Reproduction of urban informality in Iran: Its key factors, tools and challenges

Abstract

Due partly to neoliberal policies—especially in developing countries—and as a result of globalization, urban informality has become an indisputable part of urbanization since the 1970s. As a developing country, Iran has also dealt with the onset of this type of urbanism since the 1920s. The majority of global studies recognize the status of informal settlements and explain relevant approaches and actions. However, less emphasis is placed on informal reproduction factors; This study critically examines the factors that culminate in the reproduction of informality in Iran, namely the ominous triangle of power (government), the state economy, and knowledge-based on instrumental rationality (Technocracy) and its social, physical and environmental effects. This study seeks to evaluate the influential factors of urban informality in Iran with a critical and comprehensive view of the social, economic, political, physical dimensions and avoids an uni-dimensional tunnel vision. Findings show that the government policies and the economic sector monopoly play significant roles in the reproduction of poverty and informal settings in Iran. Furthermore, managerial and technical tools will act as government tools, the output of which manifests in its physical, social, and environmental factors.

Keywords

• Urban informality
• Iran
• Challenges of slums
• Critical thinking
• Neoliberalism