Ekhtiarieh is a district in northern Tehran

Tehran

Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

Often referred to as Ekhtiyarieh or South Dibaji, Dibaji is located mainly along Dibaji Street and refers to the areas surrounding the street south from Sadr Expressway

Sadr Expressway

Sadr Expressway is a freeway in northern Tehran, Iran.This freeway runs west from the Modarres Expressway in Gholhak neighborhood east through Gheytarieh, Doulat, Darrous, Chizar, and Ekhtiariyeh, at which point it crosses Pasdaran Avenue and becomes Babayi Expressway....

 but north of Pasdaran Avenue and Kolahdooz Avenue.

Ekhtiarieh is suburban and consists mostly of modest, upper-middle class homes and apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

 buildings as well as some scattered shops. In contrast to many of the upscale and flashy districts surrounding it (such as Farmanieh

Farmanieh

Farmanieh is a district located in Shemiran, Tehran, Iran centered around Farmanieh Street. Farmanieh neighborhood extends south all the way to Sadr Expressway, where it becomes Dibaji, and as far north as Niavaran Expressway...

 and Shemiran

Shemiran

Shemiran is the capital of Shemiranat County, Tehran Province, Iran, but is actually located just north of the borders of Tehran County along Chamran Expressway and Sadr Expressway and it is the northernmost district of the city of Tehran....

), Dibaji is known to be relatively modest and religious.

The area is centered around Dibaji Park, and the district is generally considered one of Tehran's greenest and safest.

The name Dibaji refers to Dibaj

Dibaj

Dibaj , Chahārdeh, Chārdeh, and Chehārdeh) is a city in the Central District of Damghan County, Semnan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 2,504, in 680 families....

 which is the name of a town in present-day Mazandaran.

History

The land in this area as whole once belonged to an aristocrat named Saheb Ekhtiyar, and it is from his name that the name Ekhtiyarieh originates, which could roughly be translated as the place belonging to, or related to Ekhtiyar.

In the 1970s, most of Dibaji was built and in the 1990s the Sadr Expressway

Sadr Expressway

Sadr Expressway is a freeway in northern Tehran, Iran.This freeway runs west from the Modarres Expressway in Gholhak neighborhood east through Gheytarieh, Doulat, Darrous, Chizar, and Ekhtiariyeh, at which point it crosses Pasdaran Avenue and becomes Babayi Expressway....

was constructed alongside the development's northern border.