-8122-0681-4.

• Shahrak Gharb information website