Planning for Peace; Introduction of Transboundary Conservation Areas

The idea of conserving borderlands has been founded to mitigate the issues around the political borders. Similarly, “Transboundary Conserved Area” or “Peace Park” has been created to protect the environmental resources and precious biodiversity over the political borders as well as enhancing international cooperation through harmonizing resource management approaches. There are various forms of the peace parks created all around the world especially in Africa. Even though various kinds of these parks are created, the subject seems interesting and new in Asian and Middle East countries. Thus, this research aims to provide a comprehensive view of the subject that can be practical for the urban and environmental planners. Trying to determine their functions; this research explains seven operated projects as examples of Transboundary Conserved Area. To gain information, desk research is used, which collects secondary data from the available sources. Regarding data analysis, it shows how these parks contribute to the ecological improvement and other political, economic, and cultural benefits. The results of the cases’ surveys demonstrate a tangible consideration on ecosystem conservation, while other functions defined to the peace parks and peacemaking have been underestimated and partially ignored.