Spatial Segregation in Tehran: A Curse of an Oil-Led Economy in the Context of Globalization
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 148, Issue 2
Abstract
Unequal relationships, division of cities to impoverished and wealthy areas, and the increasing distance between them are a part of the effects of neoliberalism on the face of cities. Now, on the one hand, with the discovery of oil, Iran has been closely connected with global capitalism, and on the other hand, the political economy of oil itself (as a background condition) contains unbalanced social policies. Accordingly, the present study aims to investigate the spatial effects of the unbalanced politics of globalization and the oil-based economy in Tehran as the capital of Iran. A quantitative approach and descriptive–explanative analysis were used for this purpose. The results indicate that in the spatial restructuring of Tehran, the upper and lower socio-occupational classes have been significantly concentrated in the north and south of Tehran, respectively, which can be called the spatial segregation of Tehran.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abtahi, S. M., and N. Heidari. 2014. “The relationship between oil and political development in Iran.” [In Persian.] Polit. Sci. Q. 5 (19): 25–44.
Adams, D., K. Adams, S. Ullah, and F. Ullah. 2019. “Globalisation, governance, accountability and the natural resource ‘curse’: Implications for socio-economic growth of oil-rich developing countries.” Resour. Policy 61: 128–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.02.009.
Ades, J., P. Apparicio, and A. M. Séguin. 2012. “Are new patterns of low-income distribution emerging in Canadian metropolitan areas?” Can. Geogr. 56 (3): 339–361. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.2012.00438.x.
Adham, K. 2005. “Urban boundaries and new spaces of capital in Cairo.” In Social Science Fourteenth Annual Symp.: The Transformation of Middle Eastern Urban Landscapes: From Modernism to Neoliberalism, The American University of Cairo (AUC), Cairo, Egypt.
Afroogh, E. 1997. “Space and social inequalities: the study of spatial segregation and poverty concentration in residential neighborhoods of Tehran.” [In Persian.] Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Sociology, Tarbiat Modares Univ.
Afroogh, E. 1998. Space and social inequalities: The study of spatial segregation and poverty concentration in residential neighborhoods of Tehran. [In Persian.] Ph.D. thesis, Tehran, Iran: Tarbiat Modares Univ.
Anselin, L. 1995. “Local indicators of spatial association-LISA.” Geogr. Anal. 27 (2): 93–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-4632.1995.tb00338.x.
Atkinson, R. 2000. “Combating social exclusion in Europe: The new urban policy challenge.” Urban Stud. 37 (5–6): 1037–1055. https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00420980050011226.
Azhdari, A., A. A. Taghvaee, and A. Zahirnezhad. 2014. “Investigation of socio-spatial separation of educational and occupational groups in metropolitan area of Shiraz.” [In Persian.] Urban Stud. Q. 4 (16): 67–80.
Beblawi, H. and G. Luciani, eds. 2015. The rentier state. New York: Routledge.
Bell, W. 1954. “A probability model for the measurement of ecological segregation.” Soc. Forces 32 (4): 357–364. https://doi.org/10.2307/2574118.
Bhalla, A., and F. Lapeyre. 2016. Poverty and exclusion in a global world. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bigdeli, M. 2015. “Spatial restructuring in metropolitan regions (Case study: Tehran metropolitan region).” [In Persian.] Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Human Geography, Shahid Beheshti Univ.
Brenner, N., and N. Theodore. 2005. “Neoliberalism and the urban condition.” City 9 (1): 101–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604810500092106.
Brenner, N. 2009. “What is critical urban theory?” City 13 (2–3): 198–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604810902996466.
Castells, M. 1999. Information technology, globalization and social development. No. 114. Geneva: UNRISD.
Caves, R. W. 2005. Encyclopedia of the city. New York: Routledge.
Creswell, J. W., and J. D. Creswell. 2017. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. New York: Sage.
