Téhéran. L’émergence d’une métropole (Tehran. The emergence of a metropolis)

THE THREE SECTIONS into which this book is divided – Space and Population, Society and Architecture and Town and Culture – present the broad themes that provide the context for a wide ranging set of chapters on the city of Tehran.
The first chapter in Section I details Tehran’s historical evolution from hamlet in the first century to small walled town in the sixteenth century, to a metropolitan region covering 1,000 square kilometres at present. Tehran became the capital in 1786, under Shah Aq? Mohammad Kh?n Q?j?r, for political, military and economic reasons and because of its proximity to the Q?j?r tribal lands. The chapter looks at how and why the city grew and under whose influence, and what shape this growth took; it also gives details of the development of its various neighbourhoods. There is a short section on the various studies and research undertaken on Tehran.
The next chapter examines demographic change in Tehran over time. It discusses annual population growth rates, the city’s share of the country’s total population, changes in birth rates, infant mortality and life expectancy, population age structure, education and literacy, family size, and population distribution within the three main economic sectors of agriculture, industry and services.
In the second section, Chapter three examines the mechanisms involved in the transition from a traditional society to a modern one, drawing on economic and sociocultural data on the city, and comparing the behaviour and opinions of three different generations. Education, employment, marriage/relationships, leisure and parental protection are all considered. The town has experienced fundamental changes, and the new generation that is emerging disagrees with previous generations on a number of issues, although these differences are not so great as to create serious conflict.
Chapter four looks at the sociocultural development of Tehran society over the last two decades through an analysis of its consumption modes, and concludes that there have been dramatic changes, including a decrease in household expenditure on food, and an increase in expenditure on education and on books and newspapers. The metropolis is at the forefront of these changes, and reveals the deep contradictions within all Iranian society, torn between modernist tensions and the official position of the establishment.
The second section ends with a chapter describing the economic and cultural importance of the bazaar and its characteristic Muslim architecture, and notes how it can provide a model to evaluate the country’s cultural past.
The final section begins with a chapter on neighbourhood relations, and examines whether they are weaker in large towns. The author’s survey of 1,600 households showed that this was not the case, and that cultural factors such as age, family structure, socio-professional category and social homogeneity, i.e. cultural factors, are much more influential than material factors.
The next chapter, on atmosphere and spaces, encapsulates the observations, impressions and literary memories of the author regarding the transformations that have taken place in the houses, gardens, public spaces and the street, and their uses, in the last few decades. In the following chapter, the author describes the recent Iranian novel (end of the nineteenth century) as an invaluable source of knowledge on Tehran, and also illustrates its rapid growth and rise in modernity and the feelings of nostalgia this produces.
In the final chapter, Tehran’s position within the country is examined. Political power and economic and cultural activities are concentrated there, and there is also a wide gap in economic development between Tehran and other cities with respect to the concentration of goods, services, production, etc. (although average per capita levels of consumption in other cities appear to be similar to those in Tehran.) The author concludes that the absence of cultural t