Socio-Spatial Segregation Dimensions in the city of Tehran (original) (raw)

Abstract: There have always been various urban divisions in cities, which are not necessarily undesirable phenomena, as such divisions, to some extent, make it possible for people to choose their residential area according to their financial limitations and social, religious or racial preferences. But, at a certain point, division might turn into the problem of“segregation”. It emerges when anomalies such as inequality in using of space, lack of basic infrastructure services, traffic congestion and social abnormalities become palpable in some parts of a city and, consequently, the area transforms into a separated and isolated region. This research aims to identify significant sources leading to socio-spatial segregation in Tehran as its case study, especially those segregations with obvious effects on spatial structure of the city. Highways are the most important sources that distort the connection between areas through creating isolated islands. The hysteria of highway building, as a traffic management strategy, too, cannot but intensify the isolation. The theoretical framework of the research is based on Henry Lefebvre’s ideas about the “right to the city”. In “The Urban Revolution” he explains the concept of ‘segregation’ as distinguished from concepts like ‘difference’. While the former is a type of detachment that destroys the totality of a complex (i.e tearing the city apart), the latter, ‘difference’, is a relationship, creating proximity or distance. ‘Difference’ also produces “form” through the freedom of information, whereas segregation brings a reverse situation: formlessness and isolated information (Lefebvre, Writing on Cities, p.153). Segregation in Tehran has taken different shapes in different ways, evolving hand in hand with certain social changes. As the beginning steps, the city was divided into North and South by “Enghelab Avenue”, comprising several models of socio-spatial segregation. Through 1930s, a special zoning pattern, largely based on class segregation, was one of the priorities of the urban management, and remained dominant until the Islamic revolution of 1979. Meanwhile, the large immigration of villagers from the peripheries to the metropolitan areas brought about informal communities within the city, which, in turn, were gradually marginalized and pushed to the marginal urban frontiers. On the other side, there were the most opulent neighbourhoods at the far north, constituting the first gated communities in the modern Middle East. Although some of these divisions faded away after the revolution, they were reproduced in new forms through recent decades. Nowadays, the segregated areas of Tehran consist of a wide range of fabrics, from the inner part of “Bazaar” to the self-contained “Islam-Shahr” and the isolated South Islam-Abad, surrounded by some of the wealthiest neighbourhoods of Tehran. This research will try to pave the way for future strategies and suitable planning for these segregated and isolated neighbourhoods in the city of Tehran. The research methodology is based on the historical, social and spatial analysis which is formulated by Madanipour in his debate about social exclusion (Madanipour, 2011). The suitable tools for achieving the required information are related literature and available mapping and the use of statistic information for obtaining a better understanding of the issue.