Daher, R. F. 2008. “Amman: Disguised genealogy and recent urban restructuring and neoliberal threats.” In The evolving Arab City edited by Y. Elsheshtawy, 51–82. New York: Routledge.
Daher, R. F. 2011. “Discourses of neoliberalism and disparities in the city landscape «cranes, craters, and an exclusive urbanity».” In Villes, pratiques urbaines et construction nationale en Jordanie, edited by M. Ababsa and R. Daher, 273–295. Beyrouth: Presses de l'Ifpo.
Daher, R. 2013. “Neoliberal urban transformations in the Arab city: Meta-narratives, urban disparities and the emergence of consumerist utopias and geographies of inequalities in Amman.” Environ. Urbain 7: 99–115. https://doi.org/10.7202/1027729ar.
Daniel, P., M. Keen, and C. McPherson, eds. 2010. The taxation of petroleum and minerals: Principles, problems and practice. Oxford, UK: Routledge.
Douet, J. 2016. Industrial Heritage Re-Tooled: The TICCIH Guide to Industrial Heritage Conservation. Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge.
Duncan, O. D., and B. Duncan. 1955. “A methodological analysis of segregation indexes.” Am. Sociol. Rev. 20 (2): 210–217. https://doi.org/10.2307/2088328.
Dunleavy, P. 1980. Urban political analysis. London: Macmillan.
Eduful, A., and M. Hooper. 2015. “Urban impacts of resource booms: The emergence of oil-led gentrification in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana.” In Vol. 26 of Urban Forum, 283–302. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Evans, P. B. 2012. Embedded autonomy: States and industrial transformation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Gilberthorpe, E., and E. Papyrakis. 2015. “The extractive industries and development: The resource curse at the micro, meso and macro levels.” Extr. Ind. Soc. 2 (2): 381–390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2015.02.008.
Gyimah-Boadi, E., and H. K. Prempeh. 2012. “Oil, politics, and Ghana’s democracy.” J. Democracy 23 (3): 94–108. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2012.0042.
Hakimian, H. and Z. Moshaver, eds. 2001. The state and global change: The political economy of transition in the Middle East and North Africa. East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press.
Haque, K. N. H. 2012. The political economy of urban space: Land and real estate in Dhaka City. IGS Working Paper Series No. 03/2012. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Institute of Governance Studies, BRAC Univ.
Harris, K. 2017. A social revolution: Politics and the welfare state in Iran. Berkeley, CA: Univ of California Press.
Harvey, D. 1978. “The urban process under capitalism: A framework for analysis.” Int. J. Urban Reg. Res. 2 (1–3): 101–131. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.1978.tb00738.x.
Harvey, D. 1989. “From managerialism to entrepreneurialism: The transformation in urban governance in late capitalism.” Geogr. Ann. Ser. B Hum. Geogr. 71 (1): 3–17. https://doi.org/10.2307/490503.
Harvey, D. 2008. “Right to the city.” New Left Rev. 53: 23–40. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.0309-1317.2003.00492.x.
Harvey, D. 2012. Rebel cities: From the right to the city to the urban revolution. Brooklyn, NY: Verso Books.
Harvey, D. 2020. “The condition of postmodernity.” In The New social theory reader, edited by S. Seldman and J. C. Alexander, 235–242. Oxford, UK: Routledge.
Hataminezhad, H., and N. Abdi. 2007. “Political economy and urban space.” [In Persian.] Polit. Econ. Ettelaat J. 237/238: 196–205.
Hauser, S., P. Zhu, and A. Mehan. 2021. “160 years of borders evolution in Dunkirk: Petroleum, permeability, and porosity.” Urban Plann. 6 (3): 58–68. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v6i3.4100.
Hein, C. 2018. “Oil spaces: The global petroleumscape in the Rotterdam/The Hague area.” J. Urban Hist. 44 (5): 887–929. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0096144217752460.
