Landscape Democracy

I live in Babol in the North of Iran. The weather here is always rainy and humid. There is a river called Babolrud River, which is from historical and geographical perspective very important to people of the region of Mazandaran. The name of the river itself shows its importance. In our language it means full of water, so it's obvious that in a country like Iran, which is almost dry, how important is this river. From the history of the city we understand that even the name of Babol comes from this river (full of water).

This river was one of the main actor in shaping the city, even in the past like 100 years ago, our grand parents washed their clothes, they took water to their homes, and even this was a place for leisure time and people swam in this river. We can say that this river is the identity of Babol, besides its geo and political importance. From less than 50 years ago, the city has experienced a drastic growth, this is worth to mention that we don't use this river like before anymore, because a lot of buildings were built in this environment and we use modern infrastructure.

There are some challenges that I like to mention, there are not separate from each other but I want to describe them specifically. The first one is rising water. This challenge usually happens in the winter in the underpass of the bridge. Heavy rain causes flooding, and due to the intensity of rain and the rising water level of the Babolrud river, part of the coastal road in the area of Moziraj bridge underpass is blocked due to rising and traffic and mobility is impossible in this place, even for residents of nearby apartments and houses. The city council came with of Dredging and applying huge steal doors to block the rivers rising and protect the road. We cannot say it was not effective enough to solve the problem but I think the municipality needs to plan for Using water in agricultural land or storing it in the basement.