Tehran: A Call for Spatial Justice

Abstract

Placed among a blend of geographic collages and augmented landscapes, societies are continuously striving for security, equality and drawing fair and democratic boundaries while injustice embeds itself into space. The phenomenon of the ‘city’ and ‘urban life’ is born through the evolving process of the satisfaction of social primary and secondary needs. Overcoming basic needs in life, calls for a profound personal spiritual fulfilment, sometimes seeking a powerful definition of existence. Needs lead to the formation of traditions that entail the repetition of desires. Through the continuity of a functioning social structure, urban fabrics come to being. Consequently, space is socially produced along with justice over time. Just or unjust behaviour manifested into space is a clear result of our decision making; whether personal, economic or political. Implementing one of the most precious yet neglected factors of human rights, the freedom to shape and reshape ourselves and the city, a collective force beyond that of the lone individual is required. Tehran, welcoming rural migrants for decades, is a collection of a widening social gap through various divisions including class and social background. Like every living entity a city can reach the brink of a nervous breakdown and there is a breaking point, for Tehran, that point is now. If she is pushed too far, one day she might just push back. For Tehran this chapter aims to extract opportunities, situations, ideals and dreams of a nation with an eye for beauty and a taste for socio-economic happiness through the lens of seeking spatial justice.