Herb, M. 2005. “No representation without taxation? Rents, development, and democracy.” Comp. Polit. 37 (3): 297–316. https://doi.org/10.2307/20072891.
Hertog, S. 2010. “The sociology of the Gulf rentier systems: Societies of intermediaries.” Comp. Stud. Soc. Hist. 52 (2): 282–318. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417510000058.
Hertog, S. 2019. “What would the Saudi economy have to look like to be ‘post rentier’?” POMEPS Stud. 33: 29–33.
Hickey, S. 2010. “The government of chronic poverty: From exclusion to citizenship?” J. Dev. Stud. 46 (7): 1139–1155. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2010.487100.
Hinnebusch, R. 2010. “Toward a historical sociology of state formation in the Middle East.” Middle East Critique 19 (3): 201–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/19436149.2010.514470.
O’Connell, M. J., and M. Horkheimer. 1982. Critical theory: Selected essays. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Hosseini, A., A. Pourahmad, and M. Pajoohan. 2016. “Assessment of institutions in sustainable urban-management effects on sustainable development of Tehran: Learning from a developing country.” J. Urban Plann. Dev. 142 (2): 05015009. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000301.
Hossein-zadeh, I. 2018. “Neoliberal Economics: The Plague of Iran’s Economy.” Accessed June 4, 2019. https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/10/03/neoliberal-economics-the-plague-of-irans-economy/
Hu, X., H. Li, X. Zhang, X. Chen, and Y. Yuan. 2019. “Multi-dimensionality and the totality of rural spatial restructuring from the perspective of the rural space system: A case study of traditional villages in the ancient Huizhou region, China.” Habitat Int. 94: 102062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.102062.
Imani Shamloo, J., and H. Saremi. 2013. “Reflection of governmental systems intellectual principles in urban planning field ‘by analytic study of the social and liberal systems’.” [In Persian.] Haft Hesar J. Environ. Stud. 1 (2): 47–56.
Imani Shamloo, J., and M. Rafieian. 2015. “Power and re-definition of urban planning theory (with emphasis on political economy in oil-based economies).” [In Persian.] Q. J. Rahbord 81: 287–320.
Imani Shamloo, J., M. Rafieian, and H. Dadashpoor. 2017. “Urban speculation and spatial segregation (analysis of spatial evolution of Tehran metropolis in the context of oil-based economy).” [In Persian.] Geopolit. Q. 41: 104–135.
Imani Shamlou, J., M. R. Pourjafar, and M. Rafieian. 2018. “Role of oil-based economic components in spatial transformations of Tehran and Tabriz metropolises.” [In Persian.] Polit. Spatial Plann. 1 (1): 1–9.
Imani Shamloo, J. 2019. “Explanation of Tehran metropolis spatial evolutions from the perspective of political economy of oil.” [In Persian.] Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Urban Planning, Tarbiat Modares Univ.
Jafari, E., and C. Hein. 2021. “Revisiting the transnational building of a modern planning regime in Iran: The first Tehran master plan and the interplay between local and foreign planners.” Plann. Perspect. 36 (3): 451–474. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2020.1789500.
Karl, T. L. 2004. “Oil-led development: Social, political, and economic consequences.” Encyclop. Energy 4: 661–672. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B0-12-176480-X/00550-7.
Kasekende, E., C. Abuka, and M. Sarr. 2016. “Extractive industries and corruption: Investigating the effectiveness of EITI as a scrutiny mechanism.” Resour. Policy 48: 117–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.03.002.
Katouzian, H. 1981. The political economy of modern Iran: Despotism and pseudo-modernism, 1926–1979. Berlin: Springer.
Kazemian, G. R. 2004. “Defining the urban governance and power structures with spatial organization: Case of Tehran metropolitan area.” [In Persian.] Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Geography and Urban Planning, Tarbiat Modares Univ.
