Document Type : Original
Authors
1
Academic staff,- Shahid Beheshti University
2
Graduate in Architectural Studies- Shahid Beheshti University
Abstract
Twenty years after Naser al-Din Shah's ascension to the throne, the rampart built in Shah Tahmasb Safavi period was demolished, and a new wall was constructed to expand, modernize, and transform Tehran into the “Dar al-Khilafa-yi Nasirī”, befitting the modern era. With the construction of Tehran's new wall, the city acquired a new boundary and threshold, experiencing unprecedented urban development. The city expanded in all four directions, and new quarters joined to its north, south, east, and west. Except for Mahalla-yi Dowlat in the north, these newly developed areas were named as tābi‘-i mahalla, subordinate extensions to older neighborhoods, creating liminal urban spaces. While Tehran's development during Naser al-Din Shah's reign has been studied, the lens of liminality and its spatial consequences remains unexplored.
Therefore, this article, using first-hand written and visual sources and a historical strategy, argues that these Tābi‘-i mahalla were indeed liminal developments. Absence of a conception of the overall development of the city and planning for it, unequal environmental conditions across the geographical expanse, modernization trends, social divisions, and the competing demands of the government and various social groups shaped distinct spatial qualities. Consequently, a new, heterogeneous urban landscape emerged at this threshold.
The characteristic of this landscape, which had a heterogeneous texture and structure, was a relative spatial order in the north and northwest featuring gardens, wide and European-style streets, dual living spaces, free from the norms of traditional society, and havens for free thought, away from the observer's eye. Whereas the characteristic of the southern and southeastern landscape was a scattered, irregular, and resource-poor environment where the impoverished sought community and urban security. In this way, in a state of liminality, areas emerged that neither resembled the old city nor were similar to each other, although they constructed the geographies of the north and south.
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