Spatial-physical inequality with emphasis on Informal Settlements in two important metropolises of Islamic world (comparative study of Tehran and Cairo) (original) (raw)
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Spatial inequality and dislocation in Tehran’s urban region
Author: Zohreh A. Daneshpour Chapter in a book: Published in "Cities in City Regions- Governing the Diversity", 2007, Edited By: J.E. Klausen and P. Swianiewics, Part One, Chapter Two: "Spatial Inequality and Dislocation in Tehran's Urban Region", in English. Book available at: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp\_27%3AJan%20Erling%20Klausen & Related Conference Paper: orally presented in English by the author in the “First Bi-Annual EURA Conference: Cities in City-Regions”, 11-14, 2006, Warsaw, Poland. Abstract The ignorance of the relevant authorities and the existing planning documents in Tehran, have helped the formation and escalation of income inequalities related problems, altogether endangering the sustainable development of the whole urban region. It seems that the public sector activities have been mostly oriented towards replying the needs of higher socio-economic groups. This can be an indication of their lack of will or power to remedy inequalities and to fight against the low ‘quality of life’, not only in the worse-off settlements in Tehran’s urban region, but also in the city of Tehran and in this way preventing the dislocation of the lowest groups to the worst parts of the urban region and adding to those areas’ previous problems. In the long term this means the gradual gentrification of parts of Tehran. It must be noted that some of the problems in Tehran and its urban region affect poor and wealthy to the same extent, as there is no safe place to escape to from such problems as pollution and traffic congestion, though there is a rather clear demarcation line between the place of residence of the different socio-economic groups. The continuation of the existing trends will definitely compound the historically unresolved problems of Tehran and its urban region and will reduce the opportunities of applying any solution to resolve or reduce the intensity of the problems deep rooted in the unequal socio-economic structure. Key words: spatial inequality, dislocation, intra-regional inequality, inter-regional inequality natural and socio-economic injustices, disadvantaged groups of society, inequality-related research and policy-making, private sector developers and speculators, urban region, control mechanism, Tehran.
Spatial inequality and dislocation in Tehran's urban region: Conference paper
Conference Paper, orally presented in English by the author in the “First Bi-Annual EURA Conference: Cities in City-Regions”, 11-14, 2006, Warsaw, Poland. Abstract Tehran's urban region, similar to many metropolitan regions of mainly the less developed countries of the world, suffers from problems such as spatial inequalities, unbalanced settlement system, unsuitable quality of life, degradation of the natural environment, weak and disintegrated planning mechanism and dominance of property developers' intentions and activities over the predetermined public decisions. Indeed, during the pre and post 1979 era, not only the trend in the development of Tehran (the capital of Iran) has been towards the continuing mixture of primarily unplanned and random planned growth, the resultant unequal spatial structure has been reinforced. It is thus, the intention of this paper, to illustrate this unequal picture, to consider briefly the factors behind the formation of such a structure, the forces behind the dislocation of people and the consequences of the continuation of the existing trends. _____________________________________________________________________
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In Cairo and in Istanbul, as in many other cities of the global south, informal settlements are the product of a process of rapid uncontrolled urbanization, containing “inequality” in dealing with its citizens, and accompanied by the failing of government’s role in providing appropriate housing. Self-help/built settlements have been the alternative by the rural-urban migrants and urban poor to fulfill their need for housing. In cities such as Istanbul and Cairo, which have a pioneering role for the country in the global competition, informal areas have been largely ignored by neo-liberal state regimes (Sims, 2011). It is not a mere coincidence that in both cities almost 60-70% of their inhabitants live in such informal settlements. Rapoport has discussed in his different writings that culture and space correlate in urban form (1977, 1990). It is striking, how many similarities can be found in the formation of informal settlement of Istanbul and Cairo while studying the relation betw...