Kheyroddin, R., J. Imani, and A. Forouhar. 2013a. “Consequence analysis of spatial evolution management in Tabriz Metropolis: Urban expanding & inner city degradation (1986–2011).” [In Persian.] J. Urban Econ. Manage. 4: 93–109.
Kheyroddin, R., J. Imani, and A. Forouhar. 2013b. “An analysis of spatial consequences of urban management measures in old and new sections of the metropolis of Tabriz.” IUESA 1 (4): 93–109.
Kheyroddin, R., A. Foruhar, and J. Imani. 2014. “Purposeful development of metro stations: From spatial segregation to urban integration in Tehran metropolis case studies: Shari'ati and Shohada metro stations.” [In Persian.] Mon. Sci. J. Bagh-e Nazar 10 (27): 15–26.
Levitas, R. 2005. The inclusive society? social exclusion and New Labour, 112–127. London: Springer.
Madanipour, A. 2014. Megacities: Urban form, governance, and sustainability chapter four: Sustainable development. [In Persian.] Tehran, Iran: Tehran Urban Planning & Research Center.
Mahdavi Vafa, H. A., M. T. Razavian, and M. Momeni. 2009. “The role of political economy in spatial structure of Tehran and surrounding regions.” [In Persian.] Ecol. J. 50: 1–14.
McFerson, H. M. 2010. “Extractive industries and African democracy: Can the ‘resource curse’ be exorcised?” Int. Stud. Perspect. 11 (4): 335–353. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1528-3585.2010.00410.x.
Mirtorabi, S. 2008. Iranian oil issues. [In Persian.] Tehran, Iran: Gomes Publication.
Mirtorabi, S. 2012. Oil, politics and democracy. [In Persian.] Tehran, Iran: Gomes Publication.
Moghaddam, S. N. M., and M. Rafieian. 2020a. “Urban development as a marionette? Oil income and urban development in post-revolutionary Iran.” Int. Dev. Plann. Rev. 42 (2): 191–217. https://doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2019.33.
Moghaddam, S. N. M., and M. Rafieian. 2020b. “From the kingdom lash to participation: The tale of urban planning in Iran.” Soc. Sci. Humanities Open 2 (1): 100022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100022.
Moran, P. A. 1950. “Notes on continuous stochastic phenomena.” Biometrika 37 (1/2): 17–23. https://doi.org/10.2307/2332142.
Muñoz Arce, G., and C. Pantazis. 2019. “Social exclusion, neoliberalism and resistance: The role of social workers in implementing social policies in Chile.” Crit. Soc. Policy 39 (1): 127–146. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0261018318766509.
Nozari, H. A. 2005. “Critical theory of the Frankfurt school in humanities and social sciences.” [In Persian.] Tehran, Iran: Agah Publications.
Oyono, P. R. 2004. “One step forward, two steps back? Paradoxes of natural resources management decentralisation in Cameroon.” J. Mod. Afr. Stud. 42 (1): 91–111. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X03004488.
Piran, P. 1991. “Theoretical perspectives on the city and urban sociology (7) school of spatial political economy.” [In Persian.] Polit. Econ. Ettelaat J. 3/4: 25–32.
Pishgar, E., Z. Fanni, J. Tavakkolinia, A. Mohammadi, B. Kiani, and R. Bergquist. 2020. “Mortality rates due to respiratory tract diseases in Tehran, Iran during 2008–2018: A spatiotemporal, cross-sectional study.” BMC Public Health 20 (1): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09495-7.
Rafieian, M., and N. Jahanzad. 2015. The thought transformation on planning theory. [In Persian.] Tehran, Iran: Armanshahr Publications.
Ross, M. L. 2001. “Does oil hinder democracy?” World Polit. 53 (3): 325–361. https://doi.org/10.1353/wp.2001.0011.
Ross, M. L. 2004. “Does taxation lead to representation?” Br. J. Polit. Sci. 34 (2): 229–249. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123404000031.
