The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar

Reproduction of Urban Space Based on Women’s Discourse in Lalehzar Street, Tehran

https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2026.550557.5904
Volume 23, Issue 154
April 2026
Pages 59-68
The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

Mahsa Sasanfar 1
Mahmud Rezaei 2
Varaz Moradi Masihi 1

1 Department of Urban Planning, CT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Architecture, CT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Problem statement: urban space is a social, historical, and multi-layered phenomenon, continuously shaped and reproduced over time through the persistent interaction of power, politics, and capital. This reproduction occurs not only through structural transformations but also within the heart of everyday actions, lived experiences, and social discourses. Within this framework, women’s discourse -as a frequently overlooked force- plays a significant role in redefining private-public boundaries and reconstructing collective memory. Nevertheless, this discourse has remained largely marginalized, particularly in the spatial analysis of historical urban areas in Iranian cities. This study thus examines the agency of women’s discourse within the context of these forces and spatial activism on Lalehzar Street in Tehran.
Research objective: The present study aims to investigate the role of women’s discourse in the reproduction of urban space, focusing on Tehran’s Lalehzar Street as one of the capital’s most prominent historical and cultural arteries. As a stage for the interactions and confrontation of social forces, as well as a platform for women’s presence and activism across various historical periods, Lalehzar reveals the process of spatial rearrangement through a gendered lens.
Research method: This study adopts a qualitative, discourse-oriented approach, employing inductive content analysis to examine the gathered data. The data were extracted from diverse written, visual, and oral sources covering three distinct historical periods: the Qajar era, the Pahlavi era, and the Islamic Republic period. The theoretical framework of this research is grounded in the mechanisms of urban space reproduction, utilizing the concepts of activism, agency, and spatial peripheral-central to analyze women’s discourse.
Conclusion: women’s activism in Lalehzar Street can be understood as an integral part of the historical reproduction of urban space, shaped through a complex interplay with relations of power, politics, and capital. Across different eras, this activism has evolved from the “spectator” to the “spectacle” and eventually to the “actress”, represented through diverse discursive formulations such as passive-symbolic presence, consumption, isolation, and participation. The everyday behaviors, social roles, patterns of presence and absence, and women’s participation in the street sphere have not only influenced the transformation of spatial meanings and the redrawing of private-public boundaries but have also played a decisive role in the formation of collective memory and the spatial organization of Lalehzar.

Keywords

Spationious-prescribed activism
Event-place agency
Peripheral-central disposition
Spectator-spectacle-actress.
Subjects
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