TIME FOR TEHRAN

It’s sunset in Tehran, a city that on first impression is admittedly hard to fall in love with. The Iranian capital has seen its metropolitan population swell to more than 15 million since the 1979 Islamic revolution, and the results are infamous levels of pollution and congestion. Dominating the urban sprawl are stark gray apartment blocks and unfinished malls that belie the country’s rich history of boundary-pushing design. After touring the architectural wonders of Shiraz, Isfahan, and World Heritage–listed Yazd, I find Tehran to be decidedly unlovely.

But then I visit Tabiat Bridge. As the day’s last light sets the snowcapped Alborz Mountains to the north of town ablaze, I can’t help but feel that the country’s most secular and liberal city is well on its way to becoming its most interesting.

It’s the start