Saenz, C., and H. Brown. 2018. “The disclosure of anticorruption aspects in companies of the construction sector: Main companies worldwide and in Latin America.” J. Cleaner Prod. 196: 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1353/wp.2001.0011.
Sarrafi, M. 2000. “The urbanization of the world and the globalization of cities: A problem for the South.” [In Persian.] Polit. Econ. Ettelaat J. (155/156): 164–167.
Sayed Noorani, S. M. R. 1999. “Globalization of developing countries and Iran.” [In Persian.] Polit. Econ. Ettelaat J. (156/155): 158–163.
Schwarz, R. 2008. “The political economy of state-formation in the Arab Middle East: Rentier states, economic reform, and democratization.” Rev. Int. Polit. Econ. 15 (4): 599–621. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290802260662.
Sedighi, M. 2018. “Megastructure reloaded: A new technocratic approach to housing development in Ekbatan, Tehran.” ARENA J. Archit. Res. 3 (1): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.5334/AJAR.56.
Sedighi, M., and B. Albader. 2019. “Framing a new discourse on petromodernity: The global petroleumscape and petroleum modernism.” Plann. Perspect. 34 (2): 345–353. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2018.1561323.
Sedighi, M., and N. Mota. 2020. “Kuy-e Narmak (1952–1958): The growth and change of an urban community in Tehran.” Plann. Perspect. 35 (3): 477–504. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2019.1598280.
Sedighi, M. 2020. “Rethinking the architecture of Shushtar-nou: A forgotten episode of architectural regionalism in 1970s Iran.” Int. J. Islam. Archit. 9 (1): 135–167. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijia_00007_1.
Shakoei, H. 2004. Vol. 1 of New perspective in urban geography. [In Persian.] Tehran, Iran: SAMT Publications.
Shirzad, H. 2014. “The impact of neo-liberalism’s globalization on Iran’s renter’s government from the viewpoint of international political economy.” [In Persian.] Int. Relat. Stud. 22: 167–207.
Silver, H. 1994. “Social exclusion and social solidarity: Three paradigms.” Int Lab. Rev. 133: 531.
Sklair, L. 2001. Vol. 17 of The transnational capitalist class. Oxford: Blackwell.
Smith, N. 2002. “New globalism, new urbanism: Gentrification as global urban strategy.” Antipode 34 (3): 427–450. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00249.
Statistical Center of Iran. 2016. “Population by country divisions in 2016.” [In Persian.] Accessed August 7, 2019. https://www.amar.org.ir/%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%88%D9%85%DB%8C-%D9%86%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B3-%D9%88-%D9%85%D8%B3%DA%A9%D9%86.
Summer, D. 2005. “Neo-liberalizing the city: Transitional investment networks and the circulation of urban images in Beirut and Amman.” Master thesis, Dept. of Urban Planning, American Univ. of Beirut.
Swyngedouw, E., F. Moulaert, and A. Rodriguez. 2002. “Neoliberal urbanization in Europe: Large-scale urban development projects and the new urban policy.” Antipode 34 (3): 542–577. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00254.
Tehran Municipality. 2018. “Tehran’s map.” Accessed April 18, 2021. https://map.tehran.ir/.
USGS. 2021. “EarthExplorer.” Accessed April 18, 2021. https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/.
Wiedmann, F., M. A. Salama, and A. Thierstein. 2012. “Urban evolution of the city of Doha: An investigation into the impact of economic transformations on urban structures.” METU J. Facul. Archit. 29 (2): 35–61. https://doi.org/10.4305/METU.JFA.2012.2.2.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 148 • Issue 2 • June 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 7, 2021
Accepted: Dec 2, 2021
Published online: Feb 22, 2022
Published in print: Jun 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jul 22, 2022
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
- Negar Zojaji, Reconsidering the Visual Sphere of Femininity in Tehran, Women: a cultural review, 10.1080/09574042.2023.2177378, (1-25), (2023).