Shahinshahr
Shahinshahr is a city in the Central District of Shahinshahr County, Isfahan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.
Shahinshahr was Iran's first master-planned satellite city, approximately to the north of Isfahan, Iran's second-largest metropolitan area and its historic capital. A high proportion of the residents are displaced Iran-Iraq war refugees originally from Khuzestan. The city's original plan envisioned 50,000 homes and a maximum population of 250,000. The city currently ranks among the 50 largest in Iran.
History
Foundation
The city was founded in the mid to late 1960s when six brothers from the Boroumand family decided that it was more economical for them to transform the 40 million square meter Amirabad farm that they had inherited from their father, Agha Muḥammad Khān Boroumand, from agricultural usage to a mix of residential development and agricultural usage. The main drivers for this decision were the proximity of their farm to Esfahan, the availability of plentiful water from the "qanat", or underground canal system that their father had salvaged and upgraded during his lifetime, and the demand for affordable housing. The Boroumand brothers proceeded to incorporate the Sherkat Omran Shahinshahr, and with initial funding from Bank Taavoni Va Tozie began the process of developing the city's infrastructure, including its roads, sewers, water, and electricity. As development and construction progressed, the enterprise, under the supervision of Abdol Ghafar, Abdol Rahim, Abdol Karim and Abdol Rashid Boroumand, employed in excess of 10,000 people including accountants, engineers, architects, and laborers, and proceeded to build over 10,000 affordable homes and to provide homes to over 50,000 residents. The master plan for the expanded new town for 300,000 people was prepared by Peter Verity the international urbanist and architect who also prepared the detailed designs for several of the planned residential areas and a range of public buildings.Growth
To further attract residents, the Boroumand brothers gifted over 2 million square meters of land in close proximity to the city to the Daneshgah Sanati Esfahan, Isfahan University of Technology, and gifted another 2 million square meters of land in the city to the Iranian government with the understanding that the government would build a manufacturing facility thereIn the 1970s, numerous American and other foreign expatriates working under contract to the Iranian government and the Iranian military resided in Shahinshahr in a walled and gated compound. The Toufanian High School building of the American School of Isfahan was located at the northern tip of the city.