Explaining the institutional-managerial role of a drought-resilient city (Case study: 22 districts of Tehran)

This study seeks to examine the institutional and managerial factors affecting urban resilience to drought in Tehran. It focuses on how governance structures, policy processes, social participation, and environmental management mechanisms interact to shape the city’s ability to resist and adapt to long-term and recurring droughts. The objectives of this study include: identifying the main components of drought resilience, assessing Tehran’s adaptive capacity under water stress, analyzing institutional and managerial variables affecting resilience, and developing a conceptual model that explains the mechanisms underlying the relationship between governance and management and resilience indicators. Addressing these objectives is crucial given the increasing frequency and severity of droughts, the rapid pace of urbanization, population growth, and the consequent pressures on limited water and environmental resources. Moreover, the study responds to the critical question of how institutional and managerial frameworks can mitigate vulnerability, strengthen adaptive capacity, and enhance the city’s ability to absorb, adapt to, and recover from drought-related shocks. Understanding these dynamics is vital for ensuring long-term urban sustainability, promoting social equity, safeguarding environmental resources, and guiding policy interventions that are both effective and contextually appropriate.
This study employed a qualitative research design based on semi-structured interviews and grounded in content analysis to investigate the complex interactions between institutional structures and urban resilience in Tehran. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 experts in crisis management, urban planning, and environmental studies, as well as managers of relevant governmental and municipal organizations. Participants were purposively selected based on their expertise, managerial or research roles, and ability to provide in-depth, contextually relevant insights. However, access to some high-ranking decision-makers in key institutions was limited due to bureaucratic constraints and heavy workloads, potentially underrepresenting certain influential perspectives. Additionally, the political sensitivity of water issues led some interviewees to offer cautious responses, although assurances of confidentiality helped mitigate this. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached, ensuring that all significant themes were captured. The analytical process involved systematic coding of qualitative data, including open coding to identify initial concepts, axial coding to explore relationships between codes, and selective coding to extract main themes, overarching patterns, and interconnections. These procedures facilitated the identification of core categories and the mechanisms through which institutional and managerial components influence urban resilience. To further enhance analytical rigor, multiple researchers reviewed the coding, and discrepancies were discussed and reconciled through consensus. Credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were ensured by adopting Lincoln and Guba’s four criteria, triangulating data sources and methods, and conducting member checks. This approach offered a comprehensive understanding of how institutional structures shape urban resilience, highlighting both organizational aspects and practical processes in the context of chronic water scarcity.
The study identified six main dimensions influencing urban resilience in Tehran: "environmental and social impacts", "economic and environmental justice", "culture and social participation", "resilience and foresight in climate crisis management", "management and sustainability of water resources and infrastructure" , and "governance and environmental policy". Environmental and social impacts revealed that drought exacerbates ecological degradation, including soil subsidence, vegetation loss, and ecosystem disruption, and contributes to population migration, social inequities, and reduced quality of life. For example, extensive water extraction from underground aquifers, combined with uncoordinated urban expansion, has led to declining water tables and deteriorating soil stability in multiple districts. Economic and environmental justice highlighted that inefficient pricing mechanisms, inequitable resource allocation, and unsustainable consumption patterns significantly amplify vulnerability, constrain adaptive capacity, and reinforce existing socio-spatial inequalities. Cultural and social factors, including public awareness, education, civic participation, and environmental attitudes, were shown to be critical in ensuring that technical interventions and infrastructure measures achieve their intended outcomes. Resilience and foresight emphasized the importance of proactive, risk-informed management capable of anticipating, adapting to, and learning from climate-related crises. Effective management of water resources and urban infrastructure emerged as a cornerstone of sustainability, requiring integrated planning, monitoring, and investment in innovative water-saving technologies. Governance and policymaking was identified as decisive in shaping urban resilience, with fragmented legislation, centralization, lack of coordination, and short-term planning undermining the effectiveness of interventions. The interconnections among these dimensions underscore that resilience is a systemic outcome dependent on governance quality, social engagement, equitable policymaking, and coordinated resource management. Key examples include reduced urban resilience due to water loss, uneven population distribution, and inefficient policy implementation, as well as the critical role of trained and competent personnel in crisis management. Collectively, these findings illustrate that urban resilience is multidimensional and must integrate social, environmental, economic, and institutional components to be effective.
The findings indicate that urban resilience in Tehran is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon extending beyond technical and infrastructural capacities to encompass institutional governance, social capital, environmental justice, and coordinated policymaking. Weak governance, overlapping and contradictory regulations, centralized decision-making, and fragmented institutional structures emerged as major obstacles to effective resilience. Social factors, such as public attitudes toward water consumption, civic participation, trust, and environmental awareness, play a pivotal role in mediating the success of technical interventions. Economic and policy instruments, particularly inefficient pricing and inequitable access to water resources, were found to have dual effects on vulnerability, either mitigating or exacerbating risk. The study emphasizes that building sustainable resilience requires integrating technical and structural strategies with institutional reforms, policy coherence, inter-organizational coordination, and genuine stakeholder engagement. Furthermore, it demonstrates that urban resilience is not solely an engineering or infrastructural challenge but also a complex institutional and managerial process that necessitates transparency, accountability, collaborative governance, social capacity development, and equitable resource management. Effective urban resilience demands ongoing monitoring, adaptive learning, and the capacity to anticipate emerging threats. The study concludes that sustainable resilience can only be achieved by reforming institutional pathways, establishing a learning-oriented governance framework, and fostering adaptive and coordinated management capable of responding to evolving challenges. These insights provide critical guidance for policymakers, urban planners, and resource managers seeking to strengthen the capacity of megacities to cope with climate-induced water stress, safeguard environmental resources, and address related social, economic, and political challenges in an integrated manner.