The Role of Urban Planning in the marginalizing the Urban Poor (A Critical Reading of the Reproduction of margin in Iranian Cities)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Candidate, Department of urban planning and design, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

2 Professor, Department of urban planning and design, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: The rapid growth of informal settlements and the systematic exclusion of low-income urban populations have become chronic urban issues in Iran. These issues cannot be attributed solely to demographic pressures, housing shortages, or individual choices. Rather, they reflect the complex interplay of a rentier political economy, speculative land markets, neoliberal reforms, and the chronic inefficiencies of the urban planning system. Although global scholarship emphasizes that urban marginality is shaped by power relations and capitalist modes of spatial production, dominant policy discourses in Iran continue to frame informal settlements as purely technical or physical problems. This conceptual misalignment contributes to a continuous cycle in which cities function as arenas for capital accumulation, enabling groups with political and economic power to reshape urban space while displacing or excluding low-income populations. This structural process deepens spatial injustice, exacerbates socio-spatial fragmentation, and entrenches urban poverty. This study aims to critically investigate the multiscale mechanisms through which low-income groups are marginalized in Iranian cities. The analysis focuses on three interrelated levels: the macro level (political economy, state capitalism, and rent-driven accumulation), the meso level (urban planning institutions, land-use regulations, and planning discourses), and the micro level (resistance and adaptive strategies of marginalized residents).
Methodology: Adopting a critical urban studies approach rooted in the political economy of space, this study employs critical analysis, documentary review, policy analysis, and comparative assessment. Data were collected from national reports, statutory plans, urban policy documents, academic studies, and global case literature. 
Results: The study revealed several key findings.1. Macro-level political economy: Iran’s rentier and state-dominated economy, characterized by speculative land markets, the financialization of housing, inflationary cycles, and oil-dependent revenue structures, has transformed housing into a vehicle for capital accumulation rather than a social right. This structural setting pushes low-income households out of formal housing markets and toward peripheral urban areas. .2. Meso-level planning and land governance: Iran’s urban planning system, influenced by technocratic, top-down, and blueprint-based models, has inadvertently exacerbated socio-spatial exclusion. Rigid land-use regulations, costly construction standards, restrictive urban-growth boundaries, and inflexible comprehensive plans increase housing costs, limit mixed-income development, and contribute to urban sprawl and peripheralization. 3. Micro-level strategies and resistance: Residents of informal settlements employ adaptive strategies, such as incremental housing, land appropriation, informal service provision, and community-based networks, to resist displacement and secure their right to the city. These practices demonstrate social innovation yet remain largely unrecognized by formal planning systems.The findings underscore that the drivers of urban marginalization in Iran are structural rather than incidental. Policies focused on physical upgrading, redevelopment, or formalization have proven ineffective because they fail to address the underlying political and economic dynamics of spatial production. The state’s dual role as regulator, owner, developer, and beneficiary of land rents creates conflicts of interest that undermine equity-oriented planning. Furthermore, Iran’s planning system, which is based on imported modernist paradigms, has systematically disregarded the everyday practices, informal economies, and social infrastructures that shape urban life. Compared with other countries, Iran’s process of marginalization is less overtly violent but more structurally persistent; displacement occurs gradually and is often mediated by economic pressures and regulatory exclusion rather than direct eviction. This produces a form of “slow marginalization” that continuously reproduces inequality.
Conclusion: The study concludes that the marginalization of low-income urban residents in Iran is a systemic outcome of the political economy of space rather than a byproduct of informal settlements or individual behavior. Spatial injustice will persist as long as land and housing remain instruments of capital accumulation and planning institutions continue to operate within technocratic and centralized frameworks. Meaningful change requires:
- Redefining the role of the state from a rent-seeking actor to a steward of the public interest;
- Reforming land and housing policies to promote affordability and social equity;
- Integrating incremental and community-driven development into formal planning processes;
- Strengthening local governance and participatory institutions.
Recognizing the “right to the city” as a foundational urban principle is also essential. Without addressing these structural issues, redevelopment projects and physical-upgrading strategies will be unable to curb the expansion of informal settlements or significantly improve the lives of marginalized urban populations.

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Urban Planning Knowledge
Volume 10, Issue 2
June 2026
Pages 42-74

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History

  • Receive Date: 01 December 2025
  • Revise Date: 28 January 2026
  • Accept Date: 05 June 